Games that are so good they've ruined every other game in their genre for you

Silentpony_v1legacy

Alleged Feather-Rustler
Jun 5, 2013
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The Mass Effect trilogy ruined me on character development and game romance and RPGs in general.
Like I play Skyrim or Dragon Age Inquisition or The Witcher and I always ask "Do I love this person the same way I do Tali? No? Well I should go play Mass Effect."

And I'd say Bioshock and Bio Infinite both ruined me on story-based FPSs.

A machine for Pigs and to a lesser degree Dark Descent ruined me on horror games.

And finally Dawn of War II ruined RTS for me.

There ya' go. My 4 favorite genres peaked years ago...and now I feel sad.
 

2HF

New member
May 24, 2011
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Crimson Skies: Highroad To Revenge

If anyone can suggest a game that comes anywhere near the level of fun as this one I will go out, buy a hat, put it on, and tip it to you.
 

Neurotic Void Melody

Bound to escape
Legacy
Jul 15, 2013
4,953
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DizzyChuggernaut said:
The latest two Rayman games have ruined 2D platformers for me (apart from the Oddworld games and things like Cave Story).

It pretty much trashes any Mario or Sonic game. It has more varied and interesting worlds than Mario and speedrunning sections that are infinitely better than anything in Sonic. Also, the wacky European aesthetic is much more appealing to me than the more "traditional" Japanese aesthetics of Mario, Sonic and Megaman.

Also it throws away outdated mechanics like lives systems while still remaining very challenging. It feels a lot more "fair" than most other 2D platformers while still being hella difficult.
Ahah! You got there first, hasty ninja. But definately, those late Rayman games have so many inspiring ideas flowing out of every level. The music is perfect too. People often don't realise how important music can be to an experience until they hear it working it's mysterious magic. The bar has been raised!

Anyhow, i'd add GTA 5 to the list. For open world physics, cars especially. It is strange but I often care more than I should about open world car physics. It makes or breaks the game for me. I need to feel that weightiness, otherwise I may start realising it's just a game again, which is when the thoughts return!

Lastly, the original Perfect Dark has left me in a perpetual state of 'why-the-fck-do-these-more-advanced-shooters-have-LESS-cool-stuff-than-PD?' I still await that Fps that releases with content to at least rival the original PD. How long has it been now?
 

StoleitfromKilgore

Regular Member
Jul 4, 2014
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A machine for Pigs and to a lesser degree Dark Descent ruined me on horror games.
Have no fear! Or rather: Have fear! SOMA is on the horizon. The 22nd of September if I remember correctly. :)



"Starcraft II" made it hard for me to enjoy other RTS gameplay-wise, since it just plays so smooth. I always feel like I'm in control. Units move and shoot in a way that just feels right and most of the time, if something doesn't work out, that's probably because I made some control mistakes or chose inappropriate build orders.

"The Cat Lady" as far as Point-and-Click-Adventures are concerned. Couldn't just all Adventures be that simple in terms of puzzles and so f***ng good in terms of story, voice-actors, atmosphere etc. Well, no they can't. Oh and the fact, that it didn't overstay it's welcome did certainly help.

And as Charcharo has already mentioned: STALKER is always a good candidate in terms of atmosphere, though I have to say, that I personally also really love Far Cry 2 in that respect.
 

Ryallen

Will never say anything smart
Feb 25, 2014
511
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The Secret World for MMOs. It has the best mission structure that I've seen in an MMO so far. Instead of just "Go here, kill X, come back" the quests require you to actually observe your surroundings to accomplish tasks. Have to find someone who got lost? They aren't on your map. But wait! There's a blood trail. Let's follow it. But I can't find the stains on my minimap! But I can see them on the ground. Guess I'll follow them manually then. There they are! Being devoured by... Oh.

Soulsborne games for RPGs, in that those games finally scratched the itch that I had for a third person action RPG that didn't rely on numbers for damage rather than just skill and weapon usage. No more turn based BS, no more gauges to fill up, just swing and hit them to deal damage.

Psychonauts for platformers. I hate platformers. I find them boring. But Psychonauts has probably been the only one that I've ever picked up and played for more than an hour. Six, to be precise. And that's a lot for me. I don't know what it is. Maybe the aesthetic. Maybe the powers that I get. Maybe it's just generally a fun game. Whatever the reason, it's the best platformer that I have ever played.
 

razor343

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Sep 29, 2010
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Gothic basically ruined cRPGs for me. It's a flawed game without a doubt, but whenever I play any cRPG these days I find myself comparing it to Gothic and most of the time finding ways in which Gothic is better than it.
 

Danbo Jambo

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Sep 26, 2014
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IOwnTheSpire said:
So what you're really saying is this:



Just because someone has a different opinion doesn't make them liars or bad at their job. It IS their opinion and it IS subjective, so stop acting so condescending. Your view of a video game is not an objective fact, so get over yourself.[/QUOTE]

Lol, but no.

I'm not saying they are wrong as individuals and that only I disagree with them, I'm saying the mass OTT wave of approval from the "proffesional" reviewers and media is without doubt 100% bang out of alignment when compared to public and general opinion.

I hate DA:I, but it may be bareable, it may even be decent to some, but the industry showered absolute bull shit praise on the game as follows:

[i]

"The masters over at Bioware have done it again. This epic journey into the world of Thedas will steal more than 100 hours of your time, hours so full of superb gaming that you'll never forget them." - Gameover

"Dragon Age: Inquisition is the best installment in the series and one of the best games in BioWare's history." - GRYonline

"Not only one of the most expansive RPGs I?ve ever played, but one of the few that successfully fills its gorgeous, massive world with meaningful things to do and see" - IGN (WTF????!!!!!????????????? The absolute opposite is the case!)

"Dragon Age: Inquisition is a wonderful game and a lengthy pilgrimage to a magical world with vital thematic ties to one we already know." - Gamespot
[/i]

Etc.

Believe what you want, but when reviewers are coming out with gumph like this anyone who thinks those reviews are straight up has been hoodwinked, and I wish we'd stop making excuses for them. it's their paid duty to be straight with us, and no way on God's earth is DA:I "filled with meaningful things to do and see", it's full of errands and chores with less meaning than a wingless fly.

In my humble opinion of course.
 

Jaeke

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Feb 25, 2010
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someguy1231 said:
Third Person Shooter - Gears of War 3. Resident Evil 4 was a close second, but GoW3's multiplayer is what pushed it ahead for me.



Seriously though... I guess it's a cheap answer but I gotta go for Dark Souls.

Even within it's own franchise, I still enjoy it the best, if not only because it was the first Miyazaki game I played and therefore my favorite (as is traditional for everyone's first Miyazaki game experience). I enjoy DSII's combat more actually, and Bloodbornes far moreso but still... nothing has topped moments like walking into Ash Lake or Kiln of the First Flame yet...

Fingers crossed for the inevitable sequel.
 

Odbarc

Elite Member
Jun 30, 2010
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First Person Shooters:
Quake: Because every shooter is the same game.
Goldeneye: I can't play FPS on consoles anymore because this game's controls were too good.

I can't think of any other kind of game at the moment that ruined a genre for me. Most games are good or I don't play them.
I'll agree mostly with WoW but I don't like the genre as a whole. I played a lot of Star Trek Online because it's got space battles and stuff.
 

Wiggum Esquilax

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Apr 22, 2015
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Danbo Jambo said:
BloatedGuppy said:
I won't say Witcher 3 ruined me for future CRPGs, because I love the genre too much, but it sure re-shuffled my list of favorites and set the bar at an extremely high level for new games. Most particularly it had me re-evaluating Dragon Age Inquisition from "disappointment" to "embarrassment".
I genuinely couldn't believe some of the lies printed about DA:I from gaming sites. It was dull and awful in so many ways that when all the reviewers heaped mountains of praise on it I was gobsmacked.

How can these folk even still be in a job? DA:I is a 6/10 game at best and felt exactly like that from the get go.

"Subjective", "opinion"? No way. Not from that many reviewers heaping THAT much praise on it. I'm glad TW3 has made people realize just how bad DA:I is, but I do have to question why some people who are paid to tell us about games didn't relay this to us from the off.

Many tried to cover themselves by saying "it's not as good as Origins". No shit. It's not as good as 50% of WRPG's, never mind Origins.

/end rant
You came here to rant at DA:I, with that profile pic, without mentioning how BG2 ruined RPGs for you?

Shame on you.
 

BytByte

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Nov 26, 2009
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Jaeke said:
Seriously though... I guess it's a cheap answer but I gotta go for Dark Souls.

Even within it's own franchise, I still enjoy it the best, if not only because it was the first Miyazaki game I played and therefore my favorite (as is traditional for everyone's first Miyazaki game experience). I enjoy DSII's combat more actually, and Bloodbornes far moreso but still... nothing has topped moments like walking into Ash Lake or Kiln of the First Flame yet...

Fingers crossed for the inevitable sequel.
I do have to say, after having a 14 hour session yesterday (Magic Smelter Demon fart), that DSII (Scholra of the First Sin) has some absolutely ridiculous combat. The hit boxes are absolutely bonkers and item usage is actively discouraged with the time it takes. You'd think it would take less than an hour to drink an Estus Flask when you are being poisoned to death.

Also funny, I actually like the environments and world of Dark Souls II better. Granted, they are not as well connected or cohesive as Dark Souls, but area by area I think they are more unique and enjoyable. It seems like maybe a Demon's Souls approach to levels may had suited it better, seeing as they already have hub world Majula.
 

Janaschi

Scion of Delphi
Aug 21, 2012
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Dungeon Crawler - Nox was the 800-pound gorilla for me. Even games like Diablo 3, have never been able to properly compare in my eyes, which is saying something seeing as in how old Nox is.

RTS - Planet Blupi was one of the first games that I ever played, and is the main reason why I dove into games such as Warcraft so hard. Not only was this game brutal, and I mean that in more than one way since you are regularly forced to kill off your own Blupis in order to stay safe, but it also had quite a few mechanics that were more clever than even what we see today in modern iterations.

System Shock II - I am a hard-core sci-fi fan. When I say sci-fi, I am talking about the dark and gritty one learned to expect from games such as Advent Rising and Unreal: The Awakening. This game just about ruined sci-fi games for me, because it put a very clear expectation into my head, at an early age, as to what I wanted and in what manner. There have been a few that came close, such as the original Half-Life games and Doom.

Strategy - Total Annihilation was another brutal game, where the slightest mistake could easily cost you the entire game. At least, in the original - not Kingdoms. The game is clearly dated, but the fights were huge, unforgiving, and provided some of the most satisfying battle simulation that I have ever seen. There were many maps where there was really no way to have a solid and sound victory - you would have to grit your teeth until the end, with only a skeleton crew left to achieve victory with, and a huge ass army uncomfortably close to you as you desperately attempt to clear crucial objectives.
 

raankh

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Nov 28, 2007
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For me, Independence War 1 & 2 ruined and put a "so-called" in front of every other space sim. I'm hoping for Rogue System, but we'll see what that turns into with only one guy working on it.
 

PPB

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May 25, 2009
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World of Warcraft is the only one that readily comes to mind. I've tried most mainstream MMOs that came out since WoW but they never quite cut it. Or rather, I feel like if I were to spend money on an MMO, spending it on anything else but WoW would feel like a waste. I think WoW is by far the most polished MMO on the market right now, and it's hard to compete with 10 years worth of content. The only others I put a significant amount of hours in are Lord of the Rings Online and The Old Republic, mostly owing to their settings. If they hadn't gone F2P though, I don't think I would have played either of them after a few initial months though.
 

urlorjkron

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Dec 19, 2013
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The Wykydtron said:
I wouldn't say ruined cuz I have a solid list of favourite VNs (Comyu, Devil on the G-String etc etc) but Grisaia no Kaijitsu raised my expectations of what a good Visual Novel looks like greatly, i'm sure i've dropped a few of them because they were nowhere near as good as Grisaia. I recommend everyone to buy it on Steam right the fuck now, it's amazing. Step aside for our lord Juicy Yuuji, motherfuckers.
Grisaia no Kaijitsu (The Fruit of Grisaia) is really the only game I feel has ruined a genre for me. I started on the fan sub a couple years before the anime came out. When I heard about the anime I decided I needed to hurry up and finish all the routes before I ran into spoilers. Now their making animes of the sequals and Sekai Project probably won't have the second game translated until October or so. Basically I can't visit /a/ anymore, which I guess isn't really a bad thing. I have tried playing other VNs but I have yet to find anything of that caliber.

Many people have mentioned World of Warcraft and this game did hold that role for me for some time. Personally I have found TERA a superior replacement due to the nature of how combat works in the game. I remember when Elder Scrolls Online launched and I was excited for it. After playing it for awhile I found myself a bit less enthused. I thought that perhaps that combat style wasn't suited for MMOs. One would be hard pressed to find and game with as much content as WoW, but I find the gameplay in TERA to be much more fun so I don't mind if there is less of it.

For FPSs I constantly find myself comparing them to Battlefield 2. I still think the best game in the series is between BF1942 and BF2. I enjoy other newer games, but nothing has really struck me as being as good as either of those.

There are some games I feel have no successor at all and that their genre, or at least their niche in their genre, has died. Games such as X-wing alliance, Rune: Halls of Valhalla, and Descent come to mind.
 

regalphantom

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Feb 10, 2011
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For me, its less "games that ruined other games in the genre" and "games that make me view similar games less favourably depending on how recently I have played them.

Action-Adventure: Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Its a game I always come back to, and is one of the best experiences I have had in gaming. Its tight, the world is extremely well developed, and it has a ton of side quests and interesting mechanics. I think more developers should try to rip off at least some parts of the game, since it had a ton of cool and challenging ideas (from an implementation standpoint) that were extremely well implemented.

Character Based: Not really a genre, but portal 2 made me look back on a bunch of games less favourably, particularly Mass Effect 2 (I finished ME2 first, played Portal 2, replayed ME2 and decided I just didn't like it as much. Valve did a great job with the characters, again I had the best emotional response to this game.

3D Platformer: There's a lot of competition here. Mario Galaxy, Psychonauts, Conker, but ultimately I feel that Banjo-Tooie is the game I always compare them unfavaourably to. Its fun, colourful and once again I really enjoyed it as an experience.
 

ecoho

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Jun 16, 2010
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Danbo Jambo said:
IOwnTheSpire said:
So what you're really saying is this:



Just because someone has a different opinion doesn't make them liars or bad at their job. It IS their opinion and it IS subjective, so stop acting so condescending. Your view of a video game is not an objective fact, so get over yourself.[/QUOTE]

Lol, but no.

I'm not saying they are wrong as individuals and that only I disagree with them, I'm saying the mass OTT wave of approval from the "proffesional" reviewers and media is without doubt 100% bang out of alignment when compared to public and general opinion.

I hate DA:I, but it may be bareable, it may even be decent to some, but the industry showered absolute bull shit praise on the game as follows:

[i]

"The masters over at Bioware have done it again. This epic journey into the world of Thedas will steal more than 100 hours of your time, hours so full of superb gaming that you'll never forget them." - Gameover

"Dragon Age: Inquisition is the best installment in the series and one of the best games in BioWare's history." - GRYonline

"Not only one of the most expansive RPGs I?ve ever played, but one of the few that successfully fills its gorgeous, massive world with meaningful things to do and see" - IGN (WTF????!!!!!????????????? The absolute opposite is the case!)

"Dragon Age: Inquisition is a wonderful game and a lengthy pilgrimage to a magical world with vital thematic ties to one we already know." - Gamespot
[/i]

Etc.

Believe what you want, but when reviewers are coming out with gumph like this anyone who thinks those reviews are straight up has been hoodwinked, and I wish we'd stop making excuses for them. it's their paid duty to be straight with us, and no way on God's earth is DA:I "filled with meaningful things to do and see", it's full of errands and chores with less meaning than a wingless fly.

In my humble opinion of course.[/quote]

lets go through those shall we,
1. more then 100hours spent yep im at 206.
2. best installment, yep sorry but Go and replay DA:O without mods and see how long it takes you to just not give a shit anymore. Seriously it had as many reused dungeon maps as DA2 they were just better spaced, the combat was horrendous even with the better tactical view in it my warden could still get stuck on a piece of terrain.

3.ok ill give you this one as a lot of the areas outside the hitherlands are pretty sparse.

4. this is actually the best description of the game.

Honestly as much as I like Witcher 3 (and I do like the game which cant be said for witcher 2) I don't see it giving me ether the length of enjoyment DA:I gave me nor make me care about anyone but tris(though ciri is growing on me)

in other words many people like DA:I just because you seem to think they are wrong to do so doesn't mean your right just means you have a different opinion.

OT: FFVI ruined jrpgs for me for none shall ever come that will be as good as its dam soundtrack alone.
 

TristanBelmont

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Nov 29, 2013
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Action-Adventure (I.e. the Zelda genre of them) - Ocarina of Time (duh)
Open-world - Just Cause 2
Sandbox (I consider this different from Open-world because my choice is more contained but offers a different kind of fuck-aroundy fun) - Dead Rising 2
Fighting - It's gonna be realllllllly hard to beat Mortal Kombat X
Racing - Mario Kart 64
Action - It's been difficult for me to find something that beats out Anarchy Reigns. I know it's just a multiplayer game by Platinum and that it doesn't have the complexity of anything else they've ever touched but it's a lot of simple stupid fun.

And as always, MMOs - World of Warcraft. Say what you want on it, but this game TRASHES every other MMO just because it's the game they all try to be. There's a reason that FF XIV and EVE Online are the only other pay-to-play ones that are still going strong.