Games that wasted a perfectly good premise/plot

[XsjadoBlayde]

A lot of concepts in anime would serve better not being in anime, freed of their anime tropes and tricks, it is my unwavering believe.

Neverdead.

State of decay, freed from Microsoft and given the time, budget and care needed to do it proper.

Mad Max could've gone further with the vehicular destruction sandbox, perhaps even included a creation mode for vehicles from the ground up, like that Banjo game or that F2P one called Cross...something.

 

[fOx]

A lot of concepts in anime would serve better not being in anime, freed of their anime tropes and tricks, it is my unwavering believe.

I have to agree with this. There are some interesting ideas and premises that get completely wasted on anime and JRPG'S.

For instance, Cowboy Bebop. A show that makes heavy use of various types of music, and explores the life of an ex mafia member haunted by grief? Sounds great, sign me up. But the fact that it's an anime squanders its potential. My verdict: keep the soundtrack, ditch the animation. Make it live action and stick it on netflix.

Full Metal Alchemist? Nice concept, poorly executed and written. Get some higher class writing staff to completely rework the plot. Make it in live action, but unlike the japanese live action remake, make it good.

Sailor Moon? Convert it to western animation, which is generally higher in quality, and keep the plot in place. Aim it at younger children.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Sands of Destruction for the 3DS

Aww man, I heard about this one. Something kept making me curious about the game, but ultimately not going for it. Shame its premise was wasted like that

 

[Ghostrick Dorklord]

Blazblue Post Continuum Shift

I love me some Blazblue, even if its plot is pretty ridiculous at times but what made it stand out for me story wise is that every character that their own story to play in the narrative. Starting in Chronophantasma there's a focus on a single narrative over having character driven stories which kind of didn't go well with me. Its nice to have focus yeah but there's a lot of things left unexplored, characters we don't really know unless they steal the spotlight like Celica and Kagura. Yeah there is the Arcade story for everyone but it barely scratches the surface and the story isn't going to be following them unless they are a main character. I wanted to see ever character have their own story to tell but the story doesn't want that so yeah.

Sonic games as of late.

While I am echoing Sonic Forces needing to be better well, I think Sonic himself hasn't been doing too hot plotwise. There's clearly an intent to write a story with Lost World, Rise of Lyric, and Forces but it falls flat due to many different issues like having an inconsistent tone or Sonic just taking all the tension out somehow or just being bad. I know this has been a thing since Colors but even back then I knew Colors' story wasn't that amazing, just the gameplay. I know Sonic is a bit of a contentious topic yeah but I think bad writing isn't helping his reputation at all. Oh well I guess? I kind of moved on anyways but its kind of a shame that Sonic has been in a rut for years on end despite wanting to do more.

 

[Samtemdo8]

IMO, that's Red Steel 2 for the Wii, great premise and art style, rather shallow story and somewhat mediocre gameplay.

And what's worse is that a sequel could have addressed these issues, but alas, the franchise was made with the motion controls of a Wiimote in mind, so Ubisoft is gonna have to make a reboot of this:

 

[meiam]

I was going to piss all over The Last of Us again, but I got typing and I just couldn't be arsed after a couple of sentences. I've said it all before, at this point I'm just repeating myself.

So, I'm going to suggest Overwatch instead. Don't get me wrong, I like Overwatch, I've had a lot of fun with it even if I haven't played it in months. But, Activision/Blizzard have created this interesting future world where there are robot uprisings, private armies and shady companies and a whole host of superhero/villain type characters to fight the good fight or bring the world to its knees. And what do they give us? An online only first person shooter where the only hint of a story is a few lines the characters say to add a bit of flavour. And the actual story is contained in videos and comics. I mean what the fuck Activision/Blizzard?

There's some mission you can play with a bit of story. And overwatch 2 is going to be all about the PvE aspect so that'll get fixed there.

Initially it was supposed to be an mmo (project titan iirc) but teh project changed quite a a lot.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Yes because live action versions of things have always gone over so well... The reason anime can do a lot of the things you guys find cool is exactly because it's anime. Making them live action will lead to them being made like other live action shows we already have.

Aww man, I heard about this one. Something kept making me curious about the game, but ultimately not going for it. Shame its premise was wasted like that

*sigh*.... I would say that if you're a creative type and want to or are working on writing or some other creative process then the game is worth looking for and buying for cheap as there's still a lot of interesting stuff in there that can be taken away for inspiration for something new, but if you're looking for a satisfying story or combat then it falls too short.

 

[Worgen]

There's similarities there but man they also changed a number of things, apparently because they couldn't figure out how to make them work properly as part of the game.But man, that 2nd video really makes me sad for what could have been. I don't remember anything that big or involved in the final game we got.

I have a feeling that vid they initially put out wasn't really intended for public consumption, I think it was more of a proof of concept. You can tell just by watching it that a lot of whats there couldn't be gameplay, or at least couldn't be the kind of gameplay you could leave up to the user. It really is interesting how different the early vids were from the end product.

My main grievances are pointed out in the video. The video will start at 10 minutes and 23 seconds. Check the 16 minute mark too for more on QB.

I've seen that vid before and I have to disagree with him on a fundamental level. I don't think cover systems are bad, they were overused for awhile but they aren't inherently bad. A lot of the time when I hear critique about a gameplay system, it gives me the impression of someone essentially saying they want games to be more similar. That certain gameplay mechanics are just worse, like turn based combat, or tank controls or cover systems. All of those mechanics have a place, they can work well or be misused.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

Nier Automata comes to mind. There was a very decent story in there about those two armies of artificial lifeforms fighting an endless proxy war in the name of two long dead civilizations amidst the ruins of a future earth.

The actual game was a poorly conceived mess of cheese instead of pathos, insultingly superficial namedropping of high school philosophy and woefully one note characters. A reminder that there is indeeed a difference between pretentiousness and profundity.

 

[balladbird]

Not sure how well known it is... but the example that has always stuck out in my mind is the niche Xbox360/PS3 JRPG "Eternal Sonata"

According to the game: On the night of his death, legendary Polish composer and piano player Frederic Chopin had a dying fever dream that saw him transported to an anime fantasy world that may or may not be of his own mental creation. Now, as the hours tick away on his final night on earth, he has to come to terms with the dubious reality of his situation, the problems of the cast that has surrounded him, and his own mortality and legacy.

Now, that's a little bit morbid, and I can't speak to the tastefulness of using a real person for it... but it's such a zany amalagam of concepts that I can't deny I was interested. I wanted to see where they were going with it, and what sorts of answers Chopin would find on his bizarre little journey.

... Unfortunately, about an hour after he's first introduced in the fantasy world, Chopin quickly becomes a secondary support character in his own dying dream. The plot completely forgets about him for 40-50 hours, and decides we'd be much more interested in a cliche "evil lord oppressing the populace of an anime fantasy land" story mixed with the JRPG standard, chemistry-devoid, romance between teenagers. The game doesn't remember him again until after you've beaten the penultimate boss... at which point he basically goes "Oh yeah! This was supposed to be my story!" and suddenly becomes the final boss fight. If he beats the party, he wakes up in the real world; if he loses to the party, he implicitly accepts his death and moves on.

I mean, there are some interesting implications there... would have been nice to have them explored by the game, instead of it just being a thing that got tacked onto the end of an otherwise unrelated anime adventure. It was one of the first times I felt like a game had completely sold me a lie. At least the soundtrack was nice.

 

[BrawlMan]

I don't think cover systems are bad, they were overused for awhile but they aren't inherently bad.

I agree, but that does not change the fact that most of 7th generation (and some of gen 8), no one has done much with it, aside from Vanquish, Gears, and Uncharted with it set pieces. There are 3rd person shooters from the PS1/2 days that are more fun than the 99% cover shooters

Jack Joyce might have more movement than your standard cover shooter protag, yet his time powers feel underutilized. I like the time freeze, the dash, and shield are decent ideas, but that makes him overpowered. Even on hard mode. The fact you fight enemies that have no variations of his powers, mini-bosses, or the main boss for that matter. Who should have all the powers Jack does is wasted potential. Especially when Microsoft had that weird fetish for TV and Sports between 2013-2016. That effected the overall product. I know the game sold well, but I highly doubt Remedy is going to comeback unless Microsoft asked them to. QB is not a horrible game, but coming from Remedy, it should have been way better than what was the final product.

 

[Hawki]

So, I'm going to suggest Overwatch instead. Don't get me wrong, I like Overwatch, I've had a lot of fun with it even if I haven't played it in months. But, Activision/Blizzard have created this interesting future world where there are robot uprisings, private armies and shady companies and a whole host of superhero/villain type characters to fight the good fight or bring the world to its knees. And what do they give us? An online only first person shooter where the only hint of a story is a few lines the characters say to add a bit of flavour. And the actual story is contained in videos and comics. I mean what the fuck Activision/Blizzard?

I can't say I disagree per se, but the reason I didn't add Overwatch is that if I did, it behoved me to add quite a few games as well - League of Legends, Dota 2, Paladins, arguably Quake Champions, potentially Heroes of the Storm, etc. Multiplayer-only games that have fleshed out worlds didn't start with Overwatch.

Course, Overwatch 2 might be able to address that if it cranks out singleplayer missions fast enough.

Also, because it has to be said...

But, Activision/Blizzard have created this interesting future world where there are robot uprisings, private armies and shady companies...

So...Black Ops?

 

[Phoenixmgs]

Nier Automata comes to mind. There was a very decent story in there about those two armies of artificial lifeforms fighting an endless proxy war in the name of two long dead civilizations amidst the ruins of a future earth.

The actual game was a poorly conceived mess of cheese instead of pathos, insultingly superficial namedropping of high school philosophy and woefully one note characters. A reminder that there is indeeed a difference between pretentiousness and profundity.

I feel the same about the 1st Nier. Everyone was saying it's the greatest story ever in a video game. It was above average anime and not much more than that. It totally had the same setup where you had to replay the game to get the whole story, which was completely unneeded (I expect Automata is the same). At least the characters were entertaining whereas I played the demo for Automata and the android characters were boring like you'd expect android characters to be.

I agree, but that does not change of the fact that most of 7th generation (and some of gen 8), no one has done much with it, aside from Vanquish, Gears, and Uncharted with it set pieces. There are 3rd person shooters from the PS1/2 days that are more fun than the 99% cover shooters

Most devs aren't really good at designing cover shooters just like anything else (e.g. open world games). Ghost Recon Future Soldier has by far the best cover system because it allowed you to use the cover system for offensive purposes vs only being defensive. The cover system worked basically like a fighting game in the sense that you can combo all your movement abilities together. Here's a movement tutorial for the game.

 

[sXeth]

Destiny, the sheer lack of capitalization on its premise in either lore or gameplay is kind of astounding. Like the base was wobbly, but had potential, then they just never ever expanded on it.




Castlevania Lord of Shadows 2. Future cyberpunk Castlevania. Forget about the handful of awkward steallth segments near the beginning that are the focal point for most of the disregard for it. The real missed boat is they spend 80% of the game in some weird flashback/hallucination of olde timey times, rather then paying off the setup (which at the end of LOS 1, people were legitimately hyped on)

 

[Dalisclock]

So...Black Ops?

I was gonna say the World as shown In MGS4. Or at least, that's the idea. Unfortunately, for all the cool concepts such as a world where there military-industrial complex has run so amok that war is literally the economy, PMCs have replaced national militaries and sentient memes control the world down to unlocking/locking the weapons each soldier carries.....it felt like very little is explored on screen. Instead we're expected to roll with the idea that Ocelot disabling everyone's weapons, thus creating world peace for the first time in likely decades, is a Bad Thing because THE ECONOMY! Unfortunately, Kojima doesn't spend the time doing the legwork to set up why or how this works so instead it just kinda falls flat. At least we got Ocelot Hamming his heart out during the fingergun scene on the river, so I guess it's not a total loss?

Show, Don't Tell, Kojima!

 

[Hawki]

I was gonna say the World as shown In MGS4. Or at least, that's the idea. Unfortunately, for all the cool concepts such as a world where there military-industrial complex has run so amok that war is literally the economy, PMCs have replaced national militaries and sentient memes control the world down to unlocking/locking the weapons each soldier carries.....it felt like very little is explored on screen. Instead we're expected to roll with the idea that Ocelot disabling everyone's weapons, thus creating world peace for the first time in likely decades, is a Bad Thing because THE ECONOMY! Unfortunately, Kojima doesn't spend the time doing the legwork to set up why or how this works so instead it just kinda falls flat. At least we got Ocelot Hamming his heart out during the fingergun scene on the river, so I guess it's not a total loss?

Show, Don't Tell, Kojima!

I chose Black Ops because it's another Activision IP.

But, yeah, fair enough.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Next on my list is Deus Ex: HR

Its a good game without a doubt, but somehow they managed to miss the really interesting parts of what a cyborg future could look like, or they kind of glance sideways at it but never actually engage. As an example, at one point in the game you can find a log that basically says Adam J didn't need the full tire rotation he recieved, and probably could have avoided losing a couple limbs and maybe an eye or something, but bossman decided he wanted a fully pimped ride out of his security officer. So you see that, and you read that in game... and... nothing. No reaction, no discussion, not even a muttered "suck my fuckin dick dude". Like, there could have been some really interesting twists and turns there but for some reason we just didn't get that. Stuff like that just keeps happening over and over. You look over and see the future version of a meth lab where they chop shop people and cook up new mods, and we get like a standard blueblood style commentary on it and then nothing. The game feels like it wants to just show you everything, let you make your own judgements and come to your own conclusions, and then gives you a three choice ending with no denouement. That could work, but the world is too interesting to leave so much unsaid.

My beef with Deus Ex: Human Revolution was short-changing the main dev team by not getting the third hub, outsourcing the bossfights and having a horrid setup for the endings. All of which were non-canon when Mankind Divided rolled around. I don't actually mind the idea that Adam was made all cyborg etc. (after all, he was thrown threw security glass hard enough to make a neat Adam shaped/sized indentation in the hardware on the other side, so you'd be forgiven for thinking that contemporary conventional surgery might have a hard time putting his bones back together, so I can accept Sarif's subsequent actions quite easily), but limits were put in gameplay that didn't let you play with all your toys without feeling really off about it. Playing the Barret bossfight at release with a stealthy character was ridiculously jarring. I still had weapons, but it felt superfluous as just running around the arena throwing barrels at him until the cutscene happened was far and away the most effective way to do it.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

I was gonna say the World as shown In MGS4. Or at least, that's the idea. Unfortunately, for all the cool concepts such as a world where there military-industrial complex has run so amok that war is literally the economy, PMCs have replaced national militaries and sentient memes control the world down to unlocking/locking the weapons each soldier carries.....it felt like very little is explored on screen. Instead we're expected to roll with the idea that Ocelot disabling everyone's weapons, thus creating world peace for the first time in likely decades, is a Bad Thing because THE ECONOMY! Unfortunately, Kojima doesn't spend the time doing the legwork to set up why or how this works so instead it just kinda falls flat. At least we got Ocelot Hamming his heart out during the fingergun scene on the river, so I guess it's not a total loss?

Show, Don't Tell, Kojima!

YES!!! That scene is GLORIOUS!!!

 

[Gordon_4]

I have to agree with this. There are some interesting ideas and premises that get completely wasted on anime and JRPG'S.

For instance, Cowboy Bebop. A show that makes heavy use of various types of music, and explores the life of an ex mafia member haunted by grief? Sounds great, sign me up. But the fact that it's an anime squanders its potential. My verdict: keep the soundtrack, ditch the animation. Make it live action and stick it on netflix.

You speak blasphemy and treason.

 

[Gordon_4]

My beef with Deus Ex: Human Revolution was short-changing the main dev team by not getting the third hub, outsourcing the bossfights and having a horrid setup for the endings. All of which were non-canon when Mankind Divided rolled around. I don't actually mind the idea that Adam was made all cyborg etc. (after all, he was thrown threw security glass hard enough to make a neat Adam shaped/sized indentation in the hardware on the other side, so you'd be forgiven for thinking that contemporary conventional surgery might have a hard time putting his bones back together, so I can accept Sarif's subsequent actions quite easily), but limits were put in gameplay that didn't let you play with all your toys without feeling really off about it. Playing the Barret bossfight at release with a stealthy character was ridiculously jarring. I still had weapons, but it felt superfluous as just running around the arena throwing barrels at him until the cutscene happened was far and away the most effective way to do it.

While I’m glad the directors cut of that game became a thing, it is in retrospect what should have been the base game. And I’d have killed for that third hub in Upper Hengsha.

As for Jensen getting the full RoboCop treatment - since the game has a fair amount of DNA from Robo 1 - I imagine it’s for the same reason: it was part of his contract. Also its hard to spot but I’m pretty sure Jensen gets kind of gutted after going through that plate glass window so he was in pretty bad shape.