Games that you couldn't wait to quit

[DrunkOnEstus]

Snip

Thank you kindly for a very detailed and thought-out answer. When I was fidgeting with 2033 in the past in was on normal difficulty, now I'm determined to get it stable and play it ranger hud-less for stealth and horror maximization. I enjoyed Stalker (I'd rather type out this parenthetical explanation than type that game's real name anymore) so I can get into it. Weird that I see a lot of people considering Last Light an improvement, but I can definitely see your side of things. From the couple hours I played their mastery is atmosphere, and it seems like you get back what you put in. Maybe I'll pick up Redux on a Steam sale, If not for more pretty and a stable framerate. Thanks again for filling me in.

It is a unique issue really. Last light is still objectively an above average FPS with some great moments and scenes of apocalyptic beauty. Reviewers tend to aim to be objective so they couldn't really fault it either. It is a more casual target audience also, Only people who had the misfortune of playing 2033 on ranger mode (or hardcore ranger if you are...umm, hardcore) and loving it, end up having to compare the 2 experiences for the worse.
I imagine it is how DMC fans felt with that reboot.
Stalker is on my must play list, as the only alternative for such an experience. I have yet to scratch that particular itch. It sounds more complicated, so perhaps Metro 2033 will feel like a watered down version for you. Hopefully not. A word of advice though; it likes to autosave at points where you may sometimes not have enough gas-mask filters to get through the area. It is best to maintain some sense of haste when on the surface. I had to restart a chapter once, due to that. It was a slight annoyance. Oh and a chapter near the end did the same thing, in a far more sabotaging manner. That darn autosave. Don't let it out of your sight!
For now, all games are on hold currently, Phantom pain must be played till eye-poppage occurs.

Thanks for the tips. With Stalker, the only basis of comparison really is the Eastern European development and setting. Stalker is an open world, and much more of an RPG than a pure FPS. It's not so much that it's more complicated, but unforgiving. You can head blindly in the "wrong" direction and be severely punished with either radiation or sniper bullets if you aren't prepared. I'm looking forward to Metro because of that, it seems to be a much more structured experience that the player is guided through, opposed to the organic memorable moments that come about as you explore the wasteland of Pripyat (but not at all like Fallout 3, it's difficult to explain). I totally understand wanting to chew through MGS5, I enjoyed Ground Zeroes but I want to play through Peace Walker again to set myself up.

But yeah, I wouldn't fear Stalker like it turns your keyboard into a space shuttle console and has dozens of stats or anything, it just does an incredible job at making a nuclear wasteland that actually feels as unforgiving and unwelcome to your unmutated human existence. I could be simple and say "it's the Dark Souls of open-world FPS, where you can save-scum and avoid a severe death penalty", but that doesn't feel quite right. I definitely recommend it if you enjoyed the theme, characters, atmosphere, and setting of Metro though, especially on Ranger Hardcore. Just keep in mind that some aspects haven't aged well, and it never reached a very bug-free state from the developers. Great mods address this. A lot of the bugs it had were due to it being quite ahead of its time in many regards, particularly enemy AI.

 

[Tilly]

Dark Souls 2.

And that's not to say I didn't try it; I did, I really did. I've been watching the playthrough Yahtzee is doingon his personal youtube channel, and it looked interesting, so I went out and got it (accidentally, but that's another story). After three separate play sessions, four different attempts to make a player-character, and about six to ten times I wanted to put my fist through my fucking TV screen, I decided 'Life's too short' and traded it in. There's challenge barriers, and then there's something that's gonna give me an ulcer. I tend to avoid the latter.

Had you played the other games in the series or was that your first?

 

[BeerTent]

Mass Effect 2.

I'm serious.

I had just finished replaying ME1 to get my save up and ready for it. I did a bunch of side quests to ensure my stats were all the way up. Loved driving around the Mako, loved how the game handled combat, liked the inventory and the dialogue and the leveling system. I had a pretty bitching infiltrator and a strategy revolving him. I even had to deal with some interesting bugs because- MOVING ON!

Then ME2 came out, and I... Got... that too. The story was interesting. Cyberneticly enhanced Shepard! That's my fuckin' bag! Aaaand then the combat rolled around.

I get the first few enemies were slow and weak. we're coming back into the series, we need an easy level. Sure... But the AI of the enemies and teammates? My teammates seemed to always think they were tanks, except they couldn't shrug that shit off. We're on regenerative health, with these red tentacles popping out when my shields got disabled. Yay. The color-coded enemy AI was so bloody awful that getting taken down by them on any difficulty other than insane was an embarrassment. Garrus was alright... Tali's in the story, but I didn't get far enough to unlock her. Jack was goddamn stupid. Miranda couldn't get any more dull if she stuck her ass in front of the camera any longer. We get it. I can bone her. I'm not interested. When Harbinger came out and did "ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL!" for the 80-billionth fucking time like it was some sort of danger, I set the difficulty to casual in hopes that it would reduce the amount of spawn-killing I'd have to do with a pistol, because I had only run into one or two needlessly closed and extra tight maps where I could even use a sniper rifle...

Nope. The battles were longer on Casual, because the enemies moved slower. Fuck that. I'm out. Shepard is dead. If I had to slog through that much barely-awake point and click for the next 5 minute section of okay story, It's not worth it.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Alan Wake had wayyy too much gameplay. I just wanted to get through the story. Still finished it, but I was quite ready to play something else right afterward.

I have to echo this. The only reason I played that game through to the end and endured the hours and hours of repetitive combat was to see what happened with the story. I would play a sequel but only if they promised dramatic changes to their gameplay structure. Love the TV serial / mystery novel style.

Also, I recently finished Dying Light after getting it on sale and holy shit did that game outstay its welcome for me. I just stopped finding it fun about 1/2 of the way through. I rarely quit games, but I do sometimes decide to fast track myself to the end just to get it over with.

 

[Truniron]

Final Fantasy III. The difficulty curve was amazingly bad. I could acept that you had limited use of magic because of magic points, but when they are a must for defeaing bosses you could easily waste them all trying to get to the boss because you could only save on the overworld. Chaning to a job only to find out it was not as good was a dissapointment, but oh-oh! once you change a character job, you have to fight a ceartin number of battles before you can change back. Ughh. Also, I feel the need to bring this up. When you get insta-killed because you explored the world with no explenation, you are allowed to give the game a middle finger.

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z. Hey, here's an idea! Let's take this fast pased, fun and entertaining fighting game and make it slow, boring and sluggish to play. Let's also remove 1v1 fight where players use different combos, skills and cool ki-attacks and make it 4v4 where you only controll one character and have you press one button to preform an entire combo. FUCK OFF!

Mortal Kombat 9: The campain was not interesting and had several plot holes. Also, since you could never choose your favorite, you where often forced to use characters you have never used before in often difficult fights which meant you would have to quit the campain, go to training, go back and then fight. The story mode also offered unskippable cutscenes that you often had to see over and over because you would loose because of the character you where using or the enemy was fighting on a whole different level than you. One may think Metal Gear Solid had long cutscenes (and it has) but at least you can skip them. The multiplayer part of this game was good, but the single player campain was bad.

This section does contain a spoiler for Bravely Default, so read at your own risk.

Spoiler

Bravely Default. So you spend a lot of time grinding and exploring and you then think you are finaly going to face the final boss. Suprise! Now you are sent back to the begining of the game only to fight every boss again on a harder difficulty and every area now has more difficult enemies. I like the game, but to send you back like that just felt like a way to drag out the game for too long than it had to.

 

[Lightspeaker]

Quite a few of my initial reactions to this have already been snapped up. The Witcher and Bioshock are games which I don't even own because I can't make it through the DEMO before getting bored to tears. DAO was one I actually finished and put eighty hours into to clear in full just so I'd have a save for the infinitely superior DA2 and never have to go back to. The story wasn't bad but the gameplay was some of the worst I've ever had the misfortune to play.

So in the interests of bringing something new to the table: Vagrant Story.

Highly rated by all accounts but I never "got" it. I've tried to play it multiple times over the years but I just can't stick with it for more than a couple of hours. I can't get the hang of the combat system at all, I don't understand what I'm doing or where I should be going (even when using a guide I get lost). Everything felt jerky and poorly responsive and I really couldn't give a damn about the story because I had very little idea what was going on. I couldn't work out if I should be grinding levels or just blasting through the story to preserve equipment. I didn't understand any of the equipment upgrade systems (I seem to remember there being one) or anything at all about making my character stronger. And ultimately I just can't bring myself to care in the slightest about any of it; then I realise I could be playing a different, way more interesting, game and it gets turned off. Every time.

 

[Patathatapon]

Brutal Legend

I barely made it to the second chapter. The game was basically a long series of cut scenes with some basic button mashing wedged between.

Shame really, because it was such a great concept. Especially to a metal head/RPG fan like me.

Sadly, it went back to the bargain bin from whence it came.

I wish I could have thrown it into a bargain bin, but I got it from Humble Bundle. Suppose I got what I paid for.


OT: Quantic Conundrum.

I tried playing through it, because I had such high hopes for it. I pre-ordered it on Steam, got the TF2 items, and was so pumped to play it on release day.

Beginning was alright. That was likely the best part.

Further I went into it the hype drained and I just hated the time I wasted. I didn't even care about the money I wasted, I just wanted the time back. I got halfway through the game before saying "Fuck it, my time is not worth this shit anymore". The cherry on top was when I first died, thus screwing up any potential of 100%ing the game. That was where I plummeted off the high.

 

[sageoftruth]

I've got a friend who has a real fondness for really old classics. Some have unique qualities that were overlooked by later developers, making them gems that future games cannot emulate. However, others were trend-setters. The problem with those is that by now tons of games have done the very thing that made these games great, and they have usually done it better too. My friend keeps reminding me that things like a game having a plot, or cringeworthy voice acting was revolutionary back then, but that doesn't keep it from looking stale and overused from my modern perspective.
When my friend has me playing old trend-setters, I can't wait to put them down and play something else.

 

[Lunar Templar]

FF12 comes to mind.

just horrifically boring, bad characters that you where forced to use, while to good ones where off doing other stuff, kind of boring to look at to, I remember a LOT of brown, even after I'd gotten a few towns in, needlessly grindy gear/item system.

really, I need a fucking license to buy Hi Potions?! really with that stupid ass shit. That, and the story to that point had been some how less interesting then Mystic Quests or as good for that matter.

I'd rather play FFVIII, FF13 or FFX-2 again then try to play FF12 again

 

[Buckets]

Agree on Dark Souls, I hated the almost instadeath about every 10 feet. I know hardcore gamers love that shit but even set on the lowest setting I couldn't do it.

Yeah, especially considering there are no difficulty settings in DS.

Is hating on Dark Souls difficulty so popular novadays that even people who didn't play it jump on a bandwagon?

The rerelease had difficulty settings, doesn't mean I didn't try it.

Ah yes, the "re-release". Which also came as a patch and introduced the Bonfire Sybaritic. We have dismissed this claim as an April Fools joke.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/dark-souls-2-patch-will-introduce-new-item-to-reduce-the-difficulty-for-newcomers/1100-6418680/

You really have got a hard on for Dark Souls haven't you. I am not just jumping on some fictional bandwagon, I have tried the game.

I rented it due to all the hype at the time, when I saw said article I thought I'd give it a try (if it was an 'April Fool' it was a pretty fucking pointless one), I played for a couple of hours and found the combat clunky and I couldn't get to grips with the controls. I don't find wrestling with a games controls and the extreme difficulty fun at all, hence back to the thread's title.

 

[jamail77]

Uh.
Skyward Sword. Seriously.

I got to the final boss fight, didn't enter into the fight so I could play the mini-game boss rush thing that gives you the best shield in the game, stopped playing due to personal commitments, and just never came back to it. And, I'm kind of glad I didn't. I have a very completionist AND routine nature. I will continue to do things I don't even like just because I want to see that 100% AND because I already fell into a routine, however stupidly repetitive it is. If I went back I'd feel the need to play Hero Difficulty or whatever it is called and the stuff I didn't like would be all that more unbearable.

OT: Runescape. Oh God, Runescape! The same friend who introduced me into Naruto suggested it back in middle school. Already I should have known better. The game was repetitive and dull like every other MMO I've ever played. Part of the tutorial involves dying purposefully so you can meet the Grim Reaper and get monologued about dying. Dying. In a video game.

Then, when I went to live in an apartment to start out my college career my roommate tried to get me into League of Legends. That might have been even worse. I couldn't get past the tutorial. So. Much. Repetitive. Clicking. And. Other. Nonsense. I was making fun of him for that before I even tried the game for myself. Again, should have known better.

Lately, I've been feeling this with Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4. I picked it up at a goodwill. It's the first skateboarding video game I've ever played. I enjoy it, but it's starting to get old. Unfortunately, my completionist and routine nature compels me to keep playing...at least, until another game takes most of my attention and Tony gets pushed to the backburner.

 

[Mister K]

Snip

With all due respect, my dearest sugar tit, I was only pointing out that your statement that DS has easy mode is false and added some humour.
Never did I state my personal, biased or unbiased opinion about the game itself.

You didn't like it? Your opinion, which you deserve to have. Spreading false info? Punishable by Dempsey Roll.

 

[Buckets]

Didn't like it, end of. Don't know what a Dempsey Roll is, so wasted comment.

 

[Fredrikorex]

Bad PC ports in general, I hate having to dive into a ini file just to remove mouse acceleration, remove framerate cap and/or change the fov.

 

[C.TYR]

Just, Skyrim. I eventually just kept playing the game by sheer means of momentum to get as many missions as possible, til I said 'fuck it' and beat the thing a few hours.
It just wasn't entertaining. There was never enough game there for me as a console player when it came out.

 

[the7k]

Fist of Jesus
I'll do a proper review of this eventually, but as a die hard fan of beat 'em ups, this game is among the worst I've ever played.

And I spent a large amount of time playing Beats of Rage mods made by what I assume to be twelve year olds.

 

[Unia]

So in the interests of bringing something new to the table: Vagrant Story.

I'm not alone! Agree with everything already said and would like to add it's actually nigh impossible to grind since there's a boss fight like every 3 rooms. When you finally beat one you get a RANDOM status upgrade that may or may not happen. I really tried to like the game but the pacing is way out of whack.

 

[Anti Nudist Cupcake]

Baldur's Gate.

What reason can someone possibly have to drudge through such bland, samey terrains with bland enemies, a bland story, a leveling system with utter crap progress (It's just clicking the level up button. The end) rarely any good loot and annoying, immature characters? All you do is walk over all the areas of the map that are covered in black until the entire area is visible and you know you've seen everything. Then you travel in every direction away from the area you are in to do the same thing with all the other areas in the game. It's like RTS scout: The game.

I guess I'm more for arpgs because where Baldur's Gate failed for me was in its lack of any sort of incentive or reward for playing. I need to be able to manually adjust attributes/skills every time I level up, not just the first few times. I also prefer to control ONE character (which I did, fuck those shitty party members) and see VISUAL progression in my character, this usually involves getting better gear.

I have no idea what makes this game so interesting to others. Is it the strategy? Why play an rpg for strategy when there are strategy games to play... It doesn't matter. Others can enjoy it all they like, it is just not my cup of tea. Which is a shame. I wanted to like it, I tried so hard to like it but I just couldn't.

 

[sonicneedslovetoo]

Dragon Age Origins. Before you all jump on me for saying that let me explain: I have a different idea of wizards/mages than DA:O has, I grew up on games like Master of Magic, JRPG's and WOW so that was where most of my previous experiences with RPG's came from:
In JRPG's mages were glass cannons that had to refuel with either inns or elixirs and could lay down some serious hurt if they don't die.
In WOW(and other MMO's) mages have to stand beside the other classes because of balance reasons so they generally operate on the same rhythms of other classes.
In Master of Magic/Age of Wonders they are literally civilization controlling demigods struggling for the power to take the "demi" out of that equation entirely and rule over both planes. They are so powerful that they are able to cast spells that can literally stop time or set the world into decay.

And then after all that I come into playing Dragon Age... My disappointment in the game was palpable, mages where a support class that can barely fart out one magic missile before they had to let it recharge for eight seconds. Its not even a particularly good magic missile either. Then they have support abilities, but I find out that most of them either give small bonuses or work on both my allies and my enemies.
I take a look at the skill trees and they look HORRIBLE, eclectic to the point of being schizophrenic. It looked like somebody at bioware wanted to make a fire mage and a healing mage and so on. Then after they put together a spell list that would dictate a fleshed out class for each one somebody looked at it and told them to cut it down to almost nothing. So I'm left trying to cobble together a wizard out of the worst and most situational spells that in more modern RPGs are put alongside other more bread and butter spells to keep playing the class interesting and engaging.
Combine the wizard one step below Rincewind with a generic fantasy world and you've got a game that I just don't understand and can clearly label as "not for me."