Games you forgave and punished for their story.

[Fanfic_warper]

Basically, what games have you forgiven despite their glitches, clumsy gameplay or other such features just becasue they had an awesome story.

Inversely, what games have you punished for having possibly good gameplay and smooth graphics but lousy story.

For me, I forgive Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII. For all the issues that can be said to have with lengthy cutscenes, I still love the stories enough to keep playing and re-playing them even to this day.

I punished Dead Space by taking it back to Gamestop the very next day after I bought it when I found out the story was essentially Resident Evil...In SPACE!!!!!

 

[Phlakes]

Mirror's Edge is very rough around the edges and needs lots of refining, but I still love it. And we need a sequel on Frostbite 2. I really want to see that city with Frostbite 2.

 

[Zhukov]

Lesse now...

(I'm counting characters as part of the story here.)

I forgave The Longest Journey for its flaws because it had April Ryan in it.
I forgave Bioshock for its final act because, well... it was Bioshock.
I forgave Mass Effect 1 for the lacklustre combat, the inventory fiddling, the corny writing and the horrible planet exploration because it had Wrex and Liara in it. Also because the climax was awesome.
I forgave Dragon Age 2 for its recycled dungeons and dodgy narrative structure because it had Varric, Merrill, Avaline and Isabella in it.

As for "punished", um... I'm not quite sure how exactly one punishes a game.

 

[Fanfic_warper]

As for "punished", um... I'm not quite sure how exactly one punishes a game.

Just earning you loathing. If a company fails to impress you, your hate should be enough...it doesn't hurt if you've sold back the game either.

 

[Thaluikhain]

XDAS (or the Chzo Mythos, if you prefer), by that Ben Croshaw person.

The game was built around the story, as he knew drawing his own graphics and creating the gameplay using AGS wasn't going to impress anyone. So, the story makes me forgive all the other things.

 

[MattyDienhoff]

Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis gets a free pass from me on its bugs and quirks, partially for its story, but mainly for its huge scale.

This is a game in which massive battles can be fought on land, sea and air, with any combination of players and NPCs fighting on foot or in all sorts of vehicles, in a massive and detailed game world dozens of square kilometers in size. This is a game in which vehicles aren't just scripted props on which you 'ride shotgun' in a rail shooter sequence. Rather, they are fully integrated into the game and can be utilized any way you see fit. This is a realistic, in-depth infantry FPS that also makes a real attempt to simulate combined arms warfare and show the complex relationships between infantry, armor and air elements in battle. And it did all of this in 2001, before even Battlefield 1942 came along.

It's a great simulator, but it somehow manages to be a good game too because the story is far more developed than most war games. It involves a 'what if' scenario in which a series of clashes between the Soviet and US militaries take place in an Eastern European island chain (the titular flashpoint), which have the potential to spark off World War 3. Throughout the campaign you take control of four different characters whose stories intertwine, each giving you a different perspective on the conflict. The characters are an infantryman (later promoted to squad leader), a tank commander, a helicopter pilot and a special forces commando. In one mission you're the special forces soldier sabotaging enemy defenses, and in the next you're the tank commander assaulting those defenses, and how successful your sabotage was has a direct effect on how difficult the tank battle will be. And that's just one of several examples.

With all it accomplishes, I just can't hold the game's sub-par graphics, glitchy physics, goofy voice acting and unintuitive controls against it. Nothing could hold a candle to Operation Flashpoint's sheer scope and versatility when it was released, and very few can even now. In fact, I can only think of two games that even fit into the same category, its spiritual sequels, Armed Assault and ArmA 2, and while those are arguably better simulators, they're inferior games.

 

[ChupathingyX]

I forgave Fallout: New Vegas for it's bugs because...well, I loved everything else.

 

[Avatar Roku]

I forgave Mass Effect 2 for it's shit main plot because the gameplay, characters, and the character missions (i.e, recruitment and loyalty) were so awesome.

 

[ecoho]

i forgave dragon age 2 for its ok story and recycled enviroments cause i liked the combat and the characters.
i forgave too human for its horrible controls because its just a blast to play once you get through the story.

i punished fallout3 by putting it in a box and not playing it since the first week i got it(wasnt worth anything trading in)
i punished tales of symphonia: dawn of the new world by burning my disc unceremoniously and then giving an honest review of it online. after that i went back to were i burned it and pissed on the ashes. such a bad game.........

 

[PeePantz]

I would have to say Deadly Premonition and Mass Effect.

Deadly Premonition has terrible controls, looks like it should be on the Dreamcast, and is filled with odd glitches. Yet, it's one of my all time favorite games.

Mass Effect: Let's face it, the game play wasn't that great. I learned to really enjoy it, whether it be with the Mako or the terrible combat. For a game this recent, there is really no excuse to be that backwards as far as gameplay is concerned (except it's a Bioware game). However, once again, it's one of my all time favorite games.

 

[tehweave]

Final Fantasy 9. Have you ever loved a game for its flaws? FF9 has an endless supply of flaws, but I still love it. I DON'T KNOW WHY. Off the top of my head:

- That stupid fucking card game. (totally optional but still annoying and exceedingly cheap)

- Potions do about 66% of their full power in the overworld. (150 in battle, 100 on the overworld)

- EVERY SINGLE TIME you fight Bellatrix.

Spoiler

She takes you all down to one health, and I'm like "I CAN STILL TOTALLY TAKE YOU! LET ME FIGHT GODDAMMIT!" But no, due to the storyline, fight ends, she walks off with the macguffin of the hour. The worst part? She joins your team for a brief chapter and her health/abilities are now a FRACTION of what they were. Seriously. The last fight we have with her she has over 6000 health. Then she joins your team and has 700 health. SHE'S ONLY IN IT FOR ONE CHAPTER, AND IS STILL TOTALLY OVERPOWERED. WHY CAN'T WE JUST HAVE THE 6000 HEALTH BELLATRIX???

- The story.

Spoiler

Strangely dark for a really cartoony game. Yes, FF7 and FF8 had dark storylines as well, but they had some grounding in realism. FF9 is just a giant cartoon. And then an evil queen blows up every major city killing millions because she can.

- A plot that moves slower than FF13.

Spoiler

In fact, the game HAS NO PLOT. It's just one random string of events thrown together and doesn't actually get to the "Oh! Here's WHY we're playing" part until about halfway through. And even then it's pretty loopy.

- A final boss that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the rest of the game.

Spoiler

This "Kuja" guy is set up as a unstoppable badass like Sephiroth and you do fight him several times, but he isn't the last boss. Who is? Death. You fight death. No, seriously. DEATH. You don't even beat him! You just do enough damage until he lets you go. He never shows up until the very last fight. It makes no sense and comes out of left field for no reason.

- A difficulty curve that takes extremely sharp turns.

Spoiler

I remember at one point fighting a boss monster with 8000 health. It was difficult but manageable. The next boss I faced which was semi-close by had 21,000. And could wipe the floor with my team. WTF. Also, there's sections where your entire team has to split up to cover two different areas. So unless you've been leveling all 8 characters the entire time, you're royally screwed.

- The point of no return comes too early and with no warning.

Spoiler

Right before the 4th disc, is some sort of dungeon that's upside down, and then another level before the final stage. The problem is, unless you save at around this point, once you get to the 4th disc, the entire world is covered in fog, and you can't get to most major cities to finish the sidequests. There's literally no warning, and once this happens you can go in and out like the crater in FF7, but can't visit ANYWHERE. They're all blocked off by trees!

- Abilities/Status Effects that totally suck.

Spoiler

Auto life revives you with 1 health point. A decent ability, but it only works once. And has ONE HEALTH POINT. Several bosses have a 9999 attack that is impossible to dodge, and bringing everyone back to life with 1 health is a great way to get shit on by another cheapo move, killing you permanently. Plus, petrify and stop never go away unless you heal them. So if your entire party gets under petrification or stopped, game over. Start from last save. WHAAAT? Plus, this is the first game I've ever seen use "zombie." It especially sucks because Death uses it. You can't even revive your characters. EVERYTHING hurts them, even healing abilities.

But! I still love the game. It's really fun despite the things that make me want to TEAR MY HAIR OUT. (listed above)

 

[LobsterFeng]

Resident Evil 4 definitely. It's such a retarded story, yet it's my favorite game of all time.

 

[demoman_chaos]

I forgave the fact there is no story in Mount&Blade because the combat poo's all over every other medieval RPG.

 

[shrekfan246]

Final Fantasy 9. Have you ever loved a game for its flaws? FF9 has an endless supply of flaws, but I still love it. I DON'T KNOW WHY. Off the top of my head:

- That stupid fucking card game. (totally optional but still annoying and exceedingly cheap)

- Potions do about 66% of their full power in the overworld. (150 in battle, 100 on the overworld)

- EVERY SINGLE TIME you fight Bellatrix.

Spoiler

She takes you all down to one health, and I'm like "I CAN STILL TOTALLY TAKE YOU! LET ME FIGHT GODDAMMIT!" But no, due to the storyline, fight ends, she walks off with the macguffin of the hour. The worst part? She joins your team for a brief chapter and her health/abilities are now a FRACTION of what they were. Seriously. The last fight we have with her she has over 6000 health. Then she joins your team and has 700 health. SHE'S ONLY IN IT FOR ONE CHAPTER, AND IS STILL TOTALLY OVERPOWERED. WHY CAN'T WE JUST HAVE THE 6000 HEALTH BELLATRIX???

- The story.

Spoiler

Strangely dark for a really cartoony game. Yes, FF7 and FF8 had dark storylines as well, but they had some grounding in realism. FF9 is just a giant cartoon. And then an evil queen blows up every major city killing millions because she can.

- A plot that moves slower than FF13.

Spoiler

In fact, the game HAS NO PLOT. It's just one random string of events thrown together and doesn't actually get to the "Oh! Here's WHY we're playing" part until about halfway through. And even then it's pretty loopy.

- A final boss that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the rest of the game.

Spoiler

This "Kuja" guy is set up as a unstoppable badass like Sephiroth and you do fight him several times, but he isn't the last boss. Who is? Death. You fight death. No, seriously. DEATH. You don't even beat him! You just do enough damage until he lets you go. He never shows up until the very last fight. It makes no sense and comes out of left field for no reason.

- A difficulty curve that takes extremely sharp turns.

Spoiler

I remember at one point fighting a boss monster with 8000 health. It was difficult but manageable. The next boss I faced which was semi-close by had 21,000. And could wipe the floor with my team. WTF. Also, there's sections where your entire team has to split up to cover two different areas. So unless you've been leveling all 8 characters the entire time, you're royally screwed.

- The point of no return comes too early and with no warning.

Spoiler

Right before the 4th disc, is some sort of dungeon that's upside down, and then another level before the final stage. The problem is, unless you save at around this point, once you get to the 4th disc, the entire world is covered in fog, and you can't get to most major cities to finish the sidequests. There's literally no warning, and once this happens you can go in and out like the crater in FF7, but can't visit ANYWHERE. They're all blocked off by trees!

- Abilities/Status Effects that totally suck.

Spoiler

Auto life revives you with 1 health point. A decent ability, but it only works once. And has ONE HEALTH POINT. Several bosses have a 9999 attack that is impossible to dodge, and bringing everyone back to life with 1 health is a great way to get shit on by another cheapo move, killing you permanently. Plus, petrify and stop never go away unless you heal them. So if your entire party gets under petrification or stopped, game over. Start from last save. WHAAAT? Plus, this is the first game I've ever seen use "zombie." It especially sucks because Death uses it. You can't even revive your characters. EVERYTHING hurts them, even healing abilities.

But! I still love the game. It's really fun despite the things that make me want to TEAR MY HAIR OUT. (listed above)

I agree. I simultaneously hated and loved the card game, and I wanted Bellatrix to be a permanent member of the party. The story/plot are pretty. . . interesting, even for a Final Fantasy game. Though the other parts I think are a bit more subjective. I never really had issues with boss fights except for the final boss (which was a bit odd and out of place for the aforementioned interesting story), and the Status Effects were annoying, but simultaneously they were pretty interesting as well. I remember some big huge skeleton-zombie-dragon thing jumped out as a mini-boss fight and all I had to do was use a phoenix down and it died instantly.

That was IX, right? It's been so long I don't remember whether it was VIII or IX that had that mini-boss thing.

EDIT: Oh, and I don't remember the "point of no return" being so early. In fact, I recall that I could return to the world map and visit any place that mattered even just before the final fight with Kuja. But again, it's been a long time since I played the game, so take that with a grain of salt.

And for OT: I forgive the Metal Gear Solid series as a whole. As terrible as I am at stealth games and as convoluted as the story is, I honestly can't hate it even for its thirty-minute cut-scenes because the gameplay is so satisfying and the characters are extremely well characterized.

 

[LilithSlave]

Strangely dark for a really cartoony game. FF9 is just a giant cartoon.

That's not a flaw.

 

[tehweave]

Strangely dark for a really cartoony game. FF9 is just a giant cartoon.

That's not a flaw.

You seem to have snipped off the part where I say:

And then an evil queen blows up every major city killing millions because she can.

Which is interesting, because that's the very next sentence, and helps my argument juxtapose the "look" of an extremely cartoony game with the "feel" of an extremely dark fantasy game.

 

[tehweave]

snip

I agree. I simultaneously hated and loved the card game, and I wanted Bellatrix to be a permanent member of the party. The story/plot are pretty. . . interesting, even for a Final Fantasy game. Though the other parts I think are a bit more subjective. I never really had issues with boss fights except for the final boss (which was a bit odd and out of place for the aforementioned interesting story), and the Status Effects were annoying, but simultaneously they were pretty interesting as well. I remember some big huge skeleton-zombie-dragon thing jumped out as a mini-boss fight and all I had to do was use a phoenix down and it died instantly.

That was IX, right? It's been so long I don't remember whether it was VIII or IX that had that mini-boss thing.

EDIT: Oh, and I don't remember the "point of no return" being so early. In fact, I recall that I could return to the world map and visit any place that mattered even just before the final fight with Kuja. But again, it's been a long time since I played the game, so take that with a grain of salt.

And for OT: I forgive the Metal Gear Solid series as a whole. As terrible as I am at stealth games and as convoluted as the story is, I honestly can't hate it even for its thirty-minute cut-scenes because the gameplay is so satisfying and the characters are extremely well characterized.

I might have missed something for the PONR section, but once the fog came in, you could still fly around the overworld with your ship, but I could never access any of the cities where I had a few sidequests that needed doing.

And yes, IX had the zombie mini-boss that could be insta-killed with a phoenix down.