Those aspects of the game completely kill it sometimes. Sucks, because it's got a deep lore, that's still growing.Rossmallo said:
Great Stories that deserve Better Games
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I'm actually going to say Street Fighter on this one. Don't get me wrong, I love the Street Fighter series as videogames and generally wouldn't change a thing about them. The genre, however, just isn't all that suited to telling really good stories and the whole back story of Ryu, Ken, Gouken, etc. just cries out to me for some sort of deeper treatment. Maybe I'm just a sucker for that sort of typical kung fu movie storyline, but I'd love to somehow actually be able to play that storyline instead of just having the occasional curscene or manual excerpt referencing it.
The combat is very hamhanded, but not particularly difficult; it probably just felt impossible because nothing really worked. The only way it plays out in any really organic way is if you're a mage. I tried going for a dual-swords rogue sort at first. Felt clunky and awful. Decided to start over as a mage, wrecked pretty much everything with AoE attacks. Only time I died was at a point where I was intended to die.EternalNothingness said:
Hmm, Legacy of Kain: soul Reaver series. Don't get me wrong, the series has an amazing story, characters, and some of the best voice acting ever seen in a game, but the actual game itself was...well maybe not terrible but certainly boring.
Xenosaga, as mentioned, is another good contender.
Xenosaga, as mentioned, is another good contender.
Yeah, you honestly picked the best time to pull the chord on that one. The story goes nowhere in the end, and its already considerable case of Evangelion Syndrome (a disorder characterized by shallow, ultimately pointless, judeo-christian symbolism, an excess of needlessly complex acronyms and made up words for things, and the complete failure of the story to survive the final act in a comprehensible/satisfying manner) only gets worse from there. The whole thing just kind of falls apart in the end.OrpheusTelos said:
]The robot actually contains the soul of Mary Magdeline, you fight an evil robot made from the body of Mary Magdeline (also, the silver-haired guy on your team is some sort of spirit of the universe and met Jesus one time). The gnosis are actually just pissed off ghosts of dead humans. Albedo basically becomes irrelevant as a villain, and villain duties are taken up by far less entertaining badguys. Final boss is the obviously evil CEO guy from the first game, who wants to use a magical god-robot to reset all of time and space because he figured out being immortal doesn't protect him from the end of the universe billions and billions of years in the future.[
Basically, the series was meant to be like five or six games, but they had to cram everything into three. There's a hilarious part in the third game where a narration seems to recap the plot of an entire xenosaga game that just never got to be made, but still has outcomes and plot points that are vital to the story of the last game.
On topic thought: Final Fantasy XII. It actually had a decent story about politics, and war, and betrayal and stuff. But the actual gameplay (and Vaan and Panelo, characters that are literally not required, nor contribute anything of value to the larger plot) is just terrible. It's just a dull slog. No real flash or oomph to it, just a console game trying to feel like you're playing an MMO.
I agree with some of the previously mentioned titles but for the sake of originality I'll pick one that hasn't been mentioned, Homefront. The actual gun play and the half of a story presented was good but the graphics and the fact there was only half a story was terrible.
I kind of cheated with that one so I'll pick another... I got it, Dead Rising 1 & 2 (haven't played 3 so I can't comment on it). The story is surprisingly lucid for a Capcom zombie game and is, in my opinion, a good piece of writing. The gameplay is just so clunky in most areas, but unbelievably so in the boss fights. I still like them and DR3 was the only thing making me think about starting to consider buying an Xbone right out of the gate, but I don't like the series that much...
I kind of cheated with that one so I'll pick another... I got it, Dead Rising 1 & 2 (haven't played 3 so I can't comment on it). The story is surprisingly lucid for a Capcom zombie game and is, in my opinion, a good piece of writing. The gameplay is just so clunky in most areas, but unbelievably so in the boss fights. I still like them and DR3 was the only thing making me think about starting to consider buying an Xbone right out of the gate, but I don't like the series that much...
Ninja'd on the first post v_v. Bioshock Infinite has a lot of interesting things going for it in the story department but the decision to strip it down to a straight-faced shooter did not work for me. He says it better and in more depth. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ2cSKBFBDQ]Casual Shinji said:
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
The story is amazing, and fairly innovative (well, at least the way it's told is). While it's hated now, I think this game might be considered significant in the future.
The game itself is just so frustrating, shallow, and buggy. It was clearly rushed out for the holidays.
The story is amazing, and fairly innovative (well, at least the way it's told is). While it's hated now, I think this game might be considered significant in the future.
The game itself is just so frustrating, shallow, and buggy. It was clearly rushed out for the holidays.
I'm shocked by how many games here are just a couple of years old. I was expecting people to name older games that could use an update, because video games are unique among media in the speed at which even the greatest stories become obsolete relics over a course of several years. You can still find The Count of Monte Cristo or a Buster Keaton film and it holds up, but if you want to experience, say, Shenmue, you'll have enough trouble just finding a way to run it.
I've been playing the first Deus Ex, and it's fantastic in terms of story and theme. I love any game where you can walk up to a bartender and start discussing whether our governmental structure is capable of overcoming the inherent vices of mankind. But trying to play it now can be rough, due to looking and feeling like an N64 game, and there are other problematic aspects: for one thing, the voice acting ranges from "good for a video game" to "a customer at a foreign restaurant ordering a lunch special he's never heard of off the menu phonetically". It could use an update, maybe as a follow-up to Human Revolution since I hear it's a prequel. Somehow a world where the World Trade Center was destroyed in a terrorist attack, resulting in the government massively increasing security, seems even more relevant now than in 2000.
I've been playing the first Deus Ex, and it's fantastic in terms of story and theme. I love any game where you can walk up to a bartender and start discussing whether our governmental structure is capable of overcoming the inherent vices of mankind. But trying to play it now can be rough, due to looking and feeling like an N64 game, and there are other problematic aspects: for one thing, the voice acting ranges from "good for a video game" to "a customer at a foreign restaurant ordering a lunch special he's never heard of off the menu phonetically". It could use an update, maybe as a follow-up to Human Revolution since I hear it's a prequel. Somehow a world where the World Trade Center was destroyed in a terrorist attack, resulting in the government massively increasing security, seems even more relevant now than in 2000.
Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2. While I won't say they are amazing stories, they are decent enough for me to want to continue playing. The problem, I really hate MGS 1's controls with a passion. Apparently, they were made to be bad on purpose(if someone wants to verify this be my guest), for me that's a bad excuse, it makes the game not fun to play. The same could be said to a lesser degree for MGS 2. I liked the actual game more than the first one, but it still felt very "meh" to me.
Not only a 100% third person shooter, but a poorly designed and buggy one at that. It just felt like a game that tried to have it's cake and eat it too. You can't be a full-on action game and an RPG at the same time. Pick one!TehCookie said:
In a way, FFXIV:ARR.
You know the protagonists of the trailers? Might be the only interesting FF protagonists we've seen since IX's Zidane and co. And they're wasted as nothing other than implied characters in an MMO!
Now I love the MMO, but I'd have loved FFXIV:ARR if it had been the next installment in the single player franchise just as much- or perhaps more. Keep the story, make the trailer protagonists the actual protagonists, include dual audio on the fricking disc and don't use costume switching as a battle mechanic, and you just might have the first `classic` quality FF since the PS1.
You know the protagonists of the trailers? Might be the only interesting FF protagonists we've seen since IX's Zidane and co. And they're wasted as nothing other than implied characters in an MMO!
Now I love the MMO, but I'd have loved FFXIV:ARR if it had been the next installment in the single player franchise just as much- or perhaps more. Keep the story, make the trailer protagonists the actual protagonists, include dual audio on the fricking disc and don't use costume switching as a battle mechanic, and you just might have the first `classic` quality FF since the PS1.
I totally agree with what you were saying about Spec Ops: The Line. If they were to take the redundancy from the action, it would have been a near perfect game.josemlopes said:
Loving all the answers. I typically like to wait a bit to present my own so that the question, rather than my opinions dominate the topic.
For me, the ultimate story that deserved a far better game: Shadow Madness (PS1).
I'm willing to bet very few people even played this game, it's not necessarily broken or flawed per se, it's just a shameless rip-off of other JRPG games of it's time that ended up very boring. I can't recall a single battle in that game being interesting, memorable, or even very challenging (outside of remembering what the poorly named spells actually did), and I certainly can't remember any of the basic enemy types. Plus that whole "level cap is 14" thing only works if you're doing something like AD&D based systems, but for a blatant JRPG rip-off it's just pathetic. Underneath all of this mediocrity though is one of the greatest settings for a game I've ever seen. The atmosphere, the writing, the humor, the dialogue, the overall plot, is just absolutely incredible, and had so much originality. I can easily play this game just to experience the story, but it certainly deserves more recognition for it's story and deserves a better game overall.
I'm also surprised nobody mentioned The Witcher or it's sequel. I can't comment as much since I have so much difficulty even getting through the first act with the poor gameplay but everything I've heard lends this to being an exceptionally well written dark fantasy, yet many critics agree it's hard to enjoy until you get the hang of it's very backwards playstyle that is not user friendly at all.
For me, the ultimate story that deserved a far better game: Shadow Madness (PS1).
I'm willing to bet very few people even played this game, it's not necessarily broken or flawed per se, it's just a shameless rip-off of other JRPG games of it's time that ended up very boring. I can't recall a single battle in that game being interesting, memorable, or even very challenging (outside of remembering what the poorly named spells actually did), and I certainly can't remember any of the basic enemy types. Plus that whole "level cap is 14" thing only works if you're doing something like AD&D based systems, but for a blatant JRPG rip-off it's just pathetic. Underneath all of this mediocrity though is one of the greatest settings for a game I've ever seen. The atmosphere, the writing, the humor, the dialogue, the overall plot, is just absolutely incredible, and had so much originality. I can easily play this game just to experience the story, but it certainly deserves more recognition for it's story and deserves a better game overall.
I'm also surprised nobody mentioned The Witcher or it's sequel. I can't comment as much since I have so much difficulty even getting through the first act with the poor gameplay but everything I've heard lends this to being an exceptionally well written dark fantasy, yet many critics agree it's hard to enjoy until you get the hang of it's very backwards playstyle that is not user friendly at all.
I'm going to pick the new Tomb Raider.
I liked what the story was going for, but it needed to be a platformer-adventure game, or at least a serviceable platformer-stealth'em'up. Not the platformer-shooter that we got.
Still my GOTY.
I liked what the story was going for, but it needed to be a platformer-adventure game, or at least a serviceable platformer-stealth'em'up. Not the platformer-shooter that we got.
Still my GOTY.
I can understand frustrating, but that's part of the point of horror games. I don't understand shallow and buggy. I've heard a lot of complaints about that game before, but those two definitely weren't one of them.SomeGuyOnHisComputer said:
Phoenixmgs said:
Then I guess it worked for you.shapaza said:
But for me... Enemies just bum rush you, without even the slightest hint at self preservation or tactics. They just come out of nowhere and start blasting at you like killer robots. And there's no way to anticipate their attacks since the enemy placements are so bad. The only thing you can do is stand there, soaking up all the damage and hope you kill them before your health bar runs dry.
There's no satisfying feedback to shooting enemies either since they're just bullet sponges that soak up all your fire without flinching, only showing that they're hurt when they fall down dead.
The two weapon limit is fucking infuriating in a game where you're forced to constantly shoot countless goons crawling out of the woodwork. Instead of giving you a steady supply of guns in your inventory to allow you to choose the right sort of weapon to use for any given enemy, you have to run around whenever your guns run dry in the middle of a fire fight to grab a fallen enemy's gun and hope it's somewhat decent and well stocked with ammo.
And the guns themselves feel like crap. There's no punch to them at all.
The weapon upgrades add to the frustration, since you're likely to pump all upgrades into your current two weapons. But when those run empty you have to switch them for un-upgraded weapons, since you're not going to spend money on weapon upgrades for guns you're not currently using. This would've all been fixed if they didn't restrict you to only two guns.
And all of this would've been fine if the game wasn't 90% shooting.
HA! Bet none of you heard of THIS one! .hack, an action/strategy RPG. This series has an AWESOME story. I love it. The characters were unique and memorable. The villain was awesome. The plot line was even new for it's time (basically Sword Arts Online before Sword Arts Online for you anime nerds out there, but with more mythology and symbolism. And before you ask, no, it's not pretentious about it). So what's the problem here?
Well, honestly, it's not the gameplay. It's not the most inspired, but it wasn't bad. The problem is how it's delivered. The game as a whole is four disks. Each disk is sold SEPERATELY. When they were new, they were forty dollars. PER DISK! The blow is softened by the fact they were sold with a part of an OVA that accompanied (and did in fact add to) the story with each disk (well, until G.U., which has no excuse in that regard), but that doesn't really do much, especially today when the whole package is still an accumulative total of $120 used from Amazon (you might not get the OVA disks, either).
G.U. is something of a different beast because it's updated with a darker story, a more robust combat system, three disks to the last .hack series' four, and a lot less pointless side-questing stuff. However, without an accompanying OVA, there's really no justifying the old $40 price point from back in the day that EACH DISK HAD!
So yeah. There's a lot to love about these series, but the way they were sold, nobody wanted to buy them, and for that, I am disappoint. So if they were repackaged for one case per series, maybe put the whole OVA onto ONE disk to accompany, .hack would be something worthwhile, but for now...there's a reason why it hasn't seen beyond the edge of the bargain bin.
Well, honestly, it's not the gameplay. It's not the most inspired, but it wasn't bad. The problem is how it's delivered. The game as a whole is four disks. Each disk is sold SEPERATELY. When they were new, they were forty dollars. PER DISK! The blow is softened by the fact they were sold with a part of an OVA that accompanied (and did in fact add to) the story with each disk (well, until G.U., which has no excuse in that regard), but that doesn't really do much, especially today when the whole package is still an accumulative total of $120 used from Amazon (you might not get the OVA disks, either).
G.U. is something of a different beast because it's updated with a darker story, a more robust combat system, three disks to the last .hack series' four, and a lot less pointless side-questing stuff. However, without an accompanying OVA, there's really no justifying the old $40 price point from back in the day that EACH DISK HAD!
So yeah. There's a lot to love about these series, but the way they were sold, nobody wanted to buy them, and for that, I am disappoint. So if they were repackaged for one case per series, maybe put the whole OVA onto ONE disk to accompany, .hack would be something worthwhile, but for now...there's a reason why it hasn't seen beyond the edge of the bargain bin.