Mediocre/bad games you just can't stop playing.

[RJ 17]

In a ouple other threads I've been drawn into rather lengthy discussions on the subject of Dragon Age 2...and it's REALLY giving me the urge to dust off that game and go for another play-through.

For that matter, yesterday I had the urge to play through Portal 2 again from start to finish. Took about 5 hours or so to beat the game considering I already know all the solutions, but I do enjoy the narrative and the characters and the dialogue.

Anyone else got some games they acknowledge as mediocre at best that, for whatever reason, they always end up coming back to for s play-through? For that matter...does the fact that you just can't stay away from such games perhaps bump them up from mediocre to good in your eyes?

 

[RJ 17]

Heh heh, fair enough. Personally, though, if you ask me the first generation of Pokemon was the best...long before they started making pokemon centered around religious beliefs and sexual orientations (exagerating/joking, obviously ). I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you asked a kid today "Who's Mewtwo?" they'd have no clue who the hell you were talking about.

 

[pilouuuu]

Do you think Portal 2 is mediocre?

 

[RJ 17]

Do you think Portal 2 is mediocre?

Only in the sense that, by its very nature, it technically has 0 replay value. Once you've beaten the game once, you officially know how to solve all the puzzles. As such the game itself becomes pointless.

However, as I said, I still love the game and easily consider it one of my favorites, as can be seen by the fact that - despite being able to breeze through every single puzzle - I still enjoy loading it up for a playthrough every now and then.

 

[pilouuuu]

Do you think Portal 2 is mediocre?

Only in the sense that, by its very nature, it technically has 0 replay value. Once you've beaten the game once, you officially know how to solve all the puzzles. As such the game itself becomes pointless.

However, as I said, I still love the game and easily consider it one of my favorites, as can be seen by the fact that - despite being able to breeze through every single puzzle - I still enjoy loading it up for a playthrough every now and then.

I see... So that just shows that it's an amazing mediocre game, right? :-D
I agree with DA2. The game got bashed, but it's quite fun nonetheless, just no top-notch game.

 

[FalloutJack]

Do you think Portal 2 is mediocre?

Only in the sense that, by its very nature, it technically has 0 replay value. Once you've beaten the game once, you officially know how to solve all the puzzles. As such the game itself becomes pointless.

However, as I said, I still love the game and easily consider it one of my favorites, as can be seen by the fact that - despite being able to breeze through every single puzzle - I still enjoy loading it up for a playthrough every now and then.

I see... So that just shows that it's an amazing mediocre game, right? :-D
I agree with DA2. The game got bashed, but it's quite fun nonetheless, just no top-notch game.

Jack cannot consider a game that was received so damn well by the masses to be mediocre, regardless of the OP's statement.

 

[RJ 17]

Do you think Portal 2 is mediocre?

Only in the sense that, by its very nature, it technically has 0 replay value. Once you've beaten the game once, you officially know how to solve all the puzzles. As such the game itself becomes pointless.

However, as I said, I still love the game and easily consider it one of my favorites, as can be seen by the fact that - despite being able to breeze through every single puzzle - I still enjoy loading it up for a playthrough every now and then.

I see... So that just shows that it's an amazing mediocre game, right? :-D
I agree with DA2. The game got bashed, but it's quite fun nonetheless, just no top-notch game.

Jack cannot consider a game that was received so damn well by the masses to be mediocre, regardless of the OP's statement.

Wow...speaking in the 3rd person? That's just...wow.

And you're kinda missing out on the point of what I'm saying. Everyone loved Portal 2, I'm not arguing that. It was easily one of the most eagerly awaited games of last year. We all had our fun puzzling out each new chamber during our first play-through, and even more fun going through the Co-operative Testing Initiative with the two robots.

That said, however, from a strictly technical and objective stand-point, you can really only "play" the game once. A very literal comparison would be like picking up a book full of pen-and-paper mazes that have already been completed. There's nothing to do with them anymore, doing them again is absolutely pointless seeing as how you already know the proper path to take. That's why I say it technically has 0 replay value, because unless you're like me (and I've got a feeling that the majority of players, in this case, are) who can love a game purely just for the story, it literally has no value as a "game" when played after the first play-through.

That said, I still consider it one of the best games of last year and, as I said, I still load it up for a "quick" run through every now and then just to listen to Wheatley's British accent spouting out humorous lines, Cave Johnson's pre-recorded messages which indirectly detail the downfall of Aperture Labs, GLaDOS' transformation from a cold computer-generated personality full of venom and spite into a more human-like personality as Carolyn's consciousness comes more and more to the surface.

Let me put it this way: when I'm "grading" a game, I look at 3 different things: Story (which includes characters, plot, dialogue, and narrative), Gameplay/Mechanics, and Replay Value. Story gets a 10/10. Gameplay/Mechanics gets a 10/10. Replay Value gets a 0/10 for the reasons I mentioned above. That's a total of 20/30, 66%, which is why I call it a "mediocre game that I love to play over and over".

 

[sageoftruth]

I decided to replay Devil Summoner 2. After going through all the dialogue once, it was just annoying afterwards, but I could not resist the Pokemon-esque urge to find everything and do everything possible in the game, including getting the second ending.

 

[Captain Booyah]

L.A. Noire. I don't even know. It's like crack. It's amazing in its own little way, and I love it, but it is...well, mediocre, from a more objective standpoint.

I just personally like being a detective [del]that runs pedestrians over for the thrill[/del] what? Who said that?

 

[geK0]

Minecraft

As wonderful and addictive as it is,you have to admit it's a pretty sloppy game overall.

 

[teh_Canape]

apparently Rage was crap
so there's that =P
I really enjoy it

same as Crysis 2

I love both

and to some extent, Duke Nukem Forever... if only I didn't have to go through that motherfucking Hive every time

 

[Realitycrash]

The only games I keep playing over and over and over and over again (and over..) are Civilization 4 and Rome: Total War, neither which are mediocre.

 

[Sandytimeman]

hmm, mediocre games? I can't really think of any to be honest. Portal 2 was fun and the multiplayer gives it a bit of longevity.

I suppose Crysis was kinda a meh game. I've played through that a few times just cuz I enjoy sitting on a boat sniping every single guy I can find

 

[urahara75]

I have to go with Borderlands: it wasn't a remarkable game when it was released by a lloonngg stretch, and solo'ing the campaign is an exercise in shaving thru your patience with a cleaver, but it's a hoot with a decent forum member (or three). I consider it the proto-Dead Island meself. :3

On second thought, I can also say I've sunken hundreds+ more hours than fathomably comprehensible into games like Resident Evil 5 & Vanquish. I chalk this up to my oldfound(?) bias towards the BIOHAZARD/Resident Evil franchise, and 3PS over FPS: I was never much of a PC/FPS gamer, and (IMHO) third-person renders a better sense of "tactile/peripheral visual awareness". 3PS camera angling conveys a closer proximity to human vision, even from behind or "over the shoulder" than FPS shooter/rail/RPG/whatever games can manage to implement up to this point. But the second a technology allows devs to "stretch" or expand the visual range of a shot, a la the J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Enterprise's viewscreen, a bets are off...

 

[Gralian]

The Dynasty Warriors games. That shit is like crack.

Yes, i know it's shallow gameplay. Laughable voice acting. Butchered retelling of the romance of the three kingdoms. It's a cheap, arcade trashy brawler. And you know what? I love it. I love it so much that i've got almost every DW game from the PS2 up until now. Yes, that includes the shitty Empire ones. There's just something so very cathartic about hacking legions of mooks to bits. People tell me that supporting that type of game production is hurting the industry, but you know what, fuck 'em. I don't care how objectively 'bad' it is. I like what i like, and that's that.

One reason to love Dynasty Warriors: Lu Bu. That man is a GOD.

 

[RJ 17]

L.A. Noire. I don't even know. It's like crack. It's amazing in its own little way, and I love it, but it is...well, mediocre, from a more objective standpoint.

I just personally like being a detective [del]that runs pedestrians over for the thrill[/del] what? Who said that?

I gotta say I did thoroughly enjoy LA Noire, really the only problem I had with the story was that, as many people pointed out, even if you finger the wrong guy for the crime it doesn't really matter. But that's not the point! It doesn't matter to the game, but it should matter to you. You should feel a sense of personal achievement knowing that you found all the clues and followed all the leads in the right way that led to the apprehension of the right guy.

That and I thought the whole "cheating on your wife with the singer" thing was very, VERY forced. Phelps up to that point was a straight-as-an-arrow, incorruptible pillar of everything that we want to see in a cop. Then one night he just up and decides "You know what? I wanna go bang this singer chick." Didn't really make sense to me.

Other than that I really enjoyed the story of LA Noire. Heh heh, as for running over pedestrians, I REALLY loved the way your partner would start bitching at you when you drive like a maniac, and how you essentially just keep telling him to fuck off.

 

[weker]

APB:R over and over again, it's such an incredibly broken game, but it has so much potential and is soo addictive.

 

[daveman247]

Well, i actually enjoyed Duke Nukem Forever, and its DLC. And that was in most peoples eyes the mother of all bad games. But to me it just did everything i expected it to The fact that its "out of time" was pretty much expected.

Earth defence force/ insect armorgeddon (more so) I keep playing again and again. And that was considered average by most. Must. Keep. Shooting.

I also sometimes come back to Tenchu Z and Alien vs predator (The newest one) despite both being mediocure. Probably because both provide an experience that no other game has been able to match really. That being STEALTHY Ninja's and Aliens vs predators.

Thats all i can think of for now

 

[daveman247]

The Dynasty Warriors games. That shit is like crack.

Yes, i know it's shallow gameplay. Laughable voice acting. Butchered retelling of the romance of the three kingdoms. It's a cheap, arcade trashy brawler. And you know what? I love it. I love it so much that i've got almost every DW game from the PS2 up until now. Yes, that includes the shitty Empire ones. There's just something so very cathartic about hacking legions of mooks to bits. People tell me that supporting that type of game production is hurting the industry, but you know what, fuck 'em. I don't care how objectively 'bad' it is. I like what i like, and that's that.

One reason to love Dynasty Warriors: Lu Bu. That man is a GOD.

OH NOES: Double Post but oh well.

I have always wanted to try one of those games, pretty much for the same reasons as you. I know it is a "bad" game. But slaughting hoards of enemies with a sword looks like good fun. Which game would be recommended? *note* i would probably only get ones that were on the 360.

 

[RJ 17]

I have to go with Borderlands: it wasn't a remarkable game when it was released by a lloonngg stretch, and solo'ing the campaign is an exercise in shaving thru your patience with a cleaver, but it's a hoot with a decent forum member (or three). I consider it the proto-Dead Island meself. :3

On second thought, I can also say I've sunken hundreds+ more hours than fathomably comprehensible into games like Resident Evil 5 & Vanquish. I chalk this up to my oldfound(?) bias towards the BIOHAZARD/Resident Evil franchise, and 3PS over FPS: I was never much of a PC/FPS gamer, and (IMHO) third-person renders a better sense of "tactile/peripheral visual awareness". 3PS camera angling conveys a closer proximity to human vision, even from behind or "over the shoulder" than FPS shooter/rail/RPG/whatever games can manage to implement up to this point. But the second a technology allows devs to "stretch" or expand the visual range of a shot, a la the J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Enterprise's viewscreen, a bets are off...

Oh I definitely hear you on Borderlands. It's a VERY simple-minded game but I think it was pulled off very well. Its sense of humor, for instance, is absolutely fantastic. And I've gotta say that the DLC for that game is, to date, some of my favorite DLC ever. Zombie Island was hilarious (the opening and ending videos make me bust a gut even now). Crimson Armory was hilarious as we listen to a decorated general who's superior is apparently a 9 year old child. That game was very mediocre, and yet so very enjoyable.

The Dynasty Warriors games. That shit is like crack.

Yes, i know it's shallow gameplay. Laughable voice acting. Butchered retelling of the romance of the three kingdoms. It's a cheap, arcade trashy brawler. And you know what? I love it. I love it so much that i've got almost every DW game from the PS2 up until now. Yes, that includes the shitty Empire ones. There's just something so very cathartic about hacking legions of mooks to bits. People tell me that supporting that type of game production is hurting the industry, but you know what, fuck 'em. I don't care how objectively 'bad' it is. I like what i like, and that's that.

One reason to love Dynasty Warriors: Lu Bu. That man is a GOD.

Good god, don't even get me started. I joined up with DW 4, got DW 5 and DW 5 Empires. Got Orochi 1 and 2. That got me interested in Samurai Warriors so I picked up SW 2 and SW 2 Empires. Got DW 6 and DW 6 Empires. At that point, like a fat-ass at a buffet I had to actually forcefully push myself away and say "I'm fucking full...can't eat another bite." I LOVE those games waaaaaaaaaaay more than I should, but I made a promise to myself that after DW 6 Empires I was done...that doesn't mean I haven't felt the itch to pick up Strike Force and DW 7. I just have to look away and shout "TEMPT ME NO MORE, SATAAAAAAAAN!" As for my favorite character, Lu Bu's too much of a cop-out. I mean he literally is a god . So it really depends on if we're talking with the DW 6 format or not. In DW 6/DW 6 Empires, think my favorite would be Gan Ning, least favorite is Dian Wei (such a god damn shame that they made him so shitty in DW 6). But before DW 6...hmmmmm...I like Guan Yu and Zhang Fei but they're both too slow. I'll go with Zhao Yun, he's always been a badass no matter which variation of the game you're playing.