Hey, I've never read that one before, thanks.Karloff said:
Also, for other people who aren't familiar with that article: highly recommended.
That Game I Should Have Liked
- Thread starter Shamus Young
- Start date
Also, for other people who aren't familiar with that article: highly recommended.
I know the feeling.
I really should have loved Fallout 3 and New Vegas, but the setting just doesn't do it for me.
Instead, I finished Fallout 3 out of some false sense of obligation.
I really should have loved Fallout 3 and New Vegas, but the setting just doesn't do it for me.
Instead, I finished Fallout 3 out of some false sense of obligation.
It's a solid game, well made and crafted. But it's a world that I didn't want to explore.Birthe said:
I never even set foot inside the Nuka Cola Factory or the Vault Tec Headquarters.
It's always interesting to hear other peoples' opinions and reviews of a game, though increasingly I find that I buy new computer games like I buy fantasy books - through word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family. A good friend of mine strongly recommended The Witcher to me the other day, so I'll probably give it a go. To put the conversation in context, I had actually called him to congratulate him and his wife on the birth of their first-born. Granted, we did spend a lot of time discussing the new baby first, but if a game makes enough of an impression that a proud new father remembers to mention it, then I feel it's probably worth a look. 
I was never able to get all the way through The Witcher myself and as much as I wanted to love it, I just lost interest in it. I'm not even sure why. I can totally see where this article is coming from.
I was actually thinking the exact same thing. I really wanted to like it, to the point where I forced myself to play to the end. I was nothing but disappointed with it.Worgen said:
Np. I enjoy Orwell, though it does depress me sometimes to realize how little things have changed.PlasticTree said:
Mind you, if Shamus is selling his honor for anything, it's probably cheap beer rather than inferior sherry. I'm not sure which is worse . . .
I get this feeling. I didn't like The Witcher either, what with the clunky combat and the moral consequences that felt more like "GOTCHA" moments and the fact that as an asexual female playing as a womanizing jerk in a sexist world and being rewarded periodically with pictures of naked ladies for doing so was something that made me personally very uncomfortable.
(I know, they're optional, etc, but A) I'm a completionist and B) the very fact that they were there made me a little bit uncomfortable anyway.)
I've also had trouble with the old school RPGs - Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, Fallout. Fans of these series may feel the urge to riposte me for requiring "hand-holding" or what have you, but as a story-lover who didn't grow up with this sort of game wandering lostly through worlds of difficult combat using a system I didn't understand with often little idea what I'm supposed to be doing didn't exactly hold up to the paragons of brilliance I've heard these games described as.
Or my idea of fun.
(I know, they're optional, etc, but A) I'm a completionist and B) the very fact that they were there made me a little bit uncomfortable anyway.)
I've also had trouble with the old school RPGs - Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, Fallout. Fans of these series may feel the urge to riposte me for requiring "hand-holding" or what have you, but as a story-lover who didn't grow up with this sort of game wandering lostly through worlds of difficult combat using a system I didn't understand with often little idea what I'm supposed to be doing didn't exactly hold up to the paragons of brilliance I've heard these games described as.
Or my idea of fun.
With me? I bought it. Loaded it up. Played the first level. Got to a part where I had to raise a portcullis. Couldn't. Spent twenty minutes trying. Still couldn't. Looked online. Found a couple of FAQs where apparently people had the same problem and it was that one of the enemies hadn't been killed yet. After another twenty minutes of searching for him (being an enemy that had no effect whatsoever on whether or not I can raise a gate and let my coimrades in, which would have made the survivor less of a threat than if I didn't raise the gate) I closed it down and never touched it again.
I like The Witcher (maybe helps that I've read the books, I don't know) but I can see why some people don't.
Developers, like any other business, are subject to be judged by their actions. If you have a bad experience somewhere, you are a lot less likely to go back without the expectation of another bad experience. Developers who have business practices that we disagree with or put out inferior products suffer the same stigmas, regardless of whether they decide to change their act or not.
DRM is not really a singular construct that we can pin to any one company. Sure, there are companies that feature pretty harsh examples of this and have suffered in their history because of it, but DRM is understandable within the context of a company wanting a return on an investment of a product. As long as they make their money back and a little extra, I'm sure they will expect some piracy to happen. But to jump the gun and put their product on maximum lockdown the moment it is released in an attempt to stay ahead of the pirates, they just screw over the faithful customers they have/had as well.
Image is important in any facet of business. Balancing customer satisfaction with generating profits is a tricky thing, and some do it better than others. I can't personally say I agree with any one company, as every are prone to mistakes and the occasional bad idea. The severity of said event will easily determine the amount of customers, and with so much competition out there, no one company can expect to be paramount above any other. Being biased away from a company from harsh DRM or lousy products is just part of life, but shouldn't reflect poorly on anyone because of their personal taste.
DRM is not really a singular construct that we can pin to any one company. Sure, there are companies that feature pretty harsh examples of this and have suffered in their history because of it, but DRM is understandable within the context of a company wanting a return on an investment of a product. As long as they make their money back and a little extra, I'm sure they will expect some piracy to happen. But to jump the gun and put their product on maximum lockdown the moment it is released in an attempt to stay ahead of the pirates, they just screw over the faithful customers they have/had as well.
Image is important in any facet of business. Balancing customer satisfaction with generating profits is a tricky thing, and some do it better than others. I can't personally say I agree with any one company, as every are prone to mistakes and the occasional bad idea. The severity of said event will easily determine the amount of customers, and with so much competition out there, no one company can expect to be paramount above any other. Being biased away from a company from harsh DRM or lousy products is just part of life, but shouldn't reflect poorly on anyone because of their personal taste.
My game that I should have loved? Left 4 Dead.
I've no aversion to FPS games. I've loved pretty much everything Valve has done. It has an incredible sense of atmosphere and pace. And yet . . . the game just doesn't do anything for me.
Partly it's the multiplayer nature of the game. I prefer single player games, and L4D doesn't give you that. Yes, you can play "alone," but not really.
I think the other part is that I'm just too desperate for story, given the nature of the atmosphere. I'm left feeling, well, unsatisfied by the wall scribblings and the bits of conversation between the characters. So why does this game leave me unhappy due to a lack of story, but Portal gets by? I don't know.
I've no aversion to FPS games. I've loved pretty much everything Valve has done. It has an incredible sense of atmosphere and pace. And yet . . . the game just doesn't do anything for me.
Partly it's the multiplayer nature of the game. I prefer single player games, and L4D doesn't give you that. Yes, you can play "alone," but not really.
I think the other part is that I'm just too desperate for story, given the nature of the atmosphere. I'm left feeling, well, unsatisfied by the wall scribblings and the bits of conversation between the characters. So why does this game leave me unhappy due to a lack of story, but Portal gets by? I don't know.
Every game mentioned in this thread as an "I hate but should of loved" game... I actually loved... yep, all of them, even the OP The Witcher. Masterpiece, In fact they're all masterpieces. Yes in places they have have steep learning curves and parts you have to work though, but thats just part of what a great game is.
Its depth in a word.
Once again, deep, and even seemingly impenetrable games really are the BEST that gaming has to offer, you just have to put the effort in to get the (manifold) goodness out. Oh and its not about "fun", "fun" is something trivial like a roller-coaster ride or whatever... what we're after here is entertainment, which is something that has so many more levels than just "fun", something can be supremely entertaining without being in the slightest bit "fun".
Just my opinion of course and many will call me elitist... but I know what I like. (which i'm afraid to say probably makes me an opinionated asshat)
Its depth in a word.
It helps if you've played some actual AD&D beforehand, not necessary but it sure helps.RedRingRico said:
Once again, deep, and even seemingly impenetrable games really are the BEST that gaming has to offer, you just have to put the effort in to get the (manifold) goodness out. Oh and its not about "fun", "fun" is something trivial like a roller-coaster ride or whatever... what we're after here is entertainment, which is something that has so many more levels than just "fun", something can be supremely entertaining without being in the slightest bit "fun".
Just my opinion of course and many will call me elitist... but I know what I like. (which i'm afraid to say probably makes me an opinionated asshat)
It is a great game. but you have to give it a proper chance as it doesn't really open up and show its true colours until several hours in (once you get into the city).Amazon warrior said:It's always interesting to hear other peoples' opinions and reviews of a game, though increasingly I find that I buy new computer games like I buy fantasy books - through word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family. A good friend of mine strongly recommended The Witcher to me the other day, so I'll probably give it a go. To put the conversation in context, I had actually called him to congratulate him and his wife on the birth of their first-born. Granted, we did spend a lot of time discussing the new baby first, but if a game makes enough of an impression that a proud new father remembers to mention it, then I feel it's probably worth a look.
Give this man a medal!Patton662 said:
Geralt is spot on if you read the book. He is not supposed to be nice, likable or be a hero. He kills monsters and that's all he does or knows. And sometimes it's hard to guess who's the monster so he ends up being the bad guy.
I liked the witcher, but it badly needed a fast travel system. Even in the first town you'll start to get a feel for how distanced all the quests are from eachother, and when travelling in daytime no monsters spawn so there are parts where I'm just holding the W key to walk forward for 3-5 minutes which is just boring.
Well, my definition of fun is "something that entertains", so you seem to be splitting hairs over semantics in regards to that particular word.Continuity said:
And don't get me wrong: I didn't just play for five minutes and give up. I'm not some kind of twitch gamer who can't sit through an hour's intro if it doesn't have explosions and ponies and rollercoasters. I'd probably have limped through Planescape like I did Baldur's Gate if it hadn't disagreed with my computer after a few plays.
But impenetrability isn't what made those games good, unless what you really enjoyed was the tactical combat. Though admittedly I haven't played AD&D - when Baldur's Gate came out and AD&D was -the- system I still had milk teeth and hadn't quite mastered my times tables. I just don't have that mechanical foreknowledge that might've made the combat enjoyable. Everything that made it a game I should have liked was all this talk of deep worlds and characters I kept hearing - things that are not made better or somehow deeper by the game being hard to play.