Water and games

[gim73]

Just recently I decided to stroll through memory lane and play a suikoden game so I popped 4 into my ps2 and came to a realization. It was the WORST suikoden game ever.

Yep, they moved you to a marine setting. Suddenly, your head count goes from 6 to 4. Random encounter rate is OFF THE CHART high. The characters are less memorable. You have a boat for a base. Instead of moving forward in time like the first three games, this steps back 400 years. There are seriously only like five places you go in this game, and a huge water filled map with tiny islands for treasure hunting. The rune of punishment is like a dumbed down version of the soul eater... only they have the soul eater in this game, but it's been nerfed. Then konami figured they would make a tactics game for suikoden, and instead of doing it for a decent region like harmonia or scarlet moon, they base it off this piece of crap.

Then when I thought more I realized it was a TREND of crappy games based around the water that we were seeing.

Final Fantasy X: The whole theme of this game was water. I still played it, but it really didn't live up to the final fantasy name and it and it's sequel X-2 tie for bottom of the final fantasy barrel.

Zelda: Wind Walker- Once again a water theme. Doesn't really live up to the rest of the zelda games, I would put it on the bottom, below even gameboy games.
Super Mario Sunshine: Bad to the point of pointlessness.

 

[APPCRASH]

Bioshock.

I'm sorry did I break your concentration?

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

I played a game called: Naval Ops: Warship Gunner
It was actually quite fun, sometimes hard (You can design your ships from the hull up. choose reactors, engines, etc. with any class of ship.)

Not all water-based games are crap. just a lot.

 

[Caimekaze]

Those games you list as part of the trend? I've loved each and every one of them.

I really liked X; I nearly equally liked X-2.

Wind Waker is an awesome game, although I'll admit it took me two tries to finish it as I bored of the triforce hunting the first time through.

As for Sunshine... I fail to see why everyone hated it so. I really, really enjoyed that game and would love to get my hands on a copy again.

 

[HT_Black]

Bioshock.

I'm sorry did I break your concentration?

This is without a doubt the greatest comeback I have EVER seen.

OT: While I fail miserably to see any sort of point to this thread, allow me to offer my twocents:

...PotBS was alright.

 

[LordGarbageMan]

I actually liked zelda windwaker, it had great animation and was a lot of fun, and I liked it more than twilight princess. I also enjoyed sunshine, but that's just me.

 

[AngloDoom]

Bioshock.

I'm sorry did I break your concentration?

That was made all the sweeter by being the very first reply...


Anyway, so you're saying games that have a lot of water in are bad? That's one of those very 'wobbly' arguments that you can flex to suit your needs. Most games have water to some degree, so this sort of gives you the ability to reach down and 'sticker' bad games with the "too much water" arguement and call it a day.

I mean, at what point does the water begin to affect gameplay? If 20% of the game world is in water, is this bad? Similarly, if the game is set on an island surrounded by water, is this now a bad game?

Maybe I think things over too much, but it just sounds like the kind of interpretive arguement that I know no-one will be able to overthrow with logic since it melds to meet the needs of the user.


And you're forgetting Echo the Dolphin.

 

[gim73]

All right, what I was getting at before I hit the limit of my comment was that most FRANCHISES that decide to go with a water theme, after they have established themselves other areas wind up with a crappy game.

I'm not saying that these are bad games. Hell, I enjoyed the HELL out of FFX. I'm saying that it is bad compared to the franchise.

We know that Spira is a world based on water, Tidus is a character named for water, and everyone on spira has the magical power of breathing water in a blitzball game for up to 10 minutes...

Zelda games are all mostly good. Link to the past and Ocarana of time are my two favorites personally, and Windwalker is my least favorite, and I'm pretty sure it's because of the heavy water influence.

Super Mario 64 was an astounding game that was fun and made mario into a ninja. Galaxy is a fun game as well. Why the hell is the Gamecube mario about cleaning up? It's one of those 'What the hell were you THINKING you idiot!' moments you wanna hit nintendo upside the head.

There are plenty of good stand alone titles or franchises that are based around water that I like. I used to love Uncharted waters for the NES/SNES.

Oh, and while Bioshock happens underwater, very little happens with water. Beyond the whole intro scene where you are in the water, you spend most of it running through a 40's style city.

I just don't wanna see a game like Persona 6 set in some beach resort where you gotta gain the affections of the residents while sailing to the nearby islands to free them from demons. Changing the focus of an established franchise seems to ruin the game. You see all the games I'm talking about divert how they are played, then the NEXT game of the franchise is far closer to the one before it.

 

[rosac]

Wind Waker is an awesome game, although I'll admit it took me two tries to finish it as I bored of the triforce hunting the first time through.

As for Sunshine... I fail to see why everyone hated it so. I really, really enjoyed that game and would love to get my hands on a copy again.

I 100% agree with this guy.

to the OP: Maybe you have differing tastes to other people, you know, like almost everyone does

rosac

 

[Sixties Spidey]

When it comes to swimming, games are a headache. Mario 64, Tomb Raider, the list goes on and on and on. AND WORSE when its a death threat.