What game (or games) would you have liked to have turned out perfectly?

[Hawki]

-Enter the Matrix (Average game - not bad, but for the time it was released, I can't help but remember how much I wanted it to be...well, better)

-Perfect Dark Zero (Where the best thing to come out of the game was the novels that Greg Rucka wrote based on its setting)

Second one; There were novels?? Nobody tells me nuffing!

First one; Have you played Path of Neo? That is the only matrix game as far as i'm concerned.

Yes, Rucka wrote three works - Initial Vector, Janus's Tears (which is a comic), and Second Front. All of them are effectively interquels between Zero and the original Perfect Dark. I'm not much of a fan of JT, but the novels are very good. On the worldbuilding front, they do a good job of spotlighting how the world works in the setting - the "hypercorporations" control everything (one of them literally bought out Brazil after its government failed), to the extent where they effectively stake out territory (e.g. China is "dataDyne territory," Mexico is the territory of one of their rivals), to the extent where for all its dubious activities, Carrington acknowledges that if dataDyne collapsed, it would take the world economy with it. On the character front, it does a good job with characters such as Carrington, and especially Cassandra, showing how after she replaced Zhang Lei, her morals are slowly compromised by the harsh reality of the world it takes place in. The only downside is that it feels like there should be a third book. By the end of Second Front, we've got our first mention of Trent Easton, dataDyne is starting to lose ground to its competitors (my guess is that this was hinting as to why they'd end up working with the skedar), but...nup, it ends. Still, I'd heartily reccomend them.

As for Path of Neo, no, I haven't played it. Don't have too much of a desire too either, because while it looks better gameplay-wise, storywise, it's still the same story as the films, all three of which I've seen. I understand it adds stuff (e.g. interquel material between the first and second films) and changes the Smith battle at the end to be even weirder, but even then, it's not really a game I have a burning desire to play. Enter the Matrix gets a mention because it was when The Matrix was still the hot fuzz, and being much younger, I was far more naieve in what to expect from a movie-licensed game (though again, don't think it's a bad game per se, just an average one).

Lots of Bioware popping up in this thread so far. I guess it speaks quite highly of them that people expect such great experiences out of their games, and yet speaks equally as lowly of them because seldom do they deliver such.

Well, if we're slagging BioWare, I'll put forward Sonic Chronicles. In fact, the only reason I didn't earlier is that for all its sins, it's still from being far the worst Sonic game I've ever played, and unlike some Sonic games, is at least functional gameplay-wise

 

[Strayal]

I love this game, but I'll have to say that Brutal Legend could use a better gameplay.

Now that I think about it, Brutal Legend is probably my runner up. I'm not even a huge metal or rock fan, but the game had such an amazing style it was hard to not be swept up in the enthusiasm. I personally didn't even mind the RTS portions much, though I admit it's a definite point of weakness. My big letdown was exactly this:

I love BL, but I would have liked it better "/snip" if the storyline hadn't felt like big chunks were missing from it after you defeat Lionwhyte.

The game had so much charm and heart, it made the mediocre bits all the more glaring - and a little bit sad. I would've loved to see the game come out perfectly, with gameplay matching the level of care as the more stylistic aspects. In fact, as much as I'm not a big fan of reboots and all that, I would love for them to take another swing at Brutal Legend, just to see what might have been.

Also, everyone... I know the subject matter of the thread prompts us to bring up the bad parts of games, which are often completely subjective. One person might loathe say, Unlimited SaGa - and for very obvious, valid reasons. To someone else though - some poor misguided soul - that game is *ugh* a masterpiece. Either way, it's all opinions, which are all based entirely on perspective. All that said, lets keep civil and enjoy a bit of thoughtful indulgence in idealism!

 

[happyninja42]

The Thief reboot. I was so eager for that game, it looked like it had all it's ducks in a row to be a good updating of one of my most beloved franchises. But instead...I got the game they published. Which was so frustratingly close, but so far from the mark that it genuinely got me angry at points. They tried to encourage freedom of movement, while limiting you to specific pathways of travel. You couldn't even jump except when it was contextually permitted based on environment. So many times I was thwarted by a curb because the system wouldn't let me scale it, or just hop over a box that I could easily do in real life. Forcibly limiting where you can stick the rope arrows, instead of putting them where I want to put them.

 

[CaitSeith]

Err... every game that didn't turn out perfectly ever? Why would I want games in general not to turn out perfectly whenever is possible in the first place?

 

[Saelune]

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I wish it was objectively better than Morrowind, instead of being a lesser game. Oblivion removed a lot of stuff Morrowind had, but if it had only added, that would have been amazing.

I honestly wish it just been written by a team with a fucking brain cell between them. Decent writing alone would be massive improvement. That and making Bethesda hire programmers who didn't fail so hard they got kicked out on their first day.

On a similar note, Skyrim. It needn't be perfect, just not be complete shit.

1. Get an engine that isn't so utterly, irrideemably, shit.
2. Use an old school levelling system, Skyrim's levelling doesn't really make any sense. Sneaking for one thing is a skill that is impossible to this generation's level of technology to properly determine how much exp should be gotten from. Let alone anything "coded" by Bethesda.
3. Just throw out the retarded fucking ideas. Get rid the stupid, redundant puzzles with answers right next to them. Or get someone who actually knows how to make a decent puzzle.
4. Get a new writing team, Bethesda's current writing team has nowhere near as much a clue about how humans act as David Cage, I wish I was fucking kidding.
5. Get new modellers and animators, Bethesda's "games" have graphics on par with a fucking six year old's drawings. Even then the six year old would have a fucking clue what human behaviour is actually like.

Uh...My issue is what I love about Morrowind is the freedom. Sure, Oblivion and Skyrim have a lot of freedom...but way less than Morrowind. Though, yes Oblivion's story is lacking. Martin is a terrible character who gets all the credit and praised as much as Uriel, when all Martin did notably, was die. Akatosh and the player defeated Mehrunes Dagon, not Martin.

As for Skyrim, I think Skyrim is better than Oblivion in literally everyway...but not Morrowind. I mostly just want the freedom and variety Morrowind had back.

What do you mean by old school leveling? If you mean get xp, pump in points, move on...big no from me. Another major draw for me to TES in general is that you get better...by practice. Want to be a better thief? Steal things. Want to be a better fighter, fight things. And the lack of classes gives a greater sense of logical variety.

If only there was a tabletop DnD style RPG with TES style character leveling, Id be set for life. In Fallout, if I shoot enough mutants, now I can get better deals from merchants...not exactly logical.

As for puzzles and stuff, again Morrowind was better. It didn't hold your hand. If there is a quest to kill some bandits in a cave, it wont just plop an arrow on it. You have to get and follow directions, and they can sometimes be vague. No compass beyond NSEW. Sure, Id be fine if found locations are visible on your map, but having the compass just straight up tell you there is a cave over the hill ruins the sense of exploration.

As for graphics, I think Skyrim looks fine. But I'm also someone who enjoys TES games vanilla. Been playing Morrowind modless since 2002.

 

[Dalisclock]

The Witcher.

Yeah, people keep saying "OMG mature storyline and choices that matter!". How about "tolerable controls" and "sex scenes that aren't out of a 14-year-old's notebook"? I played as far as the first tryst, laughed to myself and uninstalled.

I'd also add "Combat that doesn't take forever to get anywhere close to acceptable" and "A new tutorial chapter that doesn't feel boring and unintuitive as shit". Getting interesting before the second chapter would also be nice.

 

[BrawlMan]

Anarchy Reigns. Wonderful character designs, horrible single player, and decent multiplayer no one bothers with anymore. It's hugely disappointing as a follow up and spiritual successor to Mad World. While the combat may be a bit better and function more like a traditional 3D Final Fight style brawler, everything else is lacking with an uninteresting story, monotonous gameplay structure, and is just boring all around. Sega delaying the game for the US/Western release just made it even duller.

Speaking of Platinum games, I want them to never work with Activision ever again. Out of all the three games they collaborated with each other; Transfromers: Devastation is the only one that really turned out well. And even Devastation had some issues price wise, though I felt it was worth it. It's obvious that Devastation was supposed to be a $25-$30 price game, and Activision jacked up the price by $20 more, when they realized Platinum were over committed by adding a whole bunch of extra content to the game. Legend of Korra & TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan were released way too early and were rushed. Especially TMNT, it needed at least another couple of months in development. Say what you will about Korra, but at least that was a $15 game. TMNT was a $20 game made $50 without much going for it, and more or less turned into a straight up button masher with dull combat. I am so glad they are working on Nier: Automata now, yet I can't sat the same for Scalebound, so I will wait and see.


Lollipop Chainsaw. I don't consider it a bad game, but it does feel like a hack n slash from the PS2 era. The problem is there is not much to after beating the game and getting either the good or bad ending (the former I got on my first playthrough). This wouldn't be so bad, but the combat is just alright and doesn't flow as well No More Heroes. Killer Is Dead succeeded where Lollipop Chainsaw failed in my eyes being a true spiritual successor. The combat for KID is NMH's at a faster and more refined rate. The only thing KID too from LC is the over-the-shoulder shooting when using Mondo's arm cannon. I'll give props to a hilarious story and enjoyed Juliet's antics, her crazy family, and most of the bosses. At the very least, it's creative and does something different.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

Prototype.

Everything about the game's concept I loved: the movement, the mass quantities of destruction, the main character's design, the mix of stealth and action, the powers, the way your character evolves, and the storyline. So it's probably not surprising that my expectations for how good the game would be were probably overblown.

I still loved the game, but it definitely had some issues. The sequel rectified a lot of them, but suffered from an awful story and terrible main character.

 

[Saelune]

-snip-

What I mean by levelling is that the new levelling system makes no sense. Sneaking is based around mostly having ENEMIES KNOW YOU ARE IN THE AREA because of the awkward way the game handles levelling. Of course in real life that is simply fucking absurd, there's simply no way around that.

Lockpicking likewise, serves mainly to increase the commute. Because now I can no longer simply put points into lockpicking I now have to run around going from chest to chest on an ever increasing commute. If something's going to make no sense it might as well be one game mechanic that takes away an inconvenience, rather than adding to it. It's not like the designers did it for immersion either because then those nonsensically easy puzzles with the answers literally provided to you wouldn't be there and the game would have at least one five year old on the writing team.

The levelling looks nice on paper but in practice THAT IS NOT HOW YOU FUCKING SNEAK.

And yes, Morrowind is better than both of them. I agree. Even the graphics at least look like the devs were trying to imitate a human (or humanoid) and failed because of technology lacking rather than failing because the modelling and animation department consists of horrifying mutant potato people trying to lure potential food back to their lair.

Cant speak much on sneaking. Though sneaking is actually the one thing that got better after Morrowind. Stealth is unusable in Morrowind.

Atleast you can pick any lock at any time. I hate finding a lock in Fallout that is above my picking level. I will come back later, I say. I don't.

 

[Liljumpman]

Dragon Age 2.

Loved the idea, execution was terrible, constantly reused dungeons, combat was an awful mix between Origins and Oblivion, act 3 was weak as fuck.

Could have been GOAT if a few changes were made.

 

[SweetShark]

...I'm honestly not sure.

I want to say Doom. I bought it during the Steam sale, playing it for 119 minutes, and then refunded it. I felt like it was too slow, too padded, and the arenas were unimaginative and the mechanics, while functional, were uninspiring. After 119 minutes, I didn't want to play anymore - All I could think about was playing Bulletstorm (Another game I bought at the same time) again. I would have preferred more streamlined levels rather then arenas and hallway chaff. A more even armory ramp up. For the story to be thrown out and a return to the true, 'Demon+Doomguy=Awesome' formula without any real explanation.

But, everyone else thought it was good, so I guess it really doesn't fit into the 'make perfect' narrative, since its something in my thats off.

Yeah, even if I really liked this Doom, I wouldn't mind if it was like the classic games.Just a huge level to explore and killing the enemies who already exist on it. Not teleport every few minutes...
However I will suggest to leave the Boss fights as they are. They are more fun than the old ones.

OT:
Dark Souls 2. The first game was the best one I played [10/10 score]. However Dark Souls 2 lost it magic in comparison...
There are a lot of bullsh*t moments which are indeed unfair at some points.
I mean, a Boss fight took place inside a pool of poison, which is a 100% Death for you as a newcomer...
How the f*ck is this fair?!?!?
Oh and not forget about the freaking ghost soldiers who you CAN't target with magic?!?!?!? F*ck you game!!!

 

[Saelune]

...As for graphics, I think Skyrim looks fine. But I'm also someone who enjoys TES games vanilla. Been playing Morrowind modless since 2002...

The thing about the graphics isn't that it looks bad, it's that it looks wrong. Like how in both STALKER and Dragon Age 2 the graphics look bad, but STALKER's humans look like models intended to be humans and only Dragon Age 2's look more like barbie dolls, with skin that looks like melted plastic and Darkspawn that run like they been sodomised by a rhino. STALKER looks bad, in fact today it's human models (or at least Shadow of Chernobyl's) look like absolute shit. DA2, like Oblivion, Fallout 3, Skyrim and Fallout 4 looks wrong.

It's kind of hard to describe. It's not that the graphics are in the uncanny valley so much as it looks like the graphics were made by something in the uncanny valley.

Ive never been much for graphics. Not saying you are wrong, just that its not something I care much about.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

OT:
Dark Souls 2. The first game was the best one I played [10/10 score]. However Dark Souls 2 lost it magic in comparison...
There are a lot of bullsh*t moments which are indeed unfair at some points.
I mean, a Boss fight took place inside a pool of poison, which is a 100% Death for you as a newcomer...
How the f*ck is this fair?!?!?
Oh and not forget about the freaking ghost soldiers who you CAN't target with magic?!?!?!? F*ck you game!!!

You can actually empty that room of poison before you fight her(?) if you continue upward to find a switch and a bonfire, I think almost directly above that room. As for the ghost soldiers, run! And then keep back to wall, but yeah, that bit is scary.

 

[the December King]

Spore.

If Spore had turned out how the hype had it set up, we would not be talking about other games now, we'd all be playing Spore. Happily, and forever.

If I could improve a game, I'd make maps for S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call of Pripyat that constitute... all of Asia. And add in a few new monsters and soldier types, but keep the radioactive Post Apocalyptic feel. Like the Metro games, but actually a sandbox.

 

[SweetShark]

OT:
Dark Souls 2. The first game was the best one I played [10/10 score]. However Dark Souls 2 lost it magic in comparison...
There are a lot of bullsh*t moments which are indeed unfair at some points.
I mean, a Boss fight took place inside a pool of poison, which is a 100% Death for you as a newcomer...
How the f*ck is this fair?!?!?
Oh and not forget about the freaking ghost soldiers who you CAN't target with magic?!?!?!? F*ck you game!!!

You can actually empty that room of poison before you fight her(?) if you continue upward to find a switch and a bonfire, I think almost directly above that room. As for the ghost soldiers, run! And then keep back to wall, but yeah, that bit is scary.

Yeah, I know about the poison pool you could empty it, but how I could know without looking a Wiki?
Also I didn't talked about the worst part, with poison again...the place which you must destroy like a bazillion poison shooting statues before face a boss...AAAAaaarrGGGG!!!
Plus I hated the A.I. Dark Invaders. At first I thought it was just a specific one who was really good player [Armored Deen I think its name]. But soon I learned he is just here to make "sense" with the whole summoning thing it happens in the game....super frustrating!!!