What games are you "loud and proud" to be a fan of?

remnant_phoenix

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A lot of people on this thread (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.848160-Games-you-like-but-are-ashamed-to-admit-you-like?page=1) have responded with things along the lines of "Why should I be ashamed of what I like?" or "I love (insert controversial game) and I am NOT ashamed!"

So, here's a reverse thread. Let's be loud and proud. What games are you NOT ashamed of liking, despite the fact that there are certain stigmas associated with being a fan?

Here's my off-the-cuff list:

Dragon Age II - The combat, for all it's silliness, was just fun, and I dug the story. I completely understand why a lot of people hated it, and the shameless recycling of environments was bollocks, but I still dig this game.

Prince of Persia (2008) - I loved the art style, the environments, and the ridiculous parkour. I get why people hated it, but liked the story, I liked the characters, and I didn't even mind the story's ending. I even enjoyed the combat; as someone who has studied the art of fencing, I like how the combat felt more like a legitimate sword-dual (this is rare in video games), focusing more on the timing of blocking/parrying/attacking--it was different, interesting, and it worked. I agree that the game overall was way too easy and the lack of a difficulty selector was a head-scratcher, but I still love the game.

Final Fantasy VII - Has it aged poorly in a number of ways? Sure. But in a time when few video games dared to do anything bold with gaming as storytelling medium, FFVII addressed themes of terrorism, exploitation of and dependence on finite natural resources, the relationship between humanity and nature, questions of personal identity, and the clash between globalism and national cultural history. That is some heavy shit coming from a 1997 video game. You can say that these ideas were explored poorly, but FFVII was one of the pioneers of video game storytelling (as far as the big-budget mainstream games go), and in the context of its time, it was a giant. For the record, I still find it highly playable and enjoyable despite its age.

Final Fantasy X - "It's nothing but a CGI anime! The gameplay is nothing but moving the party down a linear path and fighting battle until another cutscene pops up!" And if really like the battle system and I enjoy the story that's being linearly fed to me, what's the problem? Some would say that this game does a disservice to the medium by keeping the story and gameplay largely seperate, and I don't disagree with that, but I still love this game. Best turn-based RPG battle system I've ever played with and I really dig the story, so much so that they sub-par voice acting and awkward moments weren't enough to even come close to ruining it for me.
 

shrekfan246

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May 26, 2011
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Well, you stole my Dragon Age II answer.

Yeah, I think it was worse than Origins in quite a few ways, but it was also far more interesting to me than Origins had been. The ideas around the story were really cool, even if the execution was flubbed by the rushed development, and I have to say I preferred the characters to most of the ones from Origins. And the skill trees were far better as well, in my opinion, as they actually provided for more variety in playstyles. Just a shame it had wave-spawning enemies with obnoxiously high health/armor and reused so many assets.

Diablo III.

I'll admit it's far better since they changed the loot system, but I still had quite a lot of fun with the game even back when it released. Quite simply, it's the only isometric ARPG which has managed to really hold my attention, because I think it has the best combat out of any I've played. And now with the exception of the combat and story (which honestly is pretty silly, and laughable or enraging if you cared about the lore of Diablo, but is serviceable if you just want a dumb hack&slash story) the game is practically completely different compared to how it was on release, and fortunately all of the changes have been for the better. ... Just a shame there's still no offline mode.

Uh... Halo? And Final Fantasy and Sonic the Hedgehog and Metal Gear Solid. Not really any specific reasons, but I see those franchises tend to get a lot of slagging, and I love all of them. I'd still totally buy Halo 3 if it came to PC, but it's no surprise to me that Microsoft doesn't care.
 

Liquidprid3

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Even a lot of people who like Earthbound say the combat is the worst part. Are you kidding me? Personally, I believe the combat is pretty good. Although I dislike the fights in the beginning of the game, because all you do is mash the action button, the combat is some if the most memorable parts later in the game. For those who haven't played Earthbound, your health is like a slot machine. As you get hit, the numbers roll down for the damage you take. Because it doesn't go down immediately, you have time to save yourself if you get hit by a fatal attack. Or, if you end the battle before it goes to 0, then you also save yourself. Others say the game is too random, but I think it has a nice compromise of serious and weird parts, even if the game, overall, is not very serious. If there's any game that deserves to be a cult classic, it's this game.
 

Ratty

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I love the N64 Castlevania games, especially Legacy of Darkness.

They weren't perfect, the original game was forced out the door before it was ready by the bigwigs at Konami[footnote]In fact Legacy of Darkness is really a "special edition" of CV64 with the missing Cornell character campaign and other content finished and reinserted.[/footnote] but they're actually really good for their time. It's just that the N64 games were in the unenviable position of directly following Symphony of the Night. A lot of people hated them because they weren't a 3D SOTN, or a SOTN for the N64. Since big exclusives like that were just as much a cause for fanboy bragging then as now.

What the N64 Castlevania games actually are though, is a terrific translation of Classic pre-SOTN (or "ClassicVania") Castlevania games into 3D. And that's all they were ever trying to be. A lot of people who had just jumped onto the series bandwagon with SOTN just didn't get it.

To add insult to injury when I see them on "worst of games lists" or put down in articles about the Castlevania series, it's usually blatantly obvious that the person writing the article has never even played them. As they're most often just parroting (sometimes outright inaccurate) complaints they have heard elsewhere. Like when the AVGN lied and said you can't save your game in CV64 (you can, you just need an N64 memory card, which he's bound to have) and that you can't drop the mandragora in the wall, which you can. I know I've done it more than once.
 

klaynexas3

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I find that Kingdom Hearts gets plenty of shit now and then, though mostly just from select people. I find it more of a "you love it or hate it" type game. I even love the bullshit convoluted plot that makes little and less sense with each new entry, though BBS's writing just got to me at times(seriously, how did Master Xehenort go missing in five minutes, and on top of that, how did you try to contact him when you literally only just heard about the unversed and JUST got off the phone with bushy brow? sorry, that writing really does piss me off).

I also like current WoW quite a bit, I like the combat in FFXIII, Diablo III(on my console of course, always-on is bullshit, especially now without the auction house), and I actually found DA2 to be fun. Granted, I've yet to beat DA2(I will in time, but I need to do my new run through Origins first so that way I can get this one carried into Inquisition).

Oh, and I like the Mass Effect 3 original ending far more than extended cut. It may have been poorly written in terms of a cohesive story, but its tone is much more fitting in comparison to the new one. The extended cut just feels too neatly wrapped up, too clean. Some parts I liked better, but overall, the older ending just felt more appropriate by comparison.
 

Evonisia

Your sinner, in secret
Jun 24, 2013
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Call of Duty, yo. I even liked the Infinity Ward games before MW2. I will never be ashamed I like this series. Same for Halo before Halo 4 (even if I didn't like Reach).
 

Elfgore

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I'm a big Sims fan. I own every non-item expansion for Sims 2 and plan on buying almost every single one for Sims 3 when I get the money. Something about how laid-back and easy the games are really help me enjoy them.
 

Jazoni89

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Final Fantasy VIII is a big one for me...

A huge fan of the game, but I'm not ignorant to it's flaws, and the fact it's quite hated on the net, and in the fanbase (which came as a big surprise to me, when I first realised).

I have played all the Final Fantasy games (except for XI, and a few of the spinoff titles), and nothing comes close to the sheer enjoyment and sheer pleasure I get from FF8. The Fantasy-esque Futuristic setting, the magic drawing system, Triple Traid, and the god damn beautiful soundtrack.

and dat intro, god dammit, goosebumps all over...


Nowadays you might get a hard time for being a FFVII fan, hell you might even get a hard time for being a fan of FFX, but you always have a double hard time, being a fan of FFVIII, and trying your best to explain to someone, how such a flawed game could actually be good, or great even.

I also like Metroid Other M, and I'm not afraid to admit it, and I might get shit for that opinion, but I think the gameplay surpasses the flaws in the story, and the gameplay is all that really matters to me in a Metroid game. The bosses in that game are surprisingly fun, and creative too.
 

Sean Hollyman

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Metal Gear Solid and Pokemon.

Seriously, people are usually like 'OMG U LIKE POKEMON THAT'S A KIDS GAME LOL'

I'm just like... 'Yeah okay. I enjoy it though. Go play Call of Duty or something.'


Seriously though, Pokemon's competetive side has got some pretty complex stuff I just don't see little kids understanding.
 

Andy Shandy

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Jun 7, 2010
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Bayonetta - A decent amount of people who (I imagine) haven't played it seem to think of it as little more than masturbation material for teenage boys. Those people are most certainly wrong.

Remember Me - Sure, it was a bit of a rough diamond, but I loved pretty much every moment of it. Memory Remixes and the soundtrack are particular highlights.

Sonic series - Well besides some of the fans anyway, and Sonic 06. The rest of it I've enjoyed a lot of.

Sports games - "HURR DURR ONLY BUYING ROSTER UPDATES!". Except it's not.
 

SKBPinkie

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Nothing.

Sorry to be a bit of a party-pooper, but I didn't have anything to do with how those products turned out. And enjoying something I like is not a reason to be proud if it, IMO.

However, in the spirit of this thread - I'd say Monster Hunter.
 

Lilikins

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I admit, one of my favorite games all time, and even after it being out so long I still enjoy firing it up again and having a beer or two/fiddling around with it again... Digimon World for Playstation. No.2/3 I didnt like, I dont like how they changed what was in my opinion a really fun and enjoyable experience (infuriating as it was at times when your pet didnt do what it was sposed to and stood around twiddling its thumbs whilst the enemy used it as a punching bag...ah-hem..). But feeding it/training it etc etc, it did have quite a bit of depth when you had to look at the stats/mistakes you made in raising/praising/scolding and so on and so forth. I find it fun atleast hehe.

Edit: Accidently wrote raiding..instead of raising..haha.
 

immortalfrieza

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Let's see...

There's Final Fantasy 13, which while not as good overall as some of the best in the series, I'd say it's about as good as FFX, especially because of it's well written plot and characters and combat system, even if that whole "if the leader dies it's game over" crap was in it.

Shadow the Hedgehog, both his game and the character. It's easily the most innovative and ground breaking game in the franchise, and to this day it's still my favorite, not that that's a difficult feat considering how crappy most of the Sonic games afterwards have been.

Jazoni89 said:
I like FF8 too, but more for it's plot and characters than because of it's gameplay. I don't like the tediousness of the draw system nor the really cheap card game, so after the first playthrough I felt no real motivation to play it again.

Super Paper Mario. I have no idea why this, easily the best and most engaging game in the entire Paper Mario series gets so much flack. Some people even claim it's worse than Sticker Star, and that's an impossibility.

Probably a few more, but I'll stop there.
 

Candidus

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Senran Kagura the franchise and Senran Kagura Burst in particular. I can't wait for the sequel. Marching into a retailer and asking loudly for "two of the box with the sushi-squashing boobs on it, if you'd be so kind" at a conspicuous volume was a pointless bit of fun, but it ended up giving me a totally irrational, unexpected buzz. I'll be doing it again!!

Others:
The Witch and the Hundred Knight
Final Fantasy VIII
SMITE <-- I still can't believe this myself. I was deep into DOTA2, but 6.80 did the impossible and turned me right off. SMITE was there waiting, and now I'm a bit of a noisemaker for it. At least among my friends.

Edit: Swapped out the usual suspects for a much-maligned FF.
 

TaboriHK

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Walking Dead. It's the only game I'll tell non-gamers, "you must find a way to play this game, even if you never play anything else."
 

major_chaos

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Feb 3, 2011
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Diablo 3- Was it flawed at launch? Yes. Should most of the loot 2.0 changes been in sooner? Yes. Is it an amazing game and one of the best ARPGs I have ever played? Hell yes.

Titanfall- best multiplayer shooter I have experienced in a long time and the "OH NOZ THEY TOOK OUT THE COMPLETELY SHIT SINGLE PLAYER I WAS NEVER GOING TO TOUCH!!! EA IS TRULY SATAN!!1!1" complaints amuse me to no end.

Dead Space 3- DS was never ever scary. It had good atmosphere and some decent jump scares, but it was always more of a monster mash with horror as a setting rather than a core feature, so I don't see how 3 refining that great monster mash gameplay is a problem.

Dragon Age 2- I'm not going to claim it wasn't deeply flawed, but I still had fun, and IMO the gameplay was miles ahead of DA:O.
 

Imre Csete

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Jul 8, 2010
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Two Worlds. Huge map with lot of variety, insane amount of enemy types, and the final boss battle music is a power metal soundtrack. I rest my case.
 

Stabby Joe

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Dynasty Warriors, although thankfully for me, Jim Sterling seems to do most of the leg work for me in championing that franchise.