Your video game hot take(s) thread

BrawlMan

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Naughty Dog's first game was a Mortal Kombat rip-off - they've never been trendsetters. You say "The Edgy Teen Mascot (Jak and Daxter)", but that was Jak 2; Jak and Daxter was a cartoony 3D platformer that was relatively lighthearted. It was only after GTA3 got big that ND suddenly decided to turn their new IP into an edgy open-world.

Which is why accusations of Naughty Dog not being what they used to be ring hollow. They are what they have been since the beginning really; following trends and pouring their own sauce over it.
Not to mention: Crash Bandicoot was mainly copying Donkey Kong Country on the gameplay front. Especially the first game.
 
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Johnny Novgorod

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Naughty Dog's first game was a Mortal Kombat rip-off - they've never been trendsetters. You say "The Edgy Teen Mascot (Jak and Daxter)", but that was Jak 2; Jak and Daxter was a cartoony 3D platformer that was relatively lighthearted. It was only after GTA3 got big that ND suddenly decided to turn their new IP into an edgy open-world.

Which is why accusations of Naughty Dog not being what they used to be ring hollow. They are what they have been since the beginning really; following trends and pouring their own sauce over it.
Obviously I'm not saying every IP fits nicely into each trend. It's more like a spectrum. The first Jak and Daxter was closer to the cartoon mascot thing from Crash than the edgelord mania of Jak 2, just as the relatively lackluster Uncharted 4 is beginning to dip its toes in TLoU's pool of penitent xennials.

And I never said they were trendsetters, I specifically phrased it as mirroring trends, not creating them.
 
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Casual Shinji

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Obviously I'm not saying every IP fits nicely into each trend. It's more like a spectrum. The first Jak and Daxter was closer to the cartoon mascot thing from Crash than the edgelord mania of Jak 2, just as the relatively lackluster Uncharted 4 is beginning to dip its toes in TLoU's pool of penitent xennials.

And I never said they were trendsetters, I specifically phrased it as mirroring trends, not creating them.
I meant to say it wasn't too hot a take.
 
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Speaking of Naughty Dog I want to see them abandon all the serious, edgy themed stuff and…make a game about a naughty dog. A naughty dog that through trials and tribulations learns to be a good dog. Yeah I want to play a game as a dog and experience life through their perspective, even if it wouldn’t be as colorful. Maybe somewhat fantasy leaning to gain full color, why not. Learn dog language, stealth poop on the neighbor’s lawn, sniff out cancer, try to chase cats, befriend a cat, fuck it.

Doggonit, where the hell is this game?
 
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Phoenixmgs

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Speaking of Naughty Dog I want to see them abandon all the serious, edgy themed stuff and…make a game about a naughty dog. A naughty dog that through trials and tribulations learns to be a good dog. Yeah I want to play a game as a dog and experience life through their perspective, even if it wouldn’t be as colorful. Maybe somewhat fantasy leaning to gain full color, why not. Learn dog language, stealth poop on the neighbor’s lawn, sniff out cancer, try to chase cats, befriend a cat, fuck it.

Doggonit, where the hell is this game?
I guess that'll happen when Naughty Dog jumps on the cozy games bandwagon.
 

NerfedFalcon

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True, but Crash Bandicoot was a good example of a copy. Like those three games were really, really good.
2 and 3 I'll grant you, but I wouldn't touch 1 again for love or money. Crash's only movement speed is too fast for the precision the game demands of you, especially if you want to get 100% completion, and even just finishing the game is made harder than it needs to be by how stingy it is with saves and mid- to late-game levels being totally absurd, while barely even using the 3D nature of the game when it uses it at all.

Crash Team Racing dunks on Mario Kart 64, though.
 
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BrawlMan

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A few things I'll give DmC (2013) over Bayonetta 1 and Bayonetta 3, are no insta-death QTE bullshit, and much better level design pacing respectively. Bayonetta 1 suffers cheap deaths you're not going to know your first time through, unless you saw a video or have not touched the game in a long time. Ruining your no death run, because you didn't press the QTE fast enough or not the right way is complete bullshit.

Bayonetta 3 may have bigger levels, but this kills the pacing hard. Especially when you find out that this game was going to be open world at one point, and Nintendo told Platinum to down size. Nintendo should gave told them to down size further, because by mid to late game, the areas are too big, too empty, and most players will get frustrated and won't bother with the non-critical paths or do only the few they need. DmC's level design is very linear, and doesn't leave room for much bactracking, but the levels are as long as they need to be, and none of them outstay their welcome, aside from the beginning of the Slurm factory, and the first part of Mission 12. They're air tight.

This is even weirder on Platinum's end, because they perfected level length and pacing in Bayonetta 2. Which I still consider the best of the franchise and nearly nails everything down to perfection. The worst I can say about Bayonetta 2 is that Cereza's power is nerfed in gameplay, because they want the player to use Umbran Climax. Compared to the first game where you she could knock off even an elite mook's health bar with her P-P-K-K-K (mash button) combo. Her basic bread and butter. Unlockable characters Jeanne and Rosa don't have this issue.