Have there ever been games that are loved by the public at large (reviewed highly and praised by both critics and users) that you just didn't like at all? If so, why?

I'll start us off...

  • LIMBO. I disliked this way before it spawned a dozen monochromatic clones that wanted to cash in on the new genre. It looked good, but I quickly got annoyed with the trial and error gameplay that seemed intent on just killing you in a lot of creative ways. I mean, there's achievements for that and everything. Even though it's short, I gave up after half an hour as I'd seen pretty much all I wanted to see.
  • Braid. I dislike Limbo, but I detest Braid. I really don't know what the rest of the world sees in this pretentious puzzle platformer where neither the puzzles nor the platforming are good. The platforming in particular seems to want to excuse being annoying by virtue of the time rewind gimmick. No. And for some reason I find the sound especially grating when you rewind.
  • DEFCON. This has nothing to do with the quality of the game, that's fine. I just can't stand to look at this for more than a few minutes because I find the gameplay so morbid. It's really weird considering that I've inflicted horrible violence on tons of virtual characters over the years, and this is just a game where numbers pop up to inform you how many millions have died, which should have no emotional component -- after all, "a million is a statistic". And it's just a game! Even so, I can't bring myself to end the human race in a nuclear firestorm, even if it's just simulated. I suppose that's a good thing.

So, any jewels in the crown of gaming you didn't like? Remember, it's not just bitching about games you don't like, but games that are widely seen as great that you don't like.

7 years ago

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When I saw the thread I immediately thought "Braid", but I see you already discovered that one.

For a second guess I'll go with "Hotline Miami". It was just too hard for me. Stupid reason to dislike a game I guess, but to see all the positive reviews and I can't even get past the first level, usually dying to the second or third guy.

Really enjoyed Limbo though.

7 years ago
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7 years ago
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LOL. 4 or 5 hundred death later is right. What cracked me up is I'd die so fast that I couldn't even tell what happened. I was playing w/ keyboard and mouse, so maybe that was part of it (don't know about controller). I still remember the start of that level. Smash the front door open knocking the first guy down. Stomp him down. Then go in the bathroom and usually get killed by the guy taking a leak. If I made it past the bathroom and went up the stairs to the right, as soon as I peaked around the corner I'd get killed by that dude. Anyway, many death later that's my entire experience of the game. ;-)

7 years ago
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7 years ago
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Skyrim: The story was not very engaging for me and I tend to get sidetracked by exploration. Then I did get vampirism and after I googled how to get rid of it and did the tideous quest for it I just couldn't bring myself to continue since I explored already about 70% of the entire map and had no idea what the story up to this point was

Payday 2 I liked for quite a while (even with all the DLCs already in place) but at some point I just did not have any more fun with it (iirs was around the time they introduced the safes and (payed) keys)

I don't think I dislike many of the games I played since in most of them I did get some enjoyment out of them and I never had the feeling I had/was waisting time. There are though multiple games which I just stop playing to play something differently then pick it up later again and finish it (or at least progress with the story/game)

7 years ago
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I think the story in skyrim is just really there to get you engaged in exploring, because once you finish the story you're still a beginner :P
I played through the story already, and currently skyrim is still my fav game, I however didn't pay much attention to the story because I always felt like it was just really there to have a lead on what to do in the beginning and didn't actually mean a lot xD

7 years ago
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eurotruck simulator 2

7 years ago
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Did you actually play it? Did you get it as part of a bundle?

I mean, I'm 100% positive I wouldn't like Euro Truck Simulator, but then of course I'd never start playing it in the first place because I don't see the appeal at all.

7 years ago
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I bought it for like $10 a while ago. I was hesitant and didn't think I would like it but I bought it anyways.because the amazing ratings made me curious. Played it once and never played it again

7 years ago
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You can't just buy a game for the rating, if it is of a genre you don't like it doesn't matter how many positive reviews by the fans it has.

7 years ago
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7 years ago
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Well, I will get hate for these, but I didn´t like games like
Bioshock 1 (never finished that game, it was just... boring for me so I quit it)
Borderlands 1 (well it is good game in coop and I finished it and 100%ish it, but I expect a bit more from such high rated game - jokes were just not my cup of tea)
Oblivion (hell I put in 5 hours and feel bad for it, there was just nothing for me and it is a bit sad I won it here - someone else would like it more then me - there is just no way I will ever get back to it)

7 years ago
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Dark Souls 1 & 2
At first, I'm intrigued by the design of death and how it handles the "re-try". Then, I found out that my character is garbage because apparently, pyromancers didn't use intelligence. Wow. I mean, it's standard that mages and sorcerers use INT (or WIS) stat. That doesn't mean you can't take a different approach but at least give me some heads up for it. Players shouldn't be punished for their previous knowledge.

The second worst part is how I found that out. After trying a couple of times on PC (I'm primarily a PC player) I gave up because keyboard controls sucked and I didn't have a gamepad back then. Then, I watched AGDQ and they ran Dark Souls on that and mentioned that Dexterity is the way to go (I guess it was this run). Players shouldn't feel the need to seek help outside of the game when they fail. If they do, that means they are trying their best but cannot keep up (which is fine) or they feel they are doing something wrong but cannot put their finger on it (for me, that's an issue but for most of the people, it's not) or the worst scenario, they feel that it's unfair to play. Atsushi Inaba said "the priority should be on designing the situations first. If a functionality is designed to capitalise on that situation, then that's great. It's really easy to fall into a trap on a series. (And if you rely too much on players knowing the mechanics of the first game - disregarding novice players), you run a risk of becoming niche." Dark Souls is a niche game that I don't enjoy playing. But that's not the worst part.

The worst part is the community. The whole "git gud" comments and belittling disgusted me and I parted ways with these games for good.

7 years ago*
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Players shouldn't be punished for their previous knowledge.

While I agree on your last paragraph a lot, isn't that a little too muc hthat you expect a game work in a way you want to, instead of looking into it? Like one game amplifies damage based on WIS, then should I call it shit because in Heroes of M&M it increases max mana, and why does it do a different stuff?

7 years ago
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A game should challenge our knowledge, vision, basically everything but like I said, if you're making a game that looks like chess, plays almost like chess, but you change the failure condition to losing a bishop (instead of king), the player should know it. Either you tell it via textboxes (if you lose your bishop, you die! - easy and dirty) or you tell this via in-game dialogues, the narrative.

Another game that does this is Hitogata Happa. It's a bullet hell shooter where you kill bosses by "charging" your "bullet spewing doll" by attacking and after a certain amount, suicide bombing the boss. I'd never figure this on my own but my friend (who is very into BH games) told me. My first reaction was WTF.

7 years ago
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I usually read a little into diffrent game's settings and systems before playing ,so maybe that's why it's not *that* weird for me, but .. a little counter-intuitive, yeah. The suicide bombing boss really sounds random, I absolutely give you that :)

7 years ago
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I absolutely despise Terraria, Minecraft, and any game that focuses on building. I fucking hate them so much. For me its no story = no fun.

Also, pretty much any exclusive, especially the playstation ones. People act so retardedly whenever a game comes out on their toaster. Uncharted 4 is a good example.

7 years ago
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7 years ago
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Its kind of sad because if those games had actually some kind of lore, missions and such, would be infinitely more interesting

7 years ago
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Borderlands series - I liked mix of action rpg with fps untill later game parts then very beginning. When enemies have more health and your weapons... well It's dissappointing when I use sniper rifle (with good stats) in first person shooter and can't perform kill with one bullet to the head on simple enemy. Also sooooo much garbage in loot aaaand f***ing backtracking. You just finished mission in most remote corner of map? Good - now we give you 3 new mission and you have to go to the same location again.... and again and again.

7 years ago
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Hearthstone, Idk why, probably because i'm bad at card game, but i find it not interesting at all compared to another card game that i've played.

Also +1 on LIMBO and Braid and SMB just because i never really like platformer genre.

7 years ago
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I don't trust games whose reviews are full of old memories. When games were scarce, you could be fond of badly executed games easily, now you are not.

7 years ago
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Well, don't forget what is "badly executed" has actually changed over the years. I find some of the old classics nearly unplayable because we've made great advances in graphics, sound and last but certainly not least control schemes, and looking past all that is too much to ask. But this by no means applies to all of them, and some "old" games really have stood the test of time and are merely dated, but still good to go.

Master of Orion 2 would be a good example. This is 21 years old now (so it can legally buy alcohol almost anywhere) and there's no tutorial, but if you're willing to read a few pages of the manual as a replacement for that it still holds up perfectly. And I say that without nostalgia goggles, because I never even played MoO2 until last year.

7 years ago
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7 years ago
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Morrowind. As a Skyrim fan, I keep hearing all about how I need to play Morrowind cuz its the pinnacle of Elder Scrolls perfection and for true gamers and smart people and etc. But it's just so dang tedious. A huge map with very little in it, the friggin RNG for damage that hates the player, NPCs with less character than a cardboard box, no hint of what to do next or keep track of what you've done and are supposed to be doing. I was always in this constant state of annoyance and was so worried about getting lost or dying and having to start over that couldn't get immersed in the game the same way I could with Skyrim. I will give it this, I actually like the graphics. And the guars and the cliffracers. Cute little critters.

Fallout 3. Good lord, that game was depressing. Its like Bethesda totally missed the humor and surrealism present in the first two games and just made a generic post-apocalyptic shooter. And the whole passive-aggressive shaming if you don't kill yourself at the end of the game. Even when theres a good chance you'll have one of three characters who can handle the situation better than you due to IMMUNITY TO RADIATION. And the game is also heavily geared towards a specific playstyle; the only armor that wasnt completely destroyed in one to two hits was the power armor, and heaven help you if you try to use any weapon besides guns. And even after fully maxing out speech stats, you can still fail speech checks. So basically, if you're not playing as a nuclear knight who shoots first and talks later, you're screwed. As someone who likes to play as a nimble fist-fighter who can talk or hack out of any situation, this is not fun.

7 years ago
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Madmax
Batman Arkham Asylum
Both have overwhelmingly positive reviews. I find them both a chore.

7 years ago
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7 years ago
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CS:G0

7 years ago
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Terraria

7 years ago
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The Witcher series: Tried 1 didn't like it, tried 2 same thing.. won't waste the money on 3. Just don't like the controls I suppose.
Sadly, I struggle with everything before FFX/2. The text boxes just kept coming and coming and it just bores me now a days.
Undertale: See the above one.

I'll just stick with three I could probably make a very big list.

7 years ago
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