Common criticisms I strongly disagree with.
Moments or general aspects in games that seem to have achieved near universal disgust and ire. Despised to an iconic degree. Except actually they're the best part of the game.
Feel free to throw me some common complaints that you just don't get. I'll likely keep this list updated I think of more. This was mostly all off the top of my head as I chopped down Willow trees in OSRS all day.
Feel free to throw me some common complaints that you just don't get. I'll likely keep this list updated I think of more. This was mostly all off the top of my head as I chopped down Willow trees in OSRS all day.
22 Games
Water Temple - Love this game but I've felt for quite a while that I've dramatically outgrown its design. The dungeons especially just leave me feeling like I'm going through the motions, solving non-puzzles and not much else. Water Temple however is complex enough in the way it's put together that it remains fun to this day. Especially in the 3DS version that got rid of having to pause to use boots.
Triforce Hunt: The game goes full open world and thoroughly encourages exploration and seamlessly mixes optional and mandatory content in a way that makes the whole game feel alive and worth engaging with. The HD version streamlining this process just makes rupees less important, ergo rupee rewards are less meaningful. I love finding the charts, I love paying tingle, and I love fishing up the shards.
Without this section the beautiful open world would be entirely disconnected from the main storyline.
Without this section the beautiful open world would be entirely disconnected from the main storyline.
Temple of the Ocean King - I haven't played this game through since I was like 7, but I remember thinking the temple was neat and I liked unlocking shortcuts to get through it faster. Dunno if I'd still like it as much today but we'll see when I decide to revisit it.
Nintendo Never cared about the timeline - When Hyrule Historia came out around the time of this game, buncha fellas glance at it and go lol why'd you guys force them to make this, they clearly never intended to connect these games Which is made worse by the devs very clearly not caring anymore with TotK.
But to say there was never a conscious effort to tie the games together is patently false. Not to say they had some grand storyline in mind. I'm sure they weren't thinking about how Ganondorf usurped the Twilight Realm when they were making OOT. But that doesn't mean they retroactively connected the games exclusively for fan demand 25 years in. Nearly every game is explicitly connected in plain text, often in-game, this is objectively true.
But to say there was never a conscious effort to tie the games together is patently false. Not to say they had some grand storyline in mind. I'm sure they weren't thinking about how Ganondorf usurped the Twilight Realm when they were making OOT. But that doesn't mean they retroactively connected the games exclusively for fan demand 25 years in. Nearly every game is explicitly connected in plain text, often in-game, this is objectively true.
Weapon breaking - I understand it makes getting weapons as a reward from anything super lame. Otherwise come on they already deleted 95% of zelda convention we need SOMETHING else to engage with. The system lead to BotW being the only 3D zelda game with genuinely engaging combat. By the end of the game you'll have like 15 of your favorite weapon on standby, getting 3 weapons per 1 weapon spent. The issue is entirely in your head at that point.
Perhaps a bit of a crutch that could be leaned on less if the enemy variety and ai was better. But it made fighting the small pool there was fun the whole way.
Perhaps a bit of a crutch that could be leaned on less if the enemy variety and ai was better. But it made fighting the small pool there was fun the whole way.
Maps swapping every few hours in real time and/or the news - It was one of the many design decisions that made Splatoon so appealing to begin with. You can look at it from any pessimistic angle you want, like oh they're just masking how little content there is or "I paid for game just let me play what I want in it" and idk that's missing the point to me. Sploon was cool because it wasn't just another average shooter.
They did a great job making the world feel alive. It's hard for me to just inherently be into something new, and Sploon 1 did everything it needed to do for me to want to meet it halfway.
I remember there being discussion about the Japanese culture of providing a curated experience vs. American businesses bending over backwards for their customers. I'm probably spacing on details and idk how true it even is culturally on Japan's side. But I'm much more on board with a game that has a strong identity it wants to put out there rather than following the norms of the industry to a T. Fit real nicely with the counter culture vibe, and made the game really fun to follow. I never quite knew exactly what I was gonna get booting up the game and that's neat. It also let them grace us with the idols and splatfests with boatloads of personality and lore.
They did a great job making the world feel alive. It's hard for me to just inherently be into something new, and Sploon 1 did everything it needed to do for me to want to meet it halfway.
I remember there being discussion about the Japanese culture of providing a curated experience vs. American businesses bending over backwards for their customers. I'm probably spacing on details and idk how true it even is culturally on Japan's side. But I'm much more on board with a game that has a strong identity it wants to put out there rather than following the norms of the industry to a T. Fit real nicely with the counter culture vibe, and made the game really fun to follow. I never quite knew exactly what I was gonna get booting up the game and that's neat. It also let them grace us with the idols and splatfests with boatloads of personality and lore.
Labyrinth Zone - You can do a lot more with physics based gameplay than showcase high speeds. The idea of relative speed comes up occasionally in this series. Right you can't go "fast" while underwater, but that doesn't mean the level design has nothing to master and therefor go significantly faster than on your first attempt. There's falling blocks, hazards that quickly cycle giving you very little time to get through, the fact that you're constantly on a drowning timer, invincibility powerups that feel great to take as far into the stage as possible. The boss is an amazing risk vs. reward where you just have to get to the end of a section. If you slow down at all the water will rise and then you're really in trouble if you mess up again. So ironically you may want to take it slow just to be safe but it's scary 'cuz you're drowning.
Dunno, sick level honestly. It's fast paced, rewards skilled play combined with game knowledge, and remains engaging even decades later. It's tragic how much the core marketing behind this series permanently tainted everyone's perception of what a Sonic game "should" be right off the bat. No other series do people go "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!?" when levels have you do anything other than hold right with your eyes closed.
Dunno, sick level honestly. It's fast paced, rewards skilled play combined with game knowledge, and remains engaging even decades later. It's tragic how much the core marketing behind this series permanently tainted everyone's perception of what a Sonic game "should" be right off the bat. No other series do people go "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!?" when levels have you do anything other than hold right with your eyes closed.
Metropolis Zone - It's just...not hard? I get that it'll knock you around a lot but it's very forgiving with ring placements. I haven't died in this stage since I was literally 5 years old. As a penultimate level, the surprise of having a third act sticks with you, and following it up with a brief auto scroller stage is a great calm before the storm feeling as well as a nice rest after you've been smacked around by slicers for 3 stages.
Can't say it's my favorite bit in the game like I do with much of the rest of this list...But Sonic fans from the very beginning really do be holding 30 year long grudges because one of the final levels was slightly challenging as a kid.
Can't say it's my favorite bit in the game like I do with much of the rest of this list...But Sonic fans from the very beginning really do be holding 30 year long grudges because one of the final levels was slightly challenging as a kid.
Big the Cat and Amy - Their stories are so comically short it's absurd they're so infamous. Amy's gameplay is nifty enough to carry her THREE levels. And Big the Cat's just a cooler version of Sega Bass Fishing, which was already a cool game. Also love Big's story, everyone else's campaigns are going on around him and he just doesn't have a clue what's going on he just wants his frog. The main crew literally forgets about him when Eggman's ship is crashing, my man's woulda went down with the ship if he didn't find his own way off. Godly fishing music too.
Eggmanland HD - The finale of this game is one of the most genuinely impressive moments in the entire industry and Eggmanland is a beautiful start to said finale. This level could be the entire game and it would still be one of the best games of the generation. It's unreal how meaty of a stage it is, literally exceeding the length of some full games in the series. Still, it maintains really well the core appeal of skill=beat level faster. This level could take over an hour, or it could take less than 20 minutes.
One of the many moments that shows the boost formula doesn't have to suck and can in fact be more engaging than a lot of the adventure era games. This is the canonical ending of this franchise, they will never even try to top, or match this. Sonic fans haaaaaate level design with effort behind it though. This was followed up with a brief auto runner in sonic colors and I've still seen people online saying the one from colors was just too much. Sega my dude, it's a losing game trying to please everyone, just filter as many people as possible unapologetically.
One of the many moments that shows the boost formula doesn't have to suck and can in fact be more engaging than a lot of the adventure era games. This is the canonical ending of this franchise, they will never even try to top, or match this. Sonic fans haaaaaate level design with effort behind it though. This was followed up with a brief auto runner in sonic colors and I've still seen people online saying the one from colors was just too much. Sega my dude, it's a losing game trying to please everyone, just filter as many people as possible unapologetically.
Ashley escorting - She should have been with you for more of the game. And just telling her to hide shouldn't be so good at keeping her safe. OG re4 is a tad creatively bankrupt in the scenarios department, any time she was with you reeled in the mindless action and reintroduced some tension into the game.
Atlantica - A lot of the worlds in KH1 are really small scale and kinda cute in comparison to future games. This is one of the few Disney worlds that feels fully realized. Already a far cry from Wonderland, which features the Mad Hatter as a PNG on a wall loool.
But yee it can be somewhat confusing, especially the first fight with Ursula. But I thought the swimming controls worked well and it had a lot of effort put into it.
But yee it can be somewhat confusing, especially the first fight with Ursula. But I thought the swimming controls worked well and it had a lot of effort put into it.
Atlantica - Fellas not down for a little finny fun be stressin too much about the little things in life.
Level up system - Nothing's wrong with it. Imo it's better than how every single other game in the franchise handles its RPG systems. This is one of the only FF games that's actually playable because it's one of the few that didn't get stupid with trying too hard to be creative systems.
The laugh - If you've seen the actual context of the scene and still put it on your "top ten WORST video game voice acting moments" list you lack any and all media literacy. Tidus descending into madness is the literal best part of the game.
3D platformer cameras - All of 'em, every complaint about camera issues in 3D platformers is a straight up skill issue, ESPECIALLY in the big names like SM64.
The Sand Bird, pachinko machine, the casino puzzle wall, and blue coins - Cool levels, not hard. I'm begging Nintendo to go back to designing some non-conventional platforming. They've had it down to a science for too long. They've mastered that science to the point it's enjoyable to me in their latest attempts, but still nothing matches nonconventional game design with a healthy amount of jank. Also for the puzzle wall, you have full control of how you shoot your water.
Also finding all the blue coins is a self inflicted issue. Odd to me how many people these days rag on it and seemingly make themselves suffer to find all of them knowing they're just gonna complain there's no reward in the end. I like finding them, they're inherently neat to me. The journey is its own reward. And "mission exclusive" blue coins aren't hard to intuit. "How am I to know which episodes have exclusive blue coins?" Have you tried going to the episode that features a location or event that isn't in the other episodes?
Also finding all the blue coins is a self inflicted issue. Odd to me how many people these days rag on it and seemingly make themselves suffer to find all of them knowing they're just gonna complain there's no reward in the end. I like finding them, they're inherently neat to me. The journey is its own reward. And "mission exclusive" blue coins aren't hard to intuit. "How am I to know which episodes have exclusive blue coins?" Have you tried going to the episode that features a location or event that isn't in the other episodes?
Rusty Bucket Bay - This game's very chill from beginning to end. Having one room in the game that genuinely invokes some tension even for experienced players is really important I think. Music's as good as always, tons to explore.
World size and Grunty Industries - I think Tooie does a great job at expanding the levels without losing what made the first game fun. They're bigger yes but they don't feel emptier. Always something to do at every turn, the stages are simply just more complex than before.
Grunty Industries slaps. It's a shame we didn't get the final tower level as it was cut because of time restraints. But GI is a fitting final level. Like I get that it's not as accessible as anything from the first game but I think that's amazing. No other platformer's gonna have you enter a level and say lol you can't actually get in the front door find a different way in
It's kinda the Eggmanland of Banjo one could say. A singular level that has a bigger scope than some entire games.
Grunty Industries slaps. It's a shame we didn't get the final tower level as it was cut because of time restraints. But GI is a fitting final level. Like I get that it's not as accessible as anything from the first game but I think that's amazing. No other platformer's gonna have you enter a level and say lol you can't actually get in the front door find a different way in
It's kinda the Eggmanland of Banjo one could say. A singular level that has a bigger scope than some entire games.
Cars - The vehicle creator is extremely intuitive. They work extremely well.
"oh gooood a tutorial on car paaaarrrrrts" -Jontron says looking at a menu you can close frame 1 of it opening showing car parts he's unlocked and nothing more, gaslighting an entire generation into thinking the first 3 hours of this game are in menus.
I hate cars in real life, they should be outlawed, there's better ways and big car doesn't want you to realize this. But here? They cool.
"oh gooood a tutorial on car paaaarrrrrts" -Jontron says looking at a menu you can close frame 1 of it opening showing car parts he's unlocked and nothing more, gaslighting an entire generation into thinking the first 3 hours of this game are in menus.
I hate cars in real life, they should be outlawed, there's better ways and big car doesn't want you to realize this. But here? They cool.
MJ/Miles sections - Modern games are like 90% about their stories anyway and these moments giving different perspectives help grow the universe in a natural way. I understand they're not the most exciting bits on a repeat playthrough, but I can't say this modern style of game is inherently replayable to begin with. It's just watchin a movie.
Every level - This is one of the only Megaman X games that I don't find actively annoying. But then I go online and find it's universally panned lol. Idk I just thought the levels were a lot more memorable and filled with less trial and error annoyances than usual. Rainy Turtloid's stage is better than anything in the first 5 games.
Also I like the Nightmare Effects, they make replaying the stages more interesting.
Also I like the Nightmare Effects, they make replaying the stages more interesting.
32 Comments
@Lickiwrath All 3 based. The souls formula almost makes more sense being more linear imo. The openness of the previous 2 allows some more depth and more wrinkles to make learning the games feel cool. But 3's approach is definitely not bad. I really wish Nintendo would make a new RPG franchise made in-house they always slew so hard. And yeh it's weird to me that stuff like TP gets so criticized for having a slow intro but people have the patience for something like Red Dead 2 lol. Different audiences I suppose but still.
@Poet Haha, I could. Jank boat controls give me life. It would be nice to have more dedicated platforming, and they totally just didn't utilize the turbo nozzle during the finale whatsoever. I Don't hate it at all tho. I'll also just throw out that I like the watermelon mission. Oh yeah @TheSoggyCrisp That is tru, not sure I've ever heard someone bring it up in that way but it's definitely true Sunshine feels weirdly rushed in that way. Never really bothered me considering the bonus shines outside of the first 7 of each episode are all just for funsies anyway. (Though perhaps it's only like that BECAUSE they had to put in so many filler shines and didn't want you to be able to skip every single level by doing them) I do find that just about every 3D mario has a surprisingly meaty percentage of filler stars. I'd be curious to tally them all up someday.
@Poet Haha, I could. Jank boat controls give me life. It would be nice to have more dedicated platforming, and they totally just didn't utilize the turbo nozzle during the finale whatsoever. I Don't hate it at all tho. I'll also just throw out that I like the watermelon mission. Oh yeah @TheSoggyCrisp That is tru, not sure I've ever heard someone bring it up in that way but it's definitely true Sunshine feels weirdly rushed in that way. Never really bothered me considering the bonus shines outside of the first 7 of each episode are all just for funsies anyway. (Though perhaps it's only like that BECAUSE they had to put in so many filler shines and didn't want you to be able to skip every single level by doing them) I do find that just about every 3D mario has a surprisingly meaty percentage of filler stars. I'd be curious to tally them all up someday.
Poefred
28 days ago
And to be fair I probably shouldn't talk so definitively on all of FF just yet, I still haven't played 4,5,most of 7, 8,9, and 15. But yeah idk from what I've played 2's been the smoothest one who's levelling system didn't bother me in some way. Though I do like 12 and 14 as well. But those who've seen me playing say I play popular RPG's like a psychopath, I don't even understand Baldur's Gate 3 lool. KH2's rhythm game could have definitely been more interactive like a proper rhythm game, like the ice cream one in BBS. As it is though it's just a short optional distraction to visit as you progress and I can't say it's something I have any negative thoughts towards. Def not a highlight of the game or anything. - More on Mega Man in the next response-
@TheSoggyCrisp Dunno, there's exactly one spot, the bit near the plank in wet dry world where it's impossible to get a decent camera angle. Otherwise there's no instance where it doesn't work either passively or with 1-2 C inputs. Rare's cameras tended to be even better given pressing R focuses it behind the player nicely. SM64's equivalent, the mario cam, is definitely odd. Then there's stuff like people complaining about Sonic Adventure 2's camera which especially makes no sense to me given you're running down a hallway and the camera makes sure you can see everything coming perfectly fine. Bad camera is just such a common complaint in the whole genre and I struggle to think of any game that I find it to be true in personally.
As far as Mega man goes, idk I've never seen eye to eye with MM fans in general. My favorites in the mainline franchise are 7 and 8. Honestly wonder if I'd have a better opinion of the first 3 X games if they functionally did away with the lives system like almost everything past 4 did. I'm not usually a "Lives are archaic and should be removed" kinda guy but I've always hated how they were implemented in this series. Willing to put up with a lot more if I don't have to replay entire levels after a boss kills me 5 seconds after reaching it. Still, X1's kinda dull once you get good at it, 2 still drives me crazy, 3's touch damage is maddening. And even with a more forgiving lives system nothing about these 3 really speaks to me at all. 4's nifty if not a tad forgettable, and 5 is horribly paced with tons of auto scrollers. X6 and 4 were the only ones I didn't even glance at a guide for. My nose was absolutely buried in a guide for the rest because it felt absolutely necessary to not have a completely miserable time. I was just replaying levels 'cuz they were actually fun. I barely remember a single level in the first 5 games but 6 every stage pops off. Unironically yes I found slaying the Blaze Heatnix doughnuts more fun than most of the other games. You're actually really powerful and it feels good to line up screen nukes just right at different angles and scenarios to take 'em out quick. Compared to like, idk, standing on the spiky platform that flies through the cave in X1 or something. I Became one of those sickos genuinely playing the whole game as unarmored X just 'cuz it's so fun. I didn't even hate Mighty No. 9 either lol, I'm just a menace to this fanbase. Didn't personally run into any softlocks but even if I did, I was replaying stages in earlier games due to trial and error boss fights anyway. Game knowledge needed to avoid a very specific unfair scenario feels like the exception with X6, whereas it feels like the entire formula for the first 3.