[Franky Family]

What are some of the games, franchises or developers that left a bad impression upon you and damaged your opinion on a game, the respective game's franchise, or even the game's developer?

These are my choices:

Halo 4 (to a degree)
Halo MCC (launch)
Halo Infinite
343i
Tencent
EPIC Games

And maybe I have a bone to pick with Intelligent Systems for forsaking the greatness of the Paper Mario series. That's my list of games and gaming companies that've sort of rustled my jimmies over the years

 

[TaySan]

343i. They don't know how to make a good Halo game and they should stop and try a new IP instead.

Most Ubisoft games have given their open-world checklist approach to game design. I just had enough of them unless they have something unique that draws me in.

MachineGames went from day 1 blind buys to wait for reviews arter Wolfenstein New Colossus and Youngblood

 

[Yawnson]

Modern Bethesda, after how good Fallout Vegas was, 4 was disappointing and a huge step back, and it was obvious Bethesda didn't have the talent needed to make their own Fallout Vegas

 

[Zeta Dragoon]

The developers and publishers who are removing male/female and replacing with body type A and B in character creation. No I do not identify as a fucking letter.

Nintendo ditching the good parts of the Ocarina of Time formula in Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom.
Nintendo getting rid of Virtual Console for prior systems and only having a subscription based online replacement.
Nintendo not doing HD-2D remasters of Golden Sun.
Gamefreak and Pokemon, enough said.

Sony gutting Japan Studio and moving their headquarters to California.

Square-Enix with no apparent plans for doing Dragon Quest Pixel Remasters for current systems, and or remasters of VIII, IX, and bringing X to the West. Though with III HD-2D in development, its logical they will be going for a DQ V HD-2D eventually.

Sega putting time and resources into absolute shit like Hyenas and not a Skies of Arcadia Remaster/Remake/Sequel and Valkyria Chronicles 3 port/Valkyria Chronicles 5.

Blizzard having Diablo IV being online only with a massive focus on MTX. I just want to kill demons while getting increasingly absurdly powerful gear and weapons for fucks sake.

Bioware still has not released Dragon Age 4 and Mass Effect. Mass Effect 3, Andromeda and Anthem being greenlit and released as they were. Also letting the sheer potential of Jade Empires setting and premise rot without a remake/sequel.

Cyberpunk 2077 should have had more endings, romance, and third person instead of first person. I am weary of first person since Prey 2017 made me nauseous.

Destiny should have been a generational single player space opera RPG.

Final Fantasy XV should have been a generational single player RPG and not the empty shell it ended up being with its actual ending later being released in a book since the later DLCs were canceled.

Bandai Namco Entertainment with Tales of Arise nosediving off a cliff soon after the first act and overall being an empty shell of a game.

 

[HE1NZ]

It's over for Rockstar games. They managed to convince people their last two games weren't shit but without Housers it won't work.

 

[GreyHorace]

Bioware - Was a huge fan of them until the Mass Effect 3 ending debacle. They really dropped the ball on that one and their response to the fan backlash was petty and vindictive to say the least. Everything they've done since then has been a slow slide into mediocrity.

Xbox - Enjoyed my time gaming on the OG Xbox and it's sequel the Xbox 360. But the always-online bullshit with the Xbox One killed my interest in the brand, even after they backtracked.

Assassin's Creed - Played all games up to AC4: Black Flag but I could see the series was starting the become stale at that point. And I never played Unity because of all the hilarious bugs it had upon release. Haven't played any new ones since then and I'm not a fan of the direction they took with Origins.

Naughty Dog - Now this may be a bit unfair since I've never played any of their titles. But I have no plans to buy any future ones while that pretentious cunt Neil Druckmann is in charge.

 

[HE1NZ]

Haven't played any new ones since then and I'm not a fan of the direction they took with Origins.

How would you know if you didn't play them

 

[Franky Family]

Dude, Naughty Dog is legendary for Crash Bandicoot alone

 

[GreyHorace]

How would you know if you didn't play them

Because all the previews showed me a series going in the direction of a Dark Souls lite clone? If I wanted a Souls like stealth game, I'd rather play From Software's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. And I got my fix for an open world stealth action game that AC used to be in Ghost of Tsushima.

I'm not wasting my money on games that don't satisfy my specific tastes.

Dude, Naughty Dog is legendary for Crash Bandicoot alone

And deservedly so. I may one day play the Uncharted series, but any future titles under the direction of Cuckmann is a pass from me.

 

[kiNeMs]

What are some of the games, franchises or developers that left a bad impression upon you and damaged your opinion on a game, the respective game's franchise, or even the game's developer?

These are my choices:

Halo 4 (to a degree)
Halo MCC (launch)
Halo Infinite
343i
Tencent
EPIC Games

And maybe I have a bone to pick with Intelligent Systems for forsaking the greatness of the Paper Mario series. That's my list of games and gaming companies that've sort of rustled my jimmies over the years

Bungie

In destiny. Locked players out of the best part of the game if they didnt have friends. They are dead to me.

 

[HE1NZ]

Because all the previews showed me a series going in the direction of a Dark Souls lite clone? If I wanted a Souls like stealth game, I'd rather play From Software's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. And I got my fix for an open world stealth action game that AC used to be in Ghost of Tsushima.

Huh? They went into direction of Witcher 3 clone. Barely anything resembling Dark Souls.

 

[Kadayi]

Probably go with Bioware. I figured after ME3 I'd give them a second chance with ME:A and albeit I did beat it, it was a slog and I legit cannot remember any of the NPC Companions names at all, that's how unmemorable they were. With Dragon Age: Inquisition. I tried my best to push through, but I dropped off it eventually, down to a combination of its time sink nature as well as too much hitting you over the head with EGS pandering talking points. I never bothered with Anthem as it wasn't my cup of tea in terms of genre, and I'm unconvinced that either DA4 or the New ME games are likely to rejuvenate my interest in either franchise, although I'm still open to being persuaded, assuming the public and trusted YouTuber Reception reception is positive. Mainstream Game Journalism can largely eat a bag of dicks through.

 

[GreyHorace]

With Dragon Age:Origins I tried my best to push through, but I dropped off it eventually, down to a combination of its time sink nature as well as too much hitting you over the head with EGS pandering talking points.

Origins? That for me is their best game and while it does have a bit of social just pandering, it's still an enjoyable fantasy rpg. Now DA: Inquisition on the other hand, that game went all in on the EGS horeshit and was a sucky game to boot.

 

[Kadayi]

Origins? That for me is their best game and while it does have a bit of social just pandering, it's still an enjoyable fantasy rpg. Now DA: Inquisition on the other hand, that game went all in on the EGS horeshit and was a sucky game to boot.

Sorry, pre-Coffee post. I meant Inquisition.

No issue with DA:O

 

[GreyHorace]

Sorry, pre-Coffee post. I meant Inquisition.

No issue with DA:O

I just couldn't believe how awful Inquisition was given how hyped I was for it. I played it 2 years after it's release and given that it won a bunch of Game of the Year awards I fully expected it was a return to form for Bioware after the ME3 disaster. So you can imagine my surprise and eventual disgust at how terrible it's gameplay systems were and how boring and uninspired it's story was.

Fucking game journos named this their GOTY? Bullshit.

 

[HE1NZ]

I just couldn't believe how awful Inquisition was given how hyped I was for it. I played it 2 years after it's release and given that it won a bunch of Game of the Year awards I fully expected it was a return to form for Bioware after the ME3 disaster. So you can imagine my surprise and eventual disgust at how terrible it's gameplay systems were and how boring and uninspired it's story was.

Fucking game journos named this their GOTY? Bullshit.

ME3 was a good game. Nobody can "return to form" when fans think games like that are a disaster.

 

[Joe T.]

Not joking either, that only becomes a slight exaggeration when indies are included.

Rockstar/GTA IV might have been the only game of the last 22+ years that dared to dream big and deliver a significant improvement on the interactive experience. That came at great expense to mission freedom, but it was hard to argue with the hardware limitation excuse back then - those consoles were working with 512MB of RAM.

Hardware has improved significantly since then, the gaming experience has not. No excuse for that, especially as devs today stoop as low as 540p to get games running at 60fps.

Then there's the cowardice of major devs/publishers to oppose today's upside down political agenda and the people that buy their products/services.

 

[Chozofication]

Not joking either, that only becomes a slight exaggeration when indies are included.

Rockstar/GTA IV might have been the only game of the last 22+ years that dared to dream big and deliver a significant improvement on the interactive experience. That came at great expense to mission freedom, but it was hard to argue with the hardware limitation excuse back then - those consoles were working with 512MB of RAM.

Hardware has improved significantly since then, the gaming experience has not. No excuse for that, especially as devs today stoop as low as 540p to get games running at 60fps.

Then there's the cowardice of major devs/publishers to oppose today's upside down political agenda and the people that buy their products/services.

Agreed except gta 4 sucks donkey dick

Maybe Nintendo can take game design up a notch on switch 2, after all the cpu in switch is not much better than xbox 360

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Pretty much every major dev, at this point.

I just pick the corn outta the crap. Plenty of exceptional games, even sometimes from the big devs and publishers.

 

[Kadayi]

Pretty much every major dev, at this point.

I just pick the corn outta the crap. Plenty of exceptional games, even sometimes from the big devs and publishers.

I kind of roll my eyes at the pandering, and try and focus on the positives of a title. I mean BG3 has some thrown in, but the positives far outweigh the negatives, so I 'm 'whatever'. I don't necessarily hold the devs directly accountable for a lot of this shit (although some are always on board with it), because I recognize that it's the investment firms pushing the EGS shit who are driving a lot of this stuff given it is endemic across all media.

I think at some point, the tide will turn and in 15 - 20 years people will be looking back at this period of creative bankruptcy and cringe at it all in a 'what the fuck were we thinking?' way. It's like Communist Propaganda, where in everything creative needed to be state-approved and have some positive messages, versus just be a comedy or Drama.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

I kind of roll my eyes at the pandering, and try and focus on the positives of a title. I mean BG3 has some thrown in, but the positives far outweigh the negatives, so I 'm 'whatever'. I don't necessarily hold the devs directly accountable for a lot of this shit (although some are always on board with it), because I recognize that it's the investment firms pushing the EGS shit who are driving a lot of this stuff given it is endemic across all media.

I think at some point, the tide will turn and in 15 - 20 years people will be looking back at this period of creative bankruptcy and cringe at it all in a 'what the fuck were we thinking?' way. It's like Communist Propaganda, where in everything creative needed to be state-approved and have some positive messages, versus just be a comedy or Drama.

What you said is true, but my comment was more general, aimed at the overall lack of polish and quality in a lot of games. But so many games to play anyway, and I'm a habitual re-player anyway. Favorites from years ago still get played today.

 

[Kadayi]

What you said is true, but my comment was more general, aimed at the overall lack of polish and quality in a lot of games. But so many games to play anyway, and I'm a habitual re-player anyway. Favorites from years ago still get played today.

I'm a serial restarter so kind of the same. I put a whole chunk of change into a game, then think 'I could have done this a whole lot better if...' then restart.

 

[Hostile_18]

Developers usually in my mind course correct.

Tango Gameworks is a big one at the moment. Evil Within 1 and 2 are amazing, Ghostwire... well least said the better. Maybe partly unfairly influenced because of how much I love EW.

Konami and Metal Gear (and their treatment of Silent Hill and people in general).

 

[Miyazaki Loves Kojima]

@Kadayi did you think I wouldn't slip a hint here as well?

 

[macapala]

Once nintendo got out of the love hotel business I was like "fuck em"

 

[Helljumper]

SIE/PlayStation

Up until the PS3, PlayStation was my main and favourite platform. But the Western shift / Californication of PlayStation, which in my view began when Kaz Hirai took over and the console underwent a mini relaunch with the slim model and the new "PS3" branding, made me move away.

The bizarre, Japan-centric SIE/PlayStation that characterised the PS1 and PS2 eras gradually disappeared as companies such as Naughty Dog, Sony Santa Monica, Guerilla, and Quantic Dream and their "cinematic" games came to dominate the PS3.

I checked out somewhere between 2008-10 when I saw where PlayStation was going. I switched to Xbox and the Xbox 360. I haven't returned to PlayStation since.

 

[synchronicity]

I played Assassin's Creed (one) not too long after release and immediately recognized Ubisoft for what they were/are...in their more modern incarnation. That initial instinct has proven to be even more accurate than I expected at the time.

And David Cage / Quantic Dream. I became physically angry while playing Beyond Two Souls so aggressively aggravating it was, but I forced myself to finish it to forever disabuse me of the idea that his games were worth my time. (I had already played Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain prior) They always had a seductive quality in that cinematic-meets-gaming siren's song sort of way, but I learned my lesson through violent self flagellation, and have not been tempted in the slightest since.