Games: What games are you currently playing? [OT!]

[phaq]

I got a topic of discussion for ya, but I don't feel like making a new thread for it, and it mostly goes with gaming anyway.

What exactly IS overated? The term I mean, not stuff that is. For example, I notice people seem to label something as overated, simply for the sake of spiting something they dislike. In actuallity I believe one should notice the things they like as overated and still be able to come to terms with it.

For instance let's take Ocarina of Time since it's already been discussed within the last few posts. I've always like Legend of Zelda since first playing the original in the 80's. However the series does gain way too much credit over some lesser known, just as good titles in the same genre. Hence(HENCE I say [img]graemlins/whatever.gif[/img] ) I have to admit, it is a seriously overated series. Especially on fanboy central...er...I mean GameFAQs...

Another example, that is especially overated by the users of said site would be Final Fantasy 7. I caught that I've not spoken favorably of the game simply because of those fanboys rabid obsession with it. It is an o.k. game, that's the best I can give it though. Some would say "greatest.game.ever." If they truly felt that way then fine, but I seriously would not even begin to concieve of entertaining the thought of considering it that. However, it does not suck.

One of my top games would be River City Ransom(Street Gangs in Europe, Downtown Nekkestsu Monogatari in Japan, way back on the NES). I have not seen anyone give this a bad review except for one GameFAQs user(real surprise there right?). However, could one really call it overated because of that, since it's really a cult classic(I'm just gonna assume you know what that means)?

Castlevania, something tells me I gotta apologize to my good friend BJ(who really needs better initials, at least that's only a screen name)in advance for this, but this is how I really see it. I find the METROvania(yes I said metro, not metroid, because I do find it a more effeminate variation of the series over the old platforming stlye) highly overated. That said, Symphony of the Night was still an excellent game, and I don't flat out hate this new style. I just wish Konami didn't ditch the old style. Now if Bojack decided he thought the old style was overated, well, that's how he sees it(I know he loves the modern style).

That last paragraph on Castelvania brings me to the final point of it all, so I guess you could lump this paragraph with that one. Kinda goes back to my original point too. I see people get insanely defensive when thier favorite game/series gets called overated. This is why I wish to try to define what overated is exactly, because people generally see it as an overall bad thing, to be considered overated, when in actually the overated object(maybe person in the right case) may in fact deserve high praise, just not as much of it as it(they) gets.

[Cataferal]

Yeah, i think people often misuse that word, which isnt helped by the fact people also often take it the wrong way (ie. offensively).

To me, "overrated" means two things; from a rational, reserved reviewer, i'd take it to mean "this game isnt as great as people make it out to be, but it is still great". From an irrational, spiteful reviewer, it means "i hate the popularity and culture that's formed around this game, and i want to make a controversial statement". The notable difference between these two statements is that the former is regarding the quality of the game itself, while the latter is based on the kind of people that play it.

Regarding the offense that surrounds the word, I think the problem lies mostly with peoples' underestimation of the power of opinion. Its not as simple as it was back in the 8 bit/16 bit era, where for the most part the challenge was the main attraction in games. People now play for the cinematic experience, for simulation or the escapism, all of which are further dividing people's opinions on what constitutes a worthwhile gaming experience. This is why people get offended when the words "overrated" or "overhyped" get thrown around; its sometimes frustrating to accept that not everybody can find value in the things that you can.

In conclusion, i'd rarely make use of the word. There are too many people out there who dont know me well enough to realise that im not just trying to be controversial. Rule of thumb: dont use it on gamefaqs - unless your itching for a flame-war. ^_^

<font color="#345E81" size="1">[ February 12, 2007 08:00 AM: Message edited by: Cataferal ]</font>

[mrwiseman]

Overrated means it's generally considered better than it is, regardless of being good or bad. For example, I think TFTs are good, but overrated, and I think so-called justice systems suck, and are overrated, even if people already thought they kinda suck.

[phaq]

Back to that Sonic thing, I've gotten Sonic Rivals on the PSP, and I gotta say, if they ditched the whole racing thing, tossed enemies in, tossed a boss on the 2nd or 3rd stage, and continued on with a cut scene here and there between stages, Sonic would be back. This one racing game felt more like Sonic than the previous platform/adventures have. They need to bring 2.5D to consoles, it'd be a way to somewhat please graphics whores and yet keep gaming itself good.

[mrwiseman]

I have another idea, let's feed the guys leading development in the Sonic Team to giant enemy crabs; then we print the hundred of Excel budget sheets Yuji Naka has been working on, set them on fire, and shove them up his ass and not allow him to shit them until he gathers up a decent team, designs and directs Sonic 4; we beat the level designers proportionally to how much void they leave in them, and every time anybody mentions a new character, we blow his head off. We make a big cut-scene at the beginning of the game where Shadow, Big, the white guy, and every stupid character die mercilessly at the hands of Clock Spider, and are never ever mentioned again. We run a road roller over any plans for "original gameplay". We reduce cut-scenes to Sonic saying "I'd hit it" and "I've got blue balls" when he's near Amy, and Tails making some puns on not giving a flying fuck. Finally, we send the game to platform reviewers together with a document explaining how will we cut their balls off if they keep bitching about casual gamer shit. Then we get Sonic 4.

As a bonus, the Wii version should have an extra option for "Girls delight mode" where the controller is vibrating all the time, and the game manual should recommend guys to play with their Wii. And the PS3 version should make fun of how the player dealt massive damage to his wallet.

<font color="#345E81" size="1">[ February 17, 2007 02:34 PM: Message edited by: -Wiseman- ]</font>

[mrwiseman]

Heh, nah, just ranting

[Cataferal]

That synopsis sounds infinitely better than my experience with all post-Adventure sonic games (excluding Rivals and Rush).

But is it just me being lured into another platforming trainwreck, or does Sonic and the Secret Rings actually look fun?

[ame="http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142154"]http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142154[/ame] (summary, screenshots and videos inside).

Am i going mad? Discuss.

[phaq]

jesus, did you drink a giant batch of bitterness lately or what?

[phaq]

looks like a typical 3d sonic game. saw a vid, and again there was something like 8 characters. i'll agree with wisemans point on killing a bunch of em off, like robotnick doing something competant for a change, which then motivates the only 3 anyone gives a rats ass about(sonic, tails, and knuckles) to kick his ass.

however, i think we gotta realize, sonic is, was and always will be a kids game, along with mario. it wasn't really pointed out back in the day(when it was just run to the left/right, kill enemies and whoop boss ass), but once they started putting in voice acting and shit, it becomes pretty obvious.

oh, and here comes another point. robotnick to eggman. another one is the "correct" numbering and naming of final fantasy and dragon quest. some people think it's the greatest thing how everything reflects it's japanese counterpart. i kinda see it as developers getting lazy as hell. i mean, we always got robotnick for i dunno how many sonic games straight, once it becomes adventure they start calling him eggman suddenly, giving us no explanation why. i get that's what he was always called in japan, but does that really give them the right to just leave it at that during translation? that's not nearly as big a deal as ff7 though. this is where it really seems like laziness. the last final fantasy game we saw was called 3. where does 7 come from? then theres the anthology disc, i think it was anthology, i never really bothered with it myself. whatever had 5 and 6, they couldn't just say "ff3 and a game never released outside of japan?" what happens to the people that expected their favorite in the series(some actually like 3/6j over 7) to be remade on the ds and instead got a completely different, more basic game? it just seems like laziness as they make confusion by doing this more than anything else. instead of being on 9 we're(outside of japan) on 12, with everytihng pertaining to 2 and 3 being clusterfucked. then dragon warrior/quest. did they expect all gamers are internet users and just undertsand why it went from 4 on the nes to 7 on the psx, and then from warrior to quest on the ps2? was this really the best move or do you think they should have just continued as was?

[mrwiseman]

IRT Cata: Am i going mad? Discuss.

I'm sure this guy can tell: http://i5.tinypic.com/30k6omc.jpg

BTW, gameplay in those screenshots looks the same, albeit stages seem cuter.


IRT Phaq: however, i think we gotta realize, sonic is, was and always will be a kids game, along with mario. it wasn't really pointed out back in the day(when it was just run to the left/right, kill enemies and whoop boss ass), but once they started putting in voice acting and shit, it becomes pretty obvious.

Good point; however, they don't have to make it suck just because it's a kids game. They don't need to introduce Papadopoulos the Diprotodon. They don't need to make it about driving a car and shooting. They don't need to botch it and release it unfinished. They don't need to make it ridiculously tedious because you have to fall in the 0.1% of space that's not void in a given horizontal plane without being able to see shit because the camera is somehow pointing towards Sonic's cock, especially if it's going to be a kids game. They can make all the stupid cheesy dialogue they want, I didn't mind it in the first Sonic Adventure (the only 3D Sonic game I liked despite a few flaws, and I still play it). All they need is to keep it decent, stop inventing bullshit without getting the basic stuff right first (innovation lol), and stop trying to make more money by cutting it from development to spend it on marketing; you can't really get things done and done well when you have a bunch of sub-par project managers (and I'm probably overestimating them) leading a horde of cheaper, clueless artists and developers. Don't think this kind of thing happens to videogames alone; almost everything in the software industry is getting spoiled by retarded, folly, spiky haired, inept MBAs who wouldn't tell a piece of software and a lava lamp apart. Heh, I'll stop now because I'm getting into dangerous territory: I could rant for hours about this.

As for the naming and numbering issues, the problem was that some marketing guys were stupid idiots who thought the original names, numbers or whatever wouldn't sell and just had to fuck everything up because that's what they do best. Same happened to the Tales games.