Things That Bother You About Gaming

[Commode]

Well, we do need more boring Uncharted games you know.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Sigh.

[Foggle]

I mean, I liked The Last of Us, and I don't hate Uncharted or anything, but it pains me when respected developers don't take advantage of the inherent absurdity of video games as a medium. Here's a list of games that have made me feel complex emotions such as sadness and nostalgia:

Nier
Lost Odyssey
The Darkness 1 & 2
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Persona 2 & 3
Planescape: Torment
Catherine
Drakengard 3
Saints Row 2

None of these games are remotely realistic in setting, and all are grounded only in the natural absurdity that comes with controlling a character as they jump on platforms or shoot laser beams at giant lizard monsters or whatever. While the ending was a little heavy, TLOU failed to elicit a reaction anywhere near the level of the conclusion to a cartoon game where an English squirrel fights singing poop with toilet paper. Think about that.

[Nel_Annette]

Since you mention it... I thought Saints Row 2 had the perfect blend of absurd comedy and drama, and as much as I love SR4 (It's a complete love letter to every installment of the series.) I haaaaated the path that the series took with SR3. Too much. Too much absurdity and toilet humor. Completely boring Liberty City clone compared to diverse Stillwater. SR4 had the sense to dial it back a bit, (yes, somehow even with aliens and powers and matrix shit), but I really liked the way SR2 built upon the set-up of the first game and it really felt like they threw all of that away with 3.

I've recently been replaying Jak and Daxter, and I do wish they'd go back to more fantastical games like this. Uncharted and Last Of Us honestly just don't draw me in at all.

[Foggle]

I still found Saints Row 3 enjoyable, but I agree that it was very weak compared to 2 and 4. Reading interviews with Volition, it seems like THQ forced them to make SR3 more wacky and less serious. Multiple plot-important moments (like a bit where the villains attack the Saints' church back in Stilwater) and story/character developments (such as Shaundi developing PTSD and survivor's guilt) were excised from the script entirely in an attempt to appeal to a broader audience who can't handle sad parts in their comedy games.

Saints Row 4 seemed like an apology for this, in a lot of ways. It's one of the funniest and best games I've ever played.

[Nel_Annette]

Moments like

Spoiler

the Boss mercy-killing Carlos, stuffing Jessica in a trunk and letting Maero unknowingly kill her, Aisha's death and confronting Julius just stick with me. The only things like that in 3 are Gat's supposed death and the "go after Killbane" ending  because Shaundi dies, but both of those are overshadowed by 1. they just killed Johnny fucking Gat about fifteen minutes into the game and 2. Killbane's a fucking stupid villain.

I hate that Phillipe gets offed only one-third of the way into the game. He should have been the big bad of the whole thing, with the war between him and the boss escalating throughout the whole thing. The stuff with Matt Miller and him bailing on the whole operation could have been kept the same, but Killbane should have been the first one to go. A gang of Luchadores. Greeeeaaaaat. If Phillipe had to go that early, then either the twins should have become the main villains or that whole gang should have been replaced with STAG as the antagonists entirely.

[close]

Which reminds me, I really want to play the Gat Out Of Hell side game.

[Peanutbutter]

I liked Jak and Daxter, but what's really left for them story-wise if another sequel comes out? We already found out that Jak was Mar. A reboot in the future wouldn't be bad. I'd like to have more platformers too, but The Last of Us and Uncharted are terrific games. Can't believe someone here actually called Uncharted "boring". Uh, no. There's plenty of humor throughout the series, through all the witty dialogue. I want more variety too, but I can understand Naughty Dog's position.

[Foggle]

It's annoying that they seem to look down on their past works as childish, when IMO they were a lot more fun and interesting. I don't necessarily want a new Jak or Crash - or even a new platformer - from them, but their older games had a lot more creativity and personality. I have no interest in playing the Uncharted sequels since I didn't like the first one much, but The Last of Us was pretty great... for a single playthrough. It has no replay value to speak of for me. The gameplay was good, but there are better stealth games, shooters, and survival horror titles out there with less forced walking scenes and more satisfying mechanics. I honestly had to force myself through the first part of the game because I just wasn't having any fun at all until Pittsburgh. On that note, I believe he meant Uncharted was "boring" in terms of gameplay rather than writing. I can't say for the sequels, but that's exactly how I felt about the original.

[gunswordfist]

spark probably just killed 5 people due to the rage induced from reading that article.

[gunswordfist]

interesting revelation about saint's row. all this time i thought sr getting wackier than ever was a natural and celebrated evolution, no sarcasm.

[Nel_Annette]

Well admittedly the SR3 reaction was pretty half-in-half. For a lot of the people who bought it, it was their first Saints Row game, so they had nothing to compare it to and loved it right from the get-go. Perfectly understandable. Most seem to like SR4 though, even people like me who disliked SR3. I rarely see negative reaction to it.

[gunswordfist]

interesting. i played like seconds of saint's row so when i first finally start saint's row the third, that'll be my first real experience on the series.

[Foggle]

The third Saints Row is a good game, and I'm fine with it being more ridiculous than the first two. It was just disappointing in a lot of ways at the same time.

[Nel_Annette]

Yeah, it wasn't just the tone for me. There are a lot of little things they changed in game mechanics that I didn't like either (i.e. not being able to turn your upgrades off, like the dual gun one), and character customization-wise. Also didn't really like how the cribs you unlocked were nowhere near as diverse or customizable as they were in SR2.

I could go on and on and on, but the list gets pretty petty at this point and I'm starting to feel like I'm becoming a broken record. So on a positive note, it's still a well-made game, has plenty of fun moments, and still lets you feel like a crazy badass.

[gunswordfist]

no, good criticism is okay here.