Games You Just Don't "Get"

[Pettengill_Mark]

Never understood the Halo love. Nor for that matter, the love for any of the GTA games, just seemed like there were so many pointless side quests.

[Liam]

GTA has never been as good since it stopped being 2D, in my honest opinion.

[Darnez FC Forever]

Any realistic racer games. Bloody boring.

JRPGs. I just don't have the time to play a game for 100+ hours to see it to the end...or 200 hours to see it to the end with my character maxed out.

MMORPGs. See JRPGs, but instead the game never ends.

Singstar. But then again that's probably because I have a naff voice more than anything.

[Mick]

Guitar Hero games fall into the same category for me, with the exception of being able to play with the NCA laaaads, but I still have to sigh at Gazz's comment. Why bother playing FIFA when you could learn how to kick a ball in real life? etc. It's totally missing the point.

It isn't, I could go and kick a ball in real life, but I'm never going to be professional quality, which is what you simulate in games. The amount of time people invest in GH, they could easily get to a standard where they could form a band and perform live.

All MMORPG's, what's the point?

The point of any video game: Have fun and make the developer rich

But MMORPG's never seem to end, where's the sense of accomplishment? Oh great, I'm level 60, now what? Go kill some more dragons? Yawn!

There is a sense of accomplishment though.

Player versus Player, for example, in WoW, they have a whole system called Arena. Once you've hit the level cap (currently 80, going to 85 in the new expansion), you join teams of 2, 3, or 5 players, and you go up against other teams. You get a weekly rating based on how well you do, and are matched up to teams accordingly.

By the end of an Arena season, rewards are handed out to the best teams. Believe me, while killing the Lich King week after week can and will get old, even being part of the bottom tier of the best Arena teams is a hell of an accomplishment. And it's not 'lawl mad skilz!!1!eleven", some of the matches turn into flat out wars.

There's even a major competition held each year where the best of the best duke it out, with some major cash on the line.

If winning 75 grand isn't an accomplishment, then I'm sorry I can't hear you over the sound of my new car.

And to continue with WoW as my MMORPG example, the best raiding guilds in the world get corporate sponsorship. So, yeah. There is accomplishment, it just depends what you're looking for. Myself, I play because I find WoW enjoyable. I've made some good friends out of it. I enjoy being in a raid and figuring out ways to take shit out, and I also like watching big numbers pop on my screen. I enjoy doing better than other people in the raid.

So what do I get out of it? A fun, enjoyable evening in.

Nor for that matter, the love for any of the GTA games, just seemed like there were so many pointless side quests.

For me with GTA, it's the "FUCK THE PO-LICE!" factor. There's just something awesome about stealing a fire truck and driving it at full speed on a sidewalk that you can't quite get in real life.

[OctoberRaven]

JRPGs. I just don't have the time to play a game for 100+ hours to see it to the end...or 200 hours to see it to the end with my character maxed out.

Me, I'd much rather get 100 hours of gameplay out of my 60 bucks than, say, 12 (which is how long I took to beat Brutal Legend, and that's WITH just cruising around to badass metal tracks). And then there's Metal Gear Solid 4, which is a good 20 hours or so, but twelve fucking hours of that is cutscenes.

Hell, if anything, I'd say Persona 4 (which took about 70 hours for me), was too short.

[Pizza]

I absolutely hate grinding, but if a JRPG is balanced enough that I don't have to, I usually enjoy myself. That's the main reason I don't like WOW either, although I do understand the appeal for people like Mick, it just isn't for me.

Also, realistic racing games, and every first person shooter not made for the N64. Although, the first person shooter thing might be because I don't have as much time to play multiplayer Halo/COD as I did Goldeneye/Perfect Dark.

[Slogger]

Never understood the Halo love. Nor for that matter, the love for any of the GTA games, just seemed like there were so many pointless side quests.

It may sound a little overused but San Andreas is the best of the lot by far.

The only thing that it's lacking compared to the later games is the graphics and it doesn't have a cover system.

The Ammu-Nation in my game makes a killing on body armour.

[EWB's Best Poster.]

Funny that no ones mentioned in the new rockband games theres a pro mode to TEACH you the intruments. Not to mention if youve been playing drums this whole time, or singing, you could naturally become better at them anyways.

I played WoW. I realize now, that everything Mick stated is the exact reason I HATE it.

You hit the cap and say now what? Weeeeellll.. heres your now what. You can stand around being bored (the option for 90%), trolling in chat channels (see being bored) dueling outside cities, doing arenas which is like dueling for teams, doing PVP battlegrounds which is like doing arenas with people you dont know and cant stand, or raid and listen to 24 other people not know how to do shit.

That being said, if you can get 25 people to do it? Its awesome the first time you down that boss. Then a week later hes back up, and you do it again.. and again.. and again.

Just.. no. No more.

[OctoberRaven]

For me (and I'm not counting VCS or any of the LCS games as I've only played a little of the former and none of the latter), Vice City is my personal favorite, then 4, then 3 then SA.

Not that San Andreas was bad, just not as enjoyable as the others. The Turf Wars and Casino Games aspects were more fun than the actual story itself.

Though The Truth was a fucking awesome character.

Why I like GTA 4 is that they made it a bit more realistic while also at the same time keeping the comic wackiness that's expected of the series. They also made police more of a threat than a nuisance at two or three stars, as opposed to, say, Vice City where you could be on twelve HP, run three blocks with the Military shooting at you, and still manage to get to your save point to replenish your health and try to work on lowering your wanted level. And sure the pay 'n spray isn't foolproof as it used to be, ("He's in a red car, he just went into that garage... wait, it's BLUE? WHAT THE FUCK? We got the wrong guy boys, call off the search") but you can still evade police by just not being seen for a couple minuites. ("Ah, fuck, I lost him. Should we keep looking? Just for ten seconds, The Men's Room is going to be on soon.")

Edited September 20, 2010 by OctoberRavenO

[EWB's Best Poster.]

I agree. I hated SA compared to the rest,actually.

I just felt like the start, it was so BAD. Im here to play GTA, and what do I do? spray paint. Then I talk to my homies, get in gang wars and eat chicken. Oh, and work out, cuz no one wants a fat fucker that cant run. Its GTA.

Id say my fave was just gta3, vice was a close second but its streets were feeling tight to me.

[OctoberRaven]

Actually, playing an overweight guy and having your crew call you a fatass was one of the few reasons I stuck with that game for so long.

Also, being the fat guy and getting the martial arts hand-to-hand set. Which is probably how they came up wiht Rufus in SFIV.

[King Ellis]

Gang wars were a bad thing? They were awesome.

[Toe]

GTA 2 on the Dreamcast was a lot of fun. Driving a bus full of people into a rendering plant so they can become hot dogs? Priceless.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

JRPGs. I just don't have the time to play a game for 100+ hours to see it to the end...or 200 hours to see it to the end with my character maxed out.

Me, I'd much rather get 100 hours of gameplay out of my 60 bucks than, say, 12 (which is how long I took to beat Brutal Legend, and that's WITH just cruising around to badass metal tracks). And then there's Metal Gear Solid 4, which is a good 20 hours or so, but twelve fucking hours of that is cutscenes.

Hell, if anything, I'd say Persona 4 (which took about 70 hours for me), was too short.

You're heading towards getting a dry slapping fella. The time I spent playing far outweighed the time spent watching cutscenes - of which many were top notch.

[EWB's Best Poster.]

Gang wars were a bad thing? They were awesome.

Awesome as running back and forth between two points rather than play the game because they are always fighting? Yeah. Sure awesome.

[Rocky]

I absolutely love GTA... From the old 2D on PC to the 2S on PSX and to GTAIII. expanding onto hand-helds then cross overs (I brought a PS2 of a guy from work for Vice City Stories then sold it back for about 75%) then onto 360.

Vice City is by far my favourite. The whole setting made the game. Especially the music.

But cannot stand online.

In saying that I love GTA, one games series I have never been able to "get" is Saints Row 1/2 (I had to check my games for the name of it)

The basis of the game makes it good, people saying it's a great game. When Saints Row first came out, people were saying "it shits on GTA"

but I just can't get into it. Ive tried playing it many times, but nothing.

I would also like to add FPS (excl. Golden-Eye) to the lists. HATE!!! WoW. My gf is on that shit constantly or she's on CounterStrike.

I loved Gran Turismo. I'd spend days on end playing GT 3/4

Love sports games, but not online. i.e FIFA etc.

Any online gaming is a pass for me. I don't want to play with other people who cry because I suck ^_^

[Noah]

-Any serious racing game(well there was an F1 game on the PS1 that wasn't half bad).

-Any GTA game after the first(2 was ok but not as fun).

-The MGS series.

-Any Tomb Raider game.

[lanky316]

Funny that no ones mentioned in the new rockband games theres a pro mode to TEACH you the intruments. Not to mention if youve been playing drums this whole time, or singing, you could naturally become better at them anyways.

True, after acting for around 15 years I got my first principal singing role recently. I put a large amount of this down to singing on Rock Band, whether it's just through confidence I can actually tolerate hearing myself sing now.

Another way for playing rhythm games is to look at them "old school". I can understand players having a feeling of acomplishment for playing *incredibly tough guitar song* on expert and getting 100%, which is basically playing the song in full but only essentially on one fret (Rock Band 3 will bring this up a few gears). I myself look at it as a score attack game, since I'm not any good on guitar or drums (hard-->expert on bass, expert vocals) I can get some satisfaction out of beating high scores, yeah I won't compete on the global charts but against myself pushing the scores up feels good. It's the same as people trying to complete *game X* at high speeds and playing for top scores. Let's be honest, if it wasn't for score attack style games, there'd probably not be an industry now, RB/Gh just play to those old points and add in the customisable sound track factor which makes it feel "new".

For me I don't get the popularity of FPS' on console. I find things so much more enjoyable with mouse and keys. Maybe it's down to getting used to them long before pad based games. It's standard shooter fair but I've not really got the enjoyment out of them. I put the popularity of Halo down to it being a lot of gamers first experience of the things since as a game it's got nothing which I think is really special yet it's huge.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Rock Band and Singstar are actually great for singing. Especially Singstar (unsurprisingly) as you can set it to hard difficulty where you have to get the tone spot on. You can visibly see the tone of your voice and alter it - lots of singing on that has definitely improved my singing voice and made me more confident to belt out anything at karaoke. Absolutely.

Also, Bass guitar in real life can be almost as simple as on Rock Band - especially if you're just sticking to one or two strings which it's quite easy to do....So Rock Band is good for finger speed and moving up and down the neck.

[Bobfoc]

I'll add myself to the Zelda bridgade on this one. While the games in the series have never really struck me as being particularly bad, I never got into them myself. Under normal circumstances, I could probably let my feelings of indifference for a video game slide, but it just irks me that Zelda seems to be the franchise that most posters on other message boards deem immune from criticism. The mere suggestion that Ocarina of Time, for example, isn't a divinely perfect creation sent from the heavens is akin to blasphemy in the eyes of some people, or so it would seem.

The general distaste for the FPS genre doesn't surprise me, particularly as far as Halo and Call of Duty are concerned. I quite like shooters myself, and I do enjoy the Halo and Left 4 Dead series, but the main problem nowadays is that there are so many "gritty" shooters out there that everything seems so stale and saturated at the moment. We all know that Activision will continue to churn out new COD games every year until people eventually lose interest, and I certainly can't see Microsoft abandoning Halo and Gears of War for many years to come. As a result, quite a few of the other genres tend to get lost in the mix, which is a real shame.

As for Guitar Hero/Rock Band, I can't see a great problem with them, other than the fact that they seem to be released far too frequently. To me, as other people have said, rhythm games simply serve as a source of harmless fun, and those who genuinely believe that they will turn them into rock stars make up an extremely small minority. Those who try to take the high ground and slam them for not taking up a real instrument instead are far more irritating to me.