Topic: Overrated

[Ratty]

Sometimes the "you're wearing nostalgia glasses" argument makes sense; other times I enjoy watching Nosferatu and realizing my favorite Metallica albums were all released before I was born.

Of course, I was not implying that older artwork is inherently inferior to newer works. Many of my favorite movies and books are older than my parents. And I certainly think there are lots of artistic achievements on the PS1 and N64 that should be preserved for history, the N64 Castlevanias among them. But it's been my experience that the frame of mind one is in when they first see something (especially at a young or impressionable age) often sticks with them to the point that it can be difficult if not impossible to view the item with fresh critical eyes later.

Also many kids today literally can't quite grasp a world without analog sticks and high res graphics, just like we'll never, on some level, really understand what life was like in the years before we were born. So we all lack a certain appreciation for the conditions of times we have not experienced, giving us a different, more detached perspective on the art produced therein. Taken away from the smoke and mirrors of nostalgia some of it stands the test of time, most of it doesn't.

[Abnormal Freak]

If watching old episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and forcing myself to finish Final Fantasy 7 has shown me anything, it's that rose-tinted glasses are very, very powerful.

Nostalgia for me is a little different. Anything I enjoyed as a kid that I can also enjoy now, the old time fondness for it makes it that much better.

But if it's straight-up sheet, no level of nostalgia and fuzzy warm memories can make me enjoy it now.

The Turtles are a fine example. Movie 1: best thing ever because it's still an incredible movie, and my more recent fondness of the original comics and the first movie's adherence to them makes it all the better, and my old feelings for it wrap it up into a really splendid package of both heavy nostalgia AND something that's still indubitably awesome.

Original TV show: Well-animated and funny first season (all of five episodes), terrible everything else. Own all the DVDs, but each episode is a chore to get through and it'll take me decades to watch it all, if I ever can muster the strength. My fondness for the show relating to how I felt about it as a kid still makes me pretty fond of it, but only in my memories (and for ushering in the whole Turtle craze with the awesome video games and that).

Movie 3: big steaming turd, hate it, yet I love it at the same time simply because I remember very well my excitement when I got home from seeing it in the theater. But that doesn't make it a good movie or something I ever want to see again.



I notice a lot of people tend to enjoy something in a nostalgic manner that almost betrays their current sensibilities. They won't admit that something could be really dag-blasted terrible, because the memories and fondness are so strong. It's the only reason people buy stuff like Captain N on DVD, as far as I'm concerned.

[X]

I tried a couple times to play the original Resident Evil

If you can't play the original RE then look to the Wii's relaunch called Resident Evil: Archives. It's the original game but with much better graphics and voice acting.

[Beaumont_Belmont]

If you can't play the original RE then look to the Wii's relaunch called Resident Evil: Archives. It's the original game but with much better graphics and voice acting.

For me the bad voice acting is part of the charm of the original. However the REmake is a good game in its own right. It's usually the controls that scare people off, in any case. And I personally find RE2 and Code Veronica to be the pinnacle of Resident Evil.

[darkmanx_429]

Nostalgia for me is a little different. Anything I enjoyed as a kid that I can also enjoy now, the old time fondness for it makes it that much better.

But if it's straight-up sheet, no level of nostalgia and fuzzy warm memories can make me enjoy it now.

The Turtles are a fine example. Movie 1: best thing ever because it's still an incredible movie, and my more recent fondness of the original comics and the first movie's adherence to them makes it all the better, and my old feelings for it wrap it up into a really splendid package of both heavy nostalgia AND something that's still indubitably awesome.

Original TV show: Well-animated and funny first season (all of five episodes), terrible everything else. Own all the DVDs, but each episode is a chore to get through and it'll take me decades to watch it all, if I ever can muster the strength. My fondness for the show relating to how I felt about it as a kid still makes me pretty fond of it, but only in my memories (and for ushering in the whole Turtle craze with the awesome video games and that).

Movie 3: big steaming turd, hate it, yet I love it at the same time simply because I remember very well my excitement when I got home from seeing it in the theater. But that doesn't make it a good movie or something I ever want to see again.



I notice a lot of people tend to enjoy something in a nostalgic manner that almost betrays their current sensibilities. They won't admit that something could be really dag-blasted terrible, because the memories and fondness are so strong. It's the only reason people buy stuff like Captain N on DVD, as far as I'm concerned.

I bought Captain N on dvd...lol

[Dracula9]

Metal Gear Solid

PS1 game or the whole series? The game wasn't nearly as good as some of the later installments (3 and 4 in particular are somber and can be outright depressing at times, and for good reasons), and it DOES get a lot more hype than I think it should (bcuz nostalgia), but the series is pretty damn amazing.

I always thought Guitar Hero and all its spinoffs were and are overrated (though I still enjoy GH from time to time), and I think the top of my overrated list would be the ridiculous levels of "patriotism" in this country. That shit gets way more glorified attention than it possibly deserves.

[Lelygax]

PS1 game or the whole series? The game wasn't nearly as good as some of the later installments (3 and 4 in particular are somber and can be outright depressing at times, and for good reasons), and it DOES get a lot more hype than I think it should (bcuz nostalgia), but the series is pretty damn amazing.

I want remakes for Metal Gear 1 and 2 (not Solid) since I played them on PS2. They were pretty innovative for their time.

[Beaumont_Belmont]

I don't like Metal Gear Solid, except for the 3rd which had some good gameplay systems. The Tom Clancy+LSD story doesn't do anything for me. I'm amused when Hideo Kojima trolls his overly-serious fanbase, though.

[TheouAegis]

What if you download an entire series or some movies that you never watched when you were a kid and wanted to watch out of curiosity, and then liked them when you watched them as an adult? Do you like them as an adult then because they actually were good then and still are now, or do you like them as an adult because nostalgia doesn't tie-in with the artifacts themselves but with the eras they were associated with? I like "Gargoyles" when I watched it for the first time a year or two ago. Was that because Gargoyles is such a good show or because I equate that time period with good shows in general? I enjoyed Blade Runner this year. Again, good movie or relic from a good period? Fright Night -- The first time I watched it, I was too scared to watch more than a few minutes of it (I was young), but I put my fears behind me and watched it all the way last year or whenever I talked about it on here. Was it a good movie or was I just tripping back to childhood?

Or maybe I'm just one of those guys that doesn't actually let nostalgia ruin his credibility too much. When I cleaned out some of my VHS tapes with copied anime that I used to like or thought I liked way back in the day (all of 10 years ago), I ended up tossing about 1/3 into the garbage. I'm a hell of a nostalgia freak -- I keep some crappy anime around just because of the feels I get when I watch them, even though I don't particularly like them. I have CDs I kinda want to throw way or give to the used records store because I liked them as a kid but can't stand them now. I hold onto a lot of books for nostalgia reasons. I have a lot of stuffed animals in my old room of my parents' house and a select few I have in my apartment for nostalgic reasons.

I think a lot of things are overrated and agree most of it's just out of nostalgic hype. Then again, some things I liked in the past I still love even today. Tiny Toon Adventures. Animaniacs. Batman: The Animated Series. Duck Tales. I watched Duck Tales with my little brother one night and still enjoyed it. I think I was into it more than him. He would rewind (to study the English) or skip forward while watching it and I'd be thinking the whole time, "Dude what the fuck? Quit messing up the good parts!" And of course there's Ghostbusters. Saw it when I was 5 or 6. Nostalgia? Hell no, that was and still is an awesome movie! Beetlejuice? I still pop a boner for Winona Ryder and that movie still makes me laugh. They make me feel all nostalgic but they're stilll good movies. Chip'n'Dale's Rescue Rangers? ... No. Can't stand it anymore. No amount of nostalgia makes me enjoy it like I used to. Smurfs? Same, no amount of nostalgia lets me enjoy it anywhere near as much as I used to. I must just be level-headed or something.

[Beaumont_Belmont]

Nostalgia can be a fickle mistress. I have trouble watching some cartoons that I loved as a kid (the aforementioned Ninja Turtles among them), while others I've developed a newfound respect for (The Real Ghostbusters, which I never watched much as a kid, is one I've really enjoyed catching up on on DVD). Sometimes when I don't enjoy something I loved as a kid, it just makes me feel old.

Something being overrated is definitely an entirely subjective question. I like to think of it illustrated with this quote from Hot Shots Part Deux (with a side helping of pun):
"What are you reading?"
"Great Expectations."
"Any good?"
"It's not all I'd hoped."

[KaZudra]

Doctor Who
I don't care for this show, and the Fan-base reeks of pretentious twats, at least Star Trek Next gen fans Bothered to watch the original series...
GTA V
$250 Budget, Add Gimmicks, Graphics look like shit, Story is really all that they are selling with this title, All the New game Bomb Red-Flags have been raised for me..
Avatar Last Airbender / Legend of Korra
Fanbase is worse than Zelda
Call of Duty / Battlefield (current Gen and up)
Worst FPS games of all time, not only do they rob retards every year with gimmicks and expiring DLC, but they ruined the fast paced arena FPS that was perfected in Quake 3
Zelda Games
20 years of essentially the same games and the fans are autism itself, its an okay series but less creative than mario

[Pfil]

Dishonored is actually not a copy of Bioshock at all, it's more of a direct copy (down to much of the setting) of Thief: The Dark Project with BioShock's magic gimmick and heavily simplified stealth mechanics . Thief and System Shock 2 were both initially developed by Looking Glass studios and in fact share the same game engine. Dishonored's lead dev worked on Deus Ex, which shared personnel with both Thief and the original System Shock. So it's kind of natural there would be similarities. I actually found Dishonored pretty underwhelming after having high hopes for it. :/

Anyway, I think if it wasn't claimed that Bioshock was a spiritual successor to System Shock I'd be less irritated by it. They share a few small similarities but more differences. It's an OK game, I just don't feel it's worthy of the overwhelming praise that seems to be offered to any shooter with scripted set pieces and an ambient storyline. Come to think of it, Half-Life 2 is just as if not more overrated than Bioshock.

Bioshock was my 3rd FPS, after CoD MW 2 and 3. So I'm really a newbie in this genre. And I don't know much about people from this kind of games. I wasn't even aware of the existence of System Shock until I had already played the first Bioshock, when someone mentioned it in a review.
I can't argue with that, you seem to know pretty much about the genre.
I just loved, completely fell in love with all 3 games. That's all I can say. I just tried to state that, from my personal point of view, I don't give much importance to the fact that they take gameplay or ideas from somewhere else.

Just as I never understood why people (and critics) criticized Lords of Shadow because it took many stuff from GoW, SotC, PoP... the same people that liked the original ideas. I didn't like LoS because I PERSONALLY didn't feel it as CV. But if I find a game that implements something I like, I will still like it.

If watching old episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and forcing myself to finish Final Fantasy 7 has shown me anything, it's that rose-tinted glasses are very, very powerful. When it comes to old media most people who talk to you about it are also unconsciously talking about who where and what they were when they experienced it. This is why so many grown men and women idolize Boba Fett despite the fact he was a glorified extra in the original Star Wars- the sheer coolness of his space armor awed them when they were 7 or 8.

Having "been there" when something came out gives you a unique understanding of it and, let's face it, a unique tolerance for its flaws. (Like muddy PS1 graphics or to some extent awkward early-3D controls.) And you can only experience something for the first time once, which I suspect is why so many people still cling to the idea that Final Fantasy 7 is the best RPG greatest achievement in human history. And why Ocarina of Time is the best 3D Zelda etc.

When Twilight Princess is, in my opinion, the best Zelda game by far (from what I know), and there are plenty of characters better than Boba Fett in every SW movie, and FF1/2/3/4/5/6, especially 6, are infinitely better than 7 in every aspect.

Sometimes the "you're wearing nostalgia glasses" argument makes sense; other times I enjoy watching Nosferatu and realizing my favorite Metallica albums were all released before I was born.

Yeah, my favourite band is Queen from the 70's, even my mom was a little kid back then.

If you can't play the original RE then look to the Wii's relaunch called Resident Evil: Archives. It's the original game but with much better graphics and voice acting.

RE is one of the franchises I'd like to get into. I've only played RE4 Wii Edition so far, and I loved it.
I tried to play RE5 in PS3 and I didn't like it.
I'll check that Wii versions, playing Wii in HD with an emulator is wonderful 

PS1 game or the whole series? The game wasn't nearly as good as some of the later installments (3 and 4 in particular are somber and can be outright depressing at times, and for good reasons), and it DOES get a lot more hype than I think it should (bcuz nostalgia), but the series is pretty damn amazing.

No, just the first PSX game. I really liked both MSX games (I emulated them to begin the saga). Then, with emulation flaws and technical inconveniences for the use of a PS3 joystick in a Game Cube emulated game, and the fact that I suck at stealth games, I ended up abandoning MGS 1 for GCN when I was about 60% of the game.
I have to end it some day, so I can play PS3 versions of MGS 2 and 3, and MGS 4, which is was caught my interest in the first place. Oh, and Revengeance, if it has something to do with the saga anyway.

Tiny Toon

Oh, Tiny Toon! I liked it, but what I'm really a fan of, is the first NES game (not the 2nd) and both SNES and Genesis games. And those are, mainly, games that I played when they were already old. But I love them. Not the first NES game, that one was bought for us by my mom when I was about 6 years old and I kind of grew up playing it from time to time.
That isn't a case of nostalgia blinding my reason. But there's some other times when I just love a bad game, like Miracle Ropits Adventure in 2100 or Frankenstein the Monster Returns... or Home Alone, I have apreciation for it because it was the first game that came with my SNES.

Something being overrated is definitely an entirely subjective question. I like to think of it illustrated with this quote from Hot Shots Part Deux (with a side helping of pun):
"What are you reading?"
"Great Expectations."
"Any good?"
"It's not all I'd hoped."

Nice quote. And great movie!

[Kale]

Tight Vaginas. There are always butts. 

Big Penises. Use a Dildo, in conjunction!

Anyway, pretty much anything people tend to defend like crazy. Zelda. The games are damn good, but people think it's like the most godly creation ever. Even the bad ones get praised like it's the best game ever, only losing to another Zelda game.

[GuyStarwind]

Doctor Who
I don't care for this show, and the Fan-base reeks of pretentious twats, at least Star Trek Next gen fans Bothered to watch the original series...

For the show to each their own.

I will not lie or try to hide it I'm a Doctor Who fan. However, I agree a lot of the fandom is annoying as I'll get out. I have seen every episode of the show(1963-present. I even have sat through the audio only with picture episodes(some of first doctor and most of second) And I enjoy the audio adventures). Personally I like the original series more than the new stuff. Anywho nothing bugs me more when a Doctor Who "fan" claims they love the show but only watched new Doctor Who. My point is you're probably dealing with the Doctor Who fans that have only seen new Doctor Who and for that I'm sorry. I swear we're not all like that.

[KaZudra]

For the show to each their own.

I will not lie or try to hide it I'm a Doctor Who fan. However, I agree a lot of the fandom is annoying as I'll get out. I have seen every episode of the show(1963-present. I even have sat through the audio only with picture episodes(some of first doctor and most of second) And I enjoy the audio adventures). Personally I like the original series more than the new stuff. Anywho nothing bugs me more when a Doctor Who "fan" claims they love the show but only watched new Doctor Who. My point is you're probably dealing with the Doctor Who fans that have only seen new Doctor Who and for that I'm sorry. I swear we're not all like that.

True, but those are the fans that are like Vegans, THEY'LL let you know they are a fan... and their favorite doctor (10 or 11)