Topic: The worst games

[Cursed Joe]

Same as dragon warrior odd huh, well not really if I think about it. Why is it that nes rpgs require so much grinding?

Probably cus it was a fairly new concept, would be my guess. And if there wasn't lvl grinding it would last about an hour.

[Mathias_The_Resolute]

Probably cus it was a fairly new concept, would be my guess. And if there wasn't lvl grinding it would last about an hour.

same as me. though many hated the grinding in Castlevania II Simon's quest, it was fun for me. same as item grinding in SOTN and various Metroidvanias.


EDIT: I know you are talking about another game but I was referring to you liking grinding.

[Cursed Joe]

same as me. though many hated the grinding in Castlevania II Simon's quest, it was fun for me. same as item grinding in SOTN and various Metroidvanias.


EDIT: I know you are talking about another game but I was referring to you liking grinding.

Yeah I totally liked that in all those games too. Castlevania 2 was the first one I played in the series and I really liked it when I was a kid, and I find myself playing it even now (every 5 or so years).

[Mathias_The_Resolute]

Yeah I totally liked that in all those games too. Castlevania 2 was the first one I played in the series and I really liked it when I was a kid, and I find myself playing it even now (every 5 or so years).

SOTN was my first, when I was a kid. my dad commented that I was really good to so far RECORD me playing the game at my age. even to this day I play SOTN and various titles. Super Castlevania 4 was my most favorite game because I loved how the concept was similar to an adventure and how handling simon's whip was easy as cake and how the enemies and bosses were balanced compared to the very first Castlevania, I sucked at the NES castlevanias but I still played them

[Cursed Joe]

SOTN was my first, when I was a kid. my dad commented that I was really good to so far RECORD me playing the game at my age. even to this day I play SOTN and various titles. Super Castlevania 4 was my most favorite game because I loved how the concept was similar to an adventure and how handling simon's whip was easy as cake and how the enemies and bosses were balanced compared to the very first Castlevania, I sucked at the NES castlevanias but I still played them

One really weird thing for me is I've always been able to beat Castlevania III no problem, but I've never once been able to beat Dracula in the first Castlevania. Even my little brother's beat that game (but he can't beat III, and neither can AVGN lol).

[Mathias_The_Resolute]

One really weird thing for me is I've always been able to beat Castlevania III no problem, but I've never once been able to beat Dracula in the first Castlevania. Even my little brother's beat that game (but he can't beat III, and neither can AVGN lol).

lol AVGN is just a man who has an opinion IMO. I mean sometimes he makes good points but at others it gets annoying when he excessively curses and sometimes makes objectable criticism namely his criticism for CV II. if you want to continue talking to me about favorite games and all that then PM me about it, I don't want to disrespect the Author of this thread by discussing something Off topic.

[Pfil]

Castlevania III is always difficult to play through.
I played all the linear CVs some time ago, and CV III was amongst the most difficult. Legends final boss, The Adventure for GB, Chronicles, and of course Haunted Castle, were the other difficult ones.
On the other side, I always found Dracula from CV pretty easy to beat.
I guess it varies from player to player.
About the grinding, items, etc., in CV II and the MetroidVanias... it's one of my favourite parts of CV.

[Puwexil]

I didn't think that FF7 was bad, but it didn't "wow" me either like it did for so many others. However, it's hard for even a good number of its fans to deny that presentation-wise, the game has not aged that well.

It's not hard for me at all, for a number of reasons. It occupies a place in time where Square had just broken free of the constrained perspective of 16-bit tilesets, now only limited by the collective vision of their artists. At the same time, the presentation is still very much rooted in the goofy and squatty caricatures of human beings found in past games of the series, with exaggerated and often comical body language and reactions, yet with additional nuance as the new technology allows. It uniquely serves as a melding pot of what Square had been up to that point, and what it was now going to become, and for that FF VII remains wholly distinct in direction and tone within their catalogue.

The backgrounds are a curious thing, to be sure. They're neither as sleek as FF VIII's, or as picturesque as FF IX's: what's there is a garish, often unwelcoming hodgepodge of urban neglect and encroaching industrialization of natural landscapes, both major themes in the game's narrative. It's perhaps not the prettiest, but one of the most interesting worlds the series has crafted.

On the subject of music, the shoddy MIDI instrumentation can oftentimes bury a track, even if it's strong in composition. It tends to work best when the artificiality of the sound reinforces the game's depictions of technological dystopia and things alien to the world, as heard in songs like Mako Reactor and You Can Hear the Cry of the Planet. Generally, it's rather solemn in tone, with a sci-fi bent. The soundtrack doesn't fare as well when it reaches beyond its scope with Uematsu's usual prog monster self-indulgences.

Just about the only thing in the game's presentation that hasn't aged well at all, because it was awkward garbage to begin with, is the English script. It's full of nonsensical grammar and syntax, with seemingly absurd non-sequiturs popping up at inopportune moments because conversations aren't really held, they're deciphered. I'm being harsh on the thing because prior to FF VII, Ted Woolsey had made strides in improving the quality of Square's and video game localization in general, and practically straight afterwards, people like Richard Honeywood and Alexander O. Smith brought a heretofore unseen degree of professionalism and sheer ability into the field. And so, FF VII's script is left to languish in its miserable state to this day. It's honestly the only thing I'd want to see them revise, if anything.

I'm not running on nostalgia-addled fumes here, mind you. I revisit FF VII every few years or so, and as time goes on, its worthwhile elements stand out to me more and more.

[Ratty]

SNIP

The game is historically important to be sure, that's one of the reasons I forced myself to finish it. But we'll have to agree to disagree about the relative artistic merits. I respect your opinion and assessment of the game, and your right to have it even though I emphatically disagree.

Since you mentioned that you played it back in the day and replay it from time to time here's my experience with it-

I played the game for the first time about 2 years ago, having played FFVI and IX one and two years before that respectively, and loved both to pieces. So I had high hopes for an epic story full of memorable, decently developed and likeable characters in a rich sci-fi fantasy world. Instead I got a convoluted mess of warmed over anime cliches in an awkward and (imo) ugly package full of teenage angst. I believe I understand why the game was so popular at the time though. "Japanimation" was at the height of it's exotic allure while the games huge size for something in 3-D! combined with the aforementioned teen angst to create a kind of weaponized fangirl/fanboy creating bomb for the young teen set.

Since FFVII is possibly the most popular and revered jRPG in America to this day (go to your local gamestore and you're not unlikely to see new Cloud and Sephiroth plushies) if I hadn't enjoyed FFVI and IX so much I know I would have just given up on the entire jRPG genre. Thankfully I didn't, though it took me about a year to try again with the first Phantasy Star. And now I'm playing Chrono Trigger for the first time and loving it.

=======================================================
On a less controversial note-

"The Lost World: Jurassic Park" on the PS1 (the Saturn version appears to be identical) was one of the first PS1 games I remember and it was horrible. I blame it for having a large part in my thinking games "just weren't for me" for years. The only fun I ever had with it was using the infinite ammo and flying cheats on the human levels. "You are the T-Rex!" it said on the back, what it didn't say was "You are the T-Rex! ...in a few very poorly made levels, but first you have to work your way up from the chicken-like Compy and other terribly balanced characters."

Using the cheat codes I did find the hidden Jeff Goldblum "congratulations" video that you got if you collected some obscene amount of hidden and sometimes impossible to get to items.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park game ending
So here's a horribly made game based on a mediocre-at-best movie that then has Jeff Goldblum insult you for playing it if you somehow go through all the extra trouble of getting all the hidden items. Even for a licensed video game, that's pretty bad.

[Shiroi Koumori]

FF7. It seems that everyone was playing that game. So the nostalgia love of a lot of people for FF7 is strong. Though at this point in time, I would have to agree that it is overrated, but revolutionary nonetheless since it introduced jrpg to a wider audience.

Labyrinth (Famicom) without maps.... oh god...
I prefer the movie.

[Puwexil]

convoluted mess of warmed over anime cliches

It is convoluted, no doubt, and the impenetrable script only exasperates the fact. It's also very derivative of the popular media of its day, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Berserk being some notable works the game draws from. I think there's still merit to the characters, though.

Cloud is initially presented as a cocksure egotist jerk, better at everything than everyone else, but is then forced to face the reality of his own existence, ridding himself of the adopted persona of his dead compatriot and consequentially experiences real growth as a person. It's a rather tidy character arc, which the execrable subsequent spin-off material promptly ignores and makes him inexplicably moody, ensuring the character's mistaken identity in modern times as a surly moper. What a shame.

Barret is the Angry Black Man stereotype, but he's also the game's strongest paternal figure. Tifa and Aeris' personalities run opposite of what their visual designs would suggest: the barely-dressed martial artist and bar owner is the more demure and soft-spoken of the two, while the magically-oriented flower girl in the long pink dress is proactive, street smart and recklessly headstrong.

The characterization isn't that noteworthy and definitely not the game's strongest suit, but I can't call it thoughtless in good conscience. It puts some cliches to use, subverts some others, and probably invented/popularized a few along the way too. What is noteworthy is that the game doesn't quite fall into the trap of a "teenagers save the world" plot contrivance these types of games are often (rightfully) derided for: of the main cast, only one is under twenty years old, while one other is a non-human and mentally at the teenager stage. The rest range from the early twenties to mid-thirties, a positively elderly cast by today's standards.

---

As anyone can see, I'll talk your ear off about this game if I don't hold myself back, in my own limited fashion. My intention isn't to turn anyone around on the subject of FF VII, but to offer a relatively detached, critical and appreciative in equal measure viewpoint on it. It's something that's picked up an obscene amount of assorted baggage over the years, so much so that the actual game can be hard to discern from underneath the glorification of obsessed fans or the furious rantings of those who've come to hate what it is and represents. Taken on its own, as a Role-Playing Video Game for the Sony PlayStation from the year 1997, I find it pretty alright.

[VladCT]

...which the execrable subsequent spin-off material promptly ignores and makes him inexplicably moody, ensuring the character's mistaken identity in modern times as a surly moper. What a shame.

Well, I agree that the real problem with FFVII is Square's attempt at milking it through the complication known as the Compilation.
Now back to horribad games. As polarizing LoS and DmC may be, at least they ain't Bomberman: Act Zero.

[Neobelmont]

GBA: DBZ: the legacy of goku

I raise you one DBZ Taiketsu. It makes legacy of goku a masterpiece also due to a glitch LoG 1 is too easy.

[Lelygax]

"The Lost World: Jurassic Park" on the PS1

I could have lived without remembering this... T.T
The game is so bad that they needed to put a guy saying congratulations to finish this shitty game and say to go outside LOL

Labyrinth (Famicom) without maps.... oh god...
I prefer the movie.

A map would be useless with the system that they have used, you progress the labyrinth when you find the right path like a well hidden stage-to-stage style, so you cant backtrack and get even more lost... atleast that was what I noticed when I tried to play this thing. I really need to watch this movie, my dad said a lot about that.

[Sumac]

That game was actually fun!

Not for me. It was boring and the fact, that instead of different levels you received the same levels, just slightly more difficult then before, was a big turn off for me. And some sections were insanely difficult (beyond any reason), like Wall L4 and Human Canonball L4.

Batman Forever, proved, that Mortal Kombat 1-2 fighting system doesn't work for a platformer. If it had Run and Combos, then, maybe it could have been more fun. But as is - it is one of the most boring and tiresome games I ever played. You kill the same enemies, with the same moves on boring backgrounds for pretty much the whole game. Said enemies have big lifebar, but little to no intelligent. So, there is no real challenge, just annoying "rinse and repeat" gameplay. Controls were counterintuitive. There were only two good things about this game - Two-Face (how he changed his fighting style depending which side of the screen he was facing, Gill has nothing on this) and music was not that bad. It was not that good either. I was able to complete the game on the real SNES and I hated it. Even Rise of the Robots were better than this.

I had high hopes for an epic story full of memorable, decently developed and likeable characters in a rich sci-fi fantasy world. Instead I got a convoluted mess

It's pretty much my story with SOTN.