I’m talking about games that you still like but you had no idea were criticized so much.
The perfect example for me is Sonic Unleashed.
I admit that the game has its bad things, but I would have never imagined that it was so hated at the time… Although, that could be extended to the entire Sonic franchise, since for many years I was not aware at all of that “Sonic was never good”, “Sonic had a rough transition to 3D” nonsense.
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Super Mario Sunshine. I thought it was just hard as a kid. Come to learn it’s fucking broken.
Wait, people hate it? I still do nostalgia playthroughs occasionally, one of my favs for GC.
There were so many issues
- Final boss was lame and level leading to it was slow and tedious completely killing the momentum
- Camera system was wonky
- Rocket nozzle barely got any play
- Jet nozzle was too difficult to control to be useful outside of specific racing segments
- Pachinko machine physics were fucked
- The lily pad level was unfairly difficult
- There was no way to track which blue coins you found. Like even a grey coin marker for already collected coins would have been super helpful.
- The reward for getting blue coins was pathetic
- Yoshi was criminally underutilized. The whole juice mechanic was used like twice.
The whole thing just felt rushed. Like there was another third of the game that they didn’t get to make.
If I remember right, both Legend of Zelda Windwaker and Mario Sunshine were either rushed to an end or released early, leading both to come out unfinished. I the details on why are hazy, but I think they were pushed to try and make up for poor sales of the Gamecube at large or to make up for other gaps in the schedule.
Windwaker had a ton of content cut. The ice island and fire island were both supposed to be full dungeons. Both of those incomplete dungeons later ended up being used in Twilight Princess.
Tap for spoiler
Hyrule Castle was supposed to be a full dungeon.
The tower of the gods was supposed to be longer.
Personally the movement mechanics and the tropical overworld were amazing in this game.
While the water jetpack may seem like a gimmick, I thought it really changed the platforming in a good way.
Additionally, I’m a sucker for a good overworld and the amount of things you can unlock or discover in delphino plaza turns it into its own sort of level.
There is definitely some jank and padding (blue coins) in the game, but it holds up better than Mario 64 in my opinion (just due to the camera issues IN Mario 64).
Camera issues in Mario 64 are fixed by playing the decomp / homebrew versions that have free camera control. It’s how I first played and 100%d it.
I’ve just learned about it right now. I loved it but I thought that it was a skill issue, I’m not a great player overall.
E.T.
Yes really. I played it all the time as a kid and didn’t think it was any more difficult or abstract than the rest of the 2600’s catalogue. Granted, we kept the manual, which made a huge difference in understanding and enjoying its bizarre logic, but still. I had no idea it was so hated until at least a decade later.
it was actually way ahead of its time, for a game. One small bug (the workaround for which was in the manual) ruined its reputation. But I genuinely think it was a good game.
Also written in 6 weeks by one guy. Freaking impressive
What was the bug and workaround? :)
when climbing out of the pit, it was very easy to immediately fall back down (due to the pixel-perfect collision detection).
And here is an excerpt from the manual: “Even experienced extraterrestrials sometimes have difficulty levitating out of wells. Start to levitate E.T. by first pressing the controller button and then pushing your Joystick forward. E.T.'s neck will stretch as he rises to the top of the well (see E.T. levitating in Figure 1). Just when he reaches the top of the well and the scene changes to the planet surface (see Figure 2), STOP! Do not try to keep moving up. Instead, move your Joystick right, left, or to the bottom. Do not try to move up, or E.T. might fall back into the well.”
Wow yeah. That must have been a really infuriating gameplay issue, no wonder players were upset with it.
A shame the game was so rushed or I’m sure the dev would have fixed that in code.
he was forced to release it quickly to coincide with the film’s release. For comparison, it used to take a team of devs a couple of months to make a game. He had 6 weeks.
Also, if you read the manual, this essentially never happened to you. It was easy to avoid.
You also needed to read the manual. The game did stuff that other games at the time didn’t, for example, a contextual button. You couldn’t know what would happen unless you read the manual to learn what the icons meant. A lot of people never did and so decided that the game was bad.
Yeah, I played it as a teenager on emulation and was pretty mystified at why it was considered so much worse than the other things available on the system. Why would people love Adventure but hate this?
i bought an original cartridge and played it on the vcs i iherited from dad
Final Fantasy 8. I loved it but apparently I was in the minority.
8 is a very solid game. The issue is that it was always compared to 7 and 9
Which is funny since I’ve played all three of those for the first time recently, and FF7 doesn’t hold up in comparison to 8 and 9. But I can see at the time how 8 could be seen poorly in comparison to 7 and 9.
FF8 has been going through a bit of a resurgence lately where it does seem to be getting a fair amount of praise. It used to get slated though.
It still feels fresh.
I still love it.
I also loved FF8. I’d be more interested in a remake of that one than 7 tbh.
Another FF8 enjoyer here! My husband and I got married on Halloween, so for the reception, I was Rinoa and he was Squall!
10/10 fantastic game!
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey apparently, according to reddit a few years ago, was looked at as being shitty I guess? Not the best one?
It’s the only one I played, and I played it 3 times with ~240 hours. Kassandra is my favorite character ever, in any video game. I loved the world, its beauty, the ships and sea, and shooting arrows through rocks as a demo god.
I’ve still not touched any other assassins game.
Odyssey was really good in a vacuum. Ive heard it described best as that it was a good action RPG set in Greece, but not a good Assassins Creed game. The main issue being that stealth was usually a huge focus in previous titles, but this one seemed to favor general combat and didnt even have the signature wrist blade until the DLC. Also a bunch of the story seemed to return pieces of previous lore, some setup in just the previous game that came out a year prior. Overall though I did enjoy the game!
Yeah I think you’re right with it being good in a vacuum. That makes complete sense because it was different than the other games.
I have panic disorder, so most games with combat overwhelm me as I’m just constantly afraid. I never got that with this game. Just give me a bow so i can stand hella far away and clear the area before entering it. Thats how I did stealth. I’d take an hour slowly picking off everyone from the fort. Plus, it was really beautiful and emersive. Exploring the map was super fun.
I am willing to bet that people who chose the female main character enjoyed this game more.
I enjoyed Outer Worlds. Tons of criticism online, but I liked it.
I had the opposite for this one, heard it was good and really didn’t like it when I gave it a try.
I enjoyed the hell out of that game. My only complaint was that the loot lacked variety, and it was a bit more on rails than what I think of as a proper open world RPG.
Me too, didn’t even know people thought it was a bad game until recently. Honestly I don’t get why, I wasn’t expecting anything different from what I got, there were definitely some dialogues that made me chuckle, and a lot of storylines were very tongue in cheek, and while gameplay was nothing to write home about neither is fallout and this was sold as “fallout in space”, and definitely delivered on that.
Agreed. I thought it was a competently made game, even if not groundbreaking or best in class for shooting. I think people’s expectations are often their biggest obstacle to enjoyment.
It still has a 9/10 on Steam despite all the flak it took. I think it’s a classic. To me it’s similar to the backlash to Fallout 4 from purists, which I also feel is a classic game
Enter the Matrix, I loved the slowmo effects and the fights, the first hallway scene felt like it was straight from the movie. Using the computer terminal to unlock stuff felt magical. Only later I learned that Path of Neo was supposed to be a better Matrix game while Enter the Matrix was universally panned. And I’ve played it too, but didn’t get as much enjoyment out of it, it just didn’t have as much soul
Enter the Matrix was dope. Fuck the haters.
I loved enter the matrix. It was lowkey more fun with the cheats though
I rented Superman 64 as a kid, never knowing it was a universally hated game. We had fun with the weird multiplayer mode where you fly around in weird pod things. I remember flying through the rings too. The whole game makes zero sense in hindsight.
The game became that shitshow because Warner Bros execs got pissed that a “no-name” yuropeean company got the rights to make a licensed Superman game (because they were the only company that bothered to bid), so they did a lot of time-wasting requests to the developers.
https://www.retrojunk.com/a/C1CKNP9rjC/the-story-behind-superman-64
This. Check out the leaked beta on YouTube. It’s looks significantly better than the finished product
That looks fun.
I know right?? What a damn shame WB fucked Titus over like that
Sonic Adventure 1. I love the hub worlds and how the stories of the different characters intertwine in the shared areas. And I love the variety of characters and being able to freely choose which one to advance (unlike Sonic Adventure 2…)
Same here, I always liked SA1 more than SA2. I remember being so amazed that you could pick any character to play next and then you’d find out, in any order you chose, how their stories would intersect with one another. SA2 felt like a downgrade without that. I also liked the art style of the first game over the second one.
SA2 just wasn’t as satisfying for me. There was too much rail grinding, which isn’t much fun when overused, because you’re barely controlling anything.
A literal “on-rails” experience
I didn’t know this one wasn’t well received until just now. To me it’s one of the few good 3D sonics. The plot, stage design, intersecting stories with varied play styles. All of that made it feel like playing in a full world.
That being said, I’m hit or miss on sonic in general, so maybe I like it for not being a traditional sonic game.
Ah, a comrade SA1 enjoyer 🤝
and off topic, but why the hell do the SA2 treasure hunting stages only do radar for the “next piece”?? SA1 has the radar active for all 3 pieces, so there’s way less back and forth
I bet it was to artificially increase the difficulty of those levels, if not, I can’t explain why. It is the single detail that makes the Knuckles/Rouge levels less enjoyable.
Yeah, it definitely seems like it was to just make it take longer.
A lot of people didn’t like Assassins Creed Odyssey, but I loved it. Only AC I’ve played since 2.
I think that might be part of it. For a lot of people, it was that the formula was old and tired. I know Odyssey did fairly well, but it’s still just an AC game
Odyssey was the second entry in the new batch of games in the series, where they completely reinvented what that series is. There are a lot of us who find it to be a poor substitution for what came before.
Indigo Prophecy
Played it when it originally released in the US and I loved it as a pre-teen who had no fucking idea what was happening in the story.
Came to find out no one had any clue what was happening in the story regardless and people thought the game was a mess.
Oh man I loved that game as a teen but I had to give up somewhere near the end cuz I was in a sneaking section that I tried for hours but kept failing. I ended up dropping the game and just reading the story online. Up until then, it was a really fun game though.
It has literally been about 20 years since I played. I can’t say I really remember which part you’re talking about. I just remember about halfway/three-quarter into the game things get fucking weird.
Yeah absolutely. I just remember me/the protagonist being god or something? Or maybe I misunderstood 😂
I loved this one, too. Super weird story, but I was hooked. I didn’t even object to what I sort of remember as a deus ex machina kind of ending. Seemed fittingly weird for the vibe.
Deus Ex: Invisible War, and Dragon Age 2.
I liked them both. Not as good as Deus Ex 1 or DA:O, but I enjoyed and finished playthroughs of both games.
All 5 of the dues ex games were good. And Ill die on that hill
I enjoyed Dragon Age 2 as well. It’s just that it’s an action movie to Origins’ House of the Dragon. It’s just different genres.
I really enjoyed Mass Effect: Andromeda.
I will continue to defend Andromeda. Yes it has its flaws, but no more than the original trilogy. It could’ve been the start of a cool new trilogy.
IMO, I would rate them: ME1 Andromeda ME2 ME3
The original Mass Effect was great, a classic, but 2 and 3 had less and less of what I’d loved about the first game. By the time I got to 3, I was playing because I felt invested in the story and characters, not because I found the gameplay enjoyable. Andromeda wasn’t quite as enjoyable as ME1 to me, mostly because I didn’t connect with the characters as much, but the story was surprising and original, fights were exciting, and the gameplay had a lot of interesting new elements that made the scenario feel immersive. It’s really too bad that so many people didn’t like it.
I really wish this had been one for me, but I’ve never been able to make it more than halfway through despite a few good faith attempts. I am really glad you had a great time with it, though!
The beginning of the game is really bleak, but it makes the scenario of trying to colonize a lifeless planet feel all the more real IMO. After you meet aliens and start terraforming planets, it starts to be more what people wanted out of it, I think.
Mine was final fantasy 12. I played that game so hard, really enjoyed it and if was released in the time of trophies I would have platinumed it. Even did the grinding for Gilgamesh to spawn for a sword or something. But I was hated at the time.
Now everyone is saying it was one of the best and I was proved right all along.
Sure the story was star wars and the main character wasn’t, but the combat system was really fun, way better than 13.
FF12 is definitely my favorite FF. The combat system is the most interesting to me - programming your party to act how you want without spending the time of selecting combat options every single round. It’s also why I love the first Dragon Age and hated the sequels. I wish more games used that type of combat.
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I hated the game at first too. But I actually gave it a replay a while back and ended up loving it. Ironically, my love of FFX was holding me back from enjoying XII. Once I replayed it with a more open mind, I thoroughly enjoyed it. There are certain things I dislike about it, sure. But that’s true for any Final Fantasy game.
I think replaying it when I was older also helped. I didn’t have the patience for the politicking when I played it the first time. And the game’s story is very political. So I think the added maturity meant I was able to appreciate the story more.
Amen, I am equally puzzled.
Truly some of the worst FF decisions all in the same game.
Why is the key to the postgame dungeon a piece of undifferentiated loot? Why did the game allow me to accidentally lock myself out of the postgame by selling it?
Why is the story is a low effort clone of Star Wars?
Why set FF12 in the world of FF:Tactics but make no reference to it?
Why, oh why, an all-women-race of playboy bunny girls in lingerie and heels?
That being said, programming your own teams’ AI is peak jrpg wish there was more of that. This baby got thrown out with all that dirty bath water unfortunately
I still like FF12, although I’ve never beaten it. I had no idea people disliked it.
I loved it at the time too! But you’re the first other person I’ve seen praise it.
I’ve gone back to replay it a couple of times and, yep, still love it. The story has its flaws but that’s final fantasy for you.
I liked a lot about the original. I thought the real-time, turn-based fighting system was going to take over as the new fighting system going forward to replace the ATB as the go-to, and I was happy about it (XIII and XV would have been better for it).
The remaster raised the game to its full potential imo. Having jobs is so much better than free-for-all. And getting rid of the Zodiac Spear disqualification treasure chests is just good on my psyche.
Interesting I don’t think I’ve seen anyone call it the best before. I loved the shit out of ff7/9/10 and was so excited for 12 and it was one of the first big gaming letdowns I can remember. Ive still had the heart to pick it back up.
I’ve seen a lot of people recently give it praise. I think 4, 9, and 12 all seem to be looked back at far better than their original reception.
XII remake is my third favorite after X and VIII.
Too human. I loved it so much I don’t know why people hate it
Same, as a kid i had no idea if the controversy to and was still waiting on a sequel for some time after. I thought it was a novel idea and it was my first proper foray into Norse mythology.
To me it was the 2014 Thief. I never had any proper experience with the previous games of the series, only tried Thief 3 back when my PC could barely run it, so the low fps made me give up. My short time with new Thief wasn’t bad, though I didn’t finish the game as it was on my xbox1 and I never really sat down to play anything to completion on it. Online it’s all “Thief is shit, it’s a shit game” etc. Maybe I didn’t get to the shit part, I completed maybe 4 missions?, but while it wasn’t amazing, it felt like a decent stealth game and had me more interested in continuing than Styx Master of Shadows
