games that every one hate's but you don't hate.

[Cyberfriend]

Shadow the hedgehog

 

[Tonberry]

I know this isn't true in general since it's a huge game, but it's pretty common to see people disliking it in enthusiast circles so I'll go with it.

World of Warcraft

I've played since 2006, and I've never been a hardcore player at all, always casual playing for fun and not playing if I don't feel like it (so the "lol you're just addicted!!1" argument kinda falls flat). I just love how it lets me create an infinite amount of cool characters and run around in the world fighting monsters whenever I feel like it or just chill out and fish or whatever, and there's so much variety in the races/classes/specializations that there's still stuff I've never tried out.

When it released it was the perfect storm for a 11 year old kid who had been groomed into a fantasy enjoyer for life by stuff like Zelda and the Lord of the Rings films, and wanted something a little "edgier", and the concept of an MMORPG was (still is too a degree honestly) mind-blowing to me.

 

[YuriSukiSan]

I know this isn't true in general since it's a huge game, but it's pretty common to see people disliking it in enthusiast circles so I'll go with it.

World of Warcraft

I've played since 2006, and I've never been a hardcore player at all, always casual playing for fun and not playing if I don't feel like it (so the "lol you're just addicted!!1" argument kinda falls flat). I just love how it lets me create an infinite amount of cool characters and run around in the world fighting monsters whenever I feel like it or just chill out and fish or whatever, and there's so much variety in the races/classes/specializations that there's still stuff I've never tried out.

When it released it was the perfect storm for a 11 year old kid who had been groomed into a fantasy enjoyer for life by stuff like Zelda and the Lord of the Rings films, and wanted something a little "edgier", and the concept of an MMORPG was (still is too a degree honestly) mind-blowing to me.

It's mostly disliked because it changed the formula so much before WoW MMORPGs were designed in such a way that they actually revolved around the players coordinating to achieve their goals as a community rather than solo play. As cool as Vanilla is, because it is an exceptionally well made world, it basically ensured anything but a WoW clone wasn't going to be made until very recently. It was very sad, that's all!

There's also lots of things you can critique, they basically fired half the team on launch for no good reason other than corporate decisions, threw their ethos and game design principles out of the window for money very early on, and honestly a lot of the mistakes and the problems the game has been facing or suffered from over the years were implemented as early as the first expansion. And even the first two expansions whiched followed were just repackaged content that had already been developed by the first team. You hear people talk about vanilla+ or Turtle WoW but that's what WoW was originally planned to be before they got greedy.

It's way too much to go in too! tl;'dr is that most of the old generation MMORPG players I know are unhappy everything is now a WoW clone because of the precedent it set rather than a classic MMORPG

 

[Tonberry]

It's mostly disliked because it changed the formula so much before WoW MMORPGs were designed in such a way that they actually revolved around the players coordinating to achieve their goals as a community rather than solo play. As cool as Vanilla is, because it is an exceptionally well made world, it basically ensured anything but a WoW clone wasn't going to be made until very recently. It was very sad, that's all.

There's also lots of things you can critique, they basically fired half the team on launch for no good reason other than corporate decisions, threw their ethos and game design principles out of the window for money, and honestly a lot of the mistakes and the problems the game has been facing or suffered from over the years were implemented as early as the first expansion for the game. And even the expansions were just repackaged content that had already been developed by the first team.. You hear people talk about vanilla+ or Turtle WoW but that's what WoW was originally planned to be before they got greedy.

It's way too much to go in too! tl;'dr is that most of the old generation MMORPG players I know are unhappy everything is now a WoW clone because of the precedent it set rather than a classic MMORPG.

Yeah that's all fair and there are a billion completely legitimate reasons to hate it. But aside from your explanations (which are all valid but I assume you're coming from more of an oldhead point-of-view?) it also seems to generate a similar reaction like when people say the like Fifa games or Call of Duty. Like it's too much of a "normie" type game to be allowed to be taken seriously and that it somehow takes away your epic gamer cred or whatever. I don't like judging games based on "what could have been" but to each their own of course.

But yeah, I don't mind all that. Everyone's experience is their own, and it's definitely not always been good, but I think the game currently is in one of the best states it's ever been in. It's respects your playstyle and time much more than ever before, and it has finally made real room for anyone regardless if they're a sweaty raider, or a more casual, even solo player (except for maybe PvP-only players who seem to get shafted non-stop, but it can be argued that it was never intended to be played as a PvP only game).

 

[YuriSukiSan]

Yeah that's all fair and there are a billion completely legitimate reasons to hate it. But aside from your explanations (which are all valid but I assume you're coming from more of an oldhead point-of-view?) it also seems to generate a similar reaction like when people say the like Fifa games or Call of Duty. Like it's too much of a "normie" type game to be allowed to be taken seriously and that it somehow takes away your epic gamer cred or whatever. I don't like judging games based on "what could have been" but to each their own of course.

But yeah, I don't mind all that. Everyone's experience is their own, and it's definitely not always been good, but I think the game currently is in one of the best states it's ever been in. It's respects your playstyle and time much more than ever before, and it has finally made real room for anyone regardless if they're a sweaty raider, or a more casual, even solo player (except for maybe PvP-only players who seem to get shafted non-stop, but it can be argued that it was never intended to be played as a PvP only game).

I don't really hate WoW! I just couldn't help respond because it's not often I see anyone discuss MMORPGs on the forums. I wouldn't really say I was an original-original old head who were like in their thirties during EQ and XI's prime but I started in the early 2000s like a lot of other people, just at a very young age! My MMORPG of choice was FFXI which is basically just a polished EQ clone.. So it's a little hypocritical of me in that respect but XI is still a very hardcore game like EQ, just not as janky. XI isn't a push over! And I would say that's more the imageboard perception but it isn't quite that, maybe.. half way in to that! More just sadness. It's not so much judged on what it could have been, it's more that Blizzard very early on chose greed and I just think it's sad. The Warcraft RTS games and early WoW were really cool in my opinion! And The Lost Vikings, Starcraft, Diablo too!

I haven't played retail myself! I don't think that type of game is really for me, I don't really get on with that type of thing. I've played XIV which is a WoW clone and raided in that up until DT released on the side from XI so I have some idea of what it's like.

 

[Tonberry]

I don't really hate WoW! I just couldn't help respond because it's not often I see anyone discuss MMORPGs on the forums. I wouldn't really say I was an original-original old head who were like in their thirties during EQ and XI's prime but I started in the early 2000s like a lot of other people, just at a very young age! My MMORPG of choice was FFXI which is basically just a polished EQ clone.. So it's a little hypocritical of me in that respect but XI is still a very hardcore game like EQ, just not as janky. XI isn't a push over! And I would say that's more the imageboard perception but it isn't quite that, maybe.. half way in to that! More just sadness. It's not so much judged on what it could have been, it's more that Blizzard very early on chose greed and I just think it's sad. The Warcraft RTS games and early WoW were really cool in my opinion! And The Lost Vikings, Starcraft, Diablo too!

I haven't played retail myself! I don't think that type of game is really for me, I don't really get on with that type of thing. I've played XIV which is a WoW clone and raided in that up until DT released on the side from XI so I have some idea of what it's like.

I tried FFXI on Xbox 360 years ago but it was too esoteric for me. I did try that private server that launched two or three years ago, I forget the name but Horizon or something? I understand it's not the true true vanilla experience (even if they aim to be more like the old game rather than the modern FFXI) but I had a very good time, it was fun to try out such a big and storied game with a bunch of friends.
I stopped playing after the multi class quest or whatever it was called, just didn't have time for it but it was a cool experience nontheless :)

 

[YuriSukiSan]

I tried FFXI on Xbox 360 years ago but it was too esoteric for me. I did try that private server that launched two or three years ago, I forget the name but Horizon or something? I understand it's not the true true vanilla experience (even if they aim to be more like the old game rather than the modern FFXI) but I had a very good time, it was fun to try out such a big and storied game with a bunch of friends.
I stopped playing after the multi class quest or whatever it was called, just didn't have time for it but it was a cool experience nontheless :)

Oh yah, I don't blame you it's a very hardcore game that requires a lot of time and way too much dedication! I've tried Horizon too, I stopped playing myself because the community isn't very nice at the end game and the lead dev has basically driven away all of the talent working on it. No idea if Ninja is even funding anymore.

 

[RageBurner]

I tried FFXI on Xbox 360 years ago but it was too esoteric for me. I did try that private server that launched two or three years ago, I forget the name but Horizon or something? I understand it's not the true true vanilla experience (even if they aim to be more like the old game rather than the modern FFXI) but I had a very good time, it was fun to try out such a big and storied game with a bunch of friends.
I stopped playing after the multi class quest or whatever it was called, just didn't have time for it but it was a cool experience nontheless :)

Its great that you you had fun! Also my first read was that you played the game 360 years ago

 

[G78]

For me, the Resident Evil Gun Survivor project on PlayStation 1 became a completely new experience thanks to the addition of the GunCon controller to my collection. I fully understand that this isn’t the highest-quality project, but despite that, the game took on new meaning for me when I decided to play it using this unique device.

It’s clear that the game was designed with the GunCon controller in mind, and it was thanks to this accessory that I had an incredibly engaging experience. The gameplay became much more dynamic and immersive, adding a special atmosphere to the game.

However, it remains a mystery to me why the GunCon controller support was available only in the Japanese region. Perhaps this decision was driven by market factors, but as a fan of the series, it’s still an unsolved question for me.

Nevertheless, for me, this project became a vibrant and unusual addition to my collection, and I’m glad I got to experience the game in this format.

 

[Ian Naxieas]

It's not so much games, but rather specific ports of some games. Final Fantasy IV-VI Advance for the GBA. They are not perfect ports by any means, especially the performance issues in IV and V, the necessary added brightness for the GBA which makes all GBA games look too bright when emulated (yes, I know this can be fixed with filters) and finally the big hit the sound and music took. Outside of that I feel like they were really neat ports that added some good QoL features and some good new content. I'm honestly disappointed that future re-releases of the games didn't have said content. I'd take the GBA ports over any other ports that were made. Especially the old phone ports. Ugh.

Look at that shit. Dear lord. The change in style makes me want to vomit shit until I die. I am by no means a purist, I think I enjoyed the pixel remasters more than a lot of fans probably did, but that just looks like a bad RPG maker game.

RoadKill would be a game that doesn't seem to be fondly remembered (or remembered at all). It's a weird child made by Twisted Metal and 3D Grand Theft Auto getting frisky with one another. I dunno, I enjoyed it. It was made before open world games started having a pissing contest over which was the largest (I have things to say about open world games), so it's maps are moderatly sized. Tons of different cars, a good selection of weapons, a good amount of side missions, some really fun radio stations with some good music, a fun multiplayer mode, some really weird characters and factions and the main villain is voiced by Vegeta! It's not all perfect of course. The story is a big old bag of nothing, it can get rather repetitive and the bosses (especially the final boss) are bullshit. Still, worth at least a looksie for car combat fans. :>

 

[Gordo101]

A game that comes to mind for me is Yoshi's Story for the N64. I know it's a rather simple game, but its art style still holds up really well and it's good stress-free time.

 

[Tzelanit]

Final Fantasy VIII comes to mind as a game that's been unfairly criticized and misunderstood for decades.

Every complaint I've ever heard about this game has stemmed from one of two things. First, it's that "it's not Final Fantasy VII" from Cloud fanboys with no taste, and second that "Drawing magic is stupid." To the people who say the first, I say you're right, and thank goodness for that. To the second, I say that you're playing the game wrong.

The only times you need to use Draw are to grab the handful of GFs from bosses, or if you run across a particularly rare magic from a Draw Point in the world. Outside of that, you should be using a combination of the Card ability and GF/Item refinement to get your magic. I find that the most critical people of the game genuinely don't understand its mechanics because the game doesn't hold your hand or give you pretty colored rocks to play with like they do in VII, and it expects that you experiment and encourages you to break its systems.

The game has a competent story (yes, even including the time compression,) relatable characters, and one of the best designs for mechanics and systems across the whole franchise that encourages freedom and doesn't pigeonhole you into useless stats and narrow builds like so many mediocre JRPGs.

Ben Starr said it best: "Final Fantasy VIII is and always has been an S-tier Final Fantasy game."

 

[χKai]

Final Fantasy VIII comes to mind as a game that's been unfairly criticized and misunderstood for decades.

Every complaint I've ever heard about this game has stemmed from one of two things. First, it's that "it's not Final Fantasy VII" from Cloud fanboys with no taste, and second that "Drawing magic is stupid." To the people who say the first, I say you're right, and thank goodness for that. To the second, I say that you're playing the game wrong.

The only times you need to use Draw are to grab the handful of GFs from bosses, or if you run across a particularly rare magic from a Draw Point in the world. Outside of that, you should be using a combination of the Card ability and GF/Item refinement to get your magic. I find that the most critical people of the game genuinely don't understand its mechanics because the game doesn't hold your hand or give you pretty colored rocks to play with like they do in VII, and it expects that you experiment and encourages you to break its systems.

The game has a competent story (yes, even including the time compression,) relatable characters, and one of the best designs for mechanics and systems across the whole franchise that encourages freedom and doesn't pigeonhole you into useless stats and narrow builds like so many mediocre JRPGs.

Ben Starr said it best: "Final Fantasy VIII is and always has been an S-tier Final Fantasy game."

I would stop and draw magic every time I came across a new one until I had 100 of it, and then junction it to stats or elemental defenses until I have the highest stats I can, and I do this every time.

 

[Tonberry]

Final Fantasy VIII comes to mind as a game that's been unfairly criticized and misunderstood for decades.

Every complaint I've ever heard about this game has stemmed from one of two things. First, it's that "it's not Final Fantasy VII" from Cloud fanboys with no taste, and second that "Drawing magic is stupid." To the people who say the first, I say you're right, and thank goodness for that. To the second, I say that you're playing the game wrong.

The only times you need to use Draw are to grab the handful of GFs from bosses, or if you run across a particularly rare magic from a Draw Point in the world. Outside of that, you should be using a combination of the Card ability and GF/Item refinement to get your magic. I find that the most critical people of the game genuinely don't understand its mechanics because the game doesn't hold your hand or give you pretty colored rocks to play with like they do in VII, and it expects that you experiment and encourages you to break its systems.

The game has a competent story (yes, even including the time compression,) relatable characters, and one of the best designs for mechanics and systems across the whole franchise that encourages freedom and doesn't pigeonhole you into useless stats and narrow builds like so many mediocre JRPGs.

Ben Starr said it best: "Final Fantasy VIII is and always has been an S-tier Final Fantasy game."

I think you're getting hung up on the people that hate it, rather than the more legitimate critiques. There's no point in saying "these people disagree so they're wrong" because that's just doing the same thing back (Your points are all valid, but calling people who prefer another game fanboys isn't really constructive at all).

It probably would've been recieved better (or at least remembered more fondly) if it wasn't so blatantly unfinished/rushed due to its short development time. Junction (for example, as it's the one thing people seem the most angry about) really isn't as dumb a mechanic as people claim, but it's far from perfectly implemented, and even something like a less awful UI (yay gray squares) would have alleviated much of that. I also think GFs and Summons should have been separate mechanics, because the way you're supposed to equip them, yet still have Summonig as a command and having you go through the cutscenes all the time (if you didn't get the mechanics) just feels like spectacle for spectacle's sake, and makes me not want to use them. But hey, it was the height of the polygon wars and Square was known for having the chops to show off.
It's a prime example of "a game that gets better the second time you play it" to me.

It's an interesting game for sure, and definitely overhated even though I'm not a huge fan, it's got a super cool setting and neat ideas and systems, but they really should have given it more time to simmer.

 

[MasterEn]

A game that comes to mind for me is Yoshi's Story for the N64. I know it's a rather simple game, but its art style still holds up really well and it's good stress-free time. View attachment 11907

yoshi games are supposed to be like kirby, animal crossing and harvest moon. fun, relaxing games to play without much stress that anyone can pick up and play; minus the existential horror of those games.

 

[Leon]

Final Fantasy VIII comes to mind as a game that's been unfairly criticized and misunderstood for decades.

Every complaint I've ever heard about this game has stemmed from one of two things. First, it's that "it's not Final Fantasy VII" from Cloud fanboys with no taste, and second that "Drawing magic is stupid." To the people who say the first, I say you're right, and thank goodness for that. To the second, I say that you're playing the game wrong.

The only times you need to use Draw are to grab the handful of GFs from bosses, or if you run across a particularly rare magic from a Draw Point in the world. Outside of that, you should be using a combination of the Card ability and GF/Item refinement to get your magic. I find that the most critical people of the game genuinely don't understand its mechanics because the game doesn't hold your hand or give you pretty colored rocks to play with like they do in VII, and it expects that you experiment and encourages you to break its systems.

The game has a competent story (yes, even including the time compression,) relatable characters, and one of the best designs for mechanics and systems across the whole franchise that encourages freedom and doesn't pigeonhole you into useless stats and narrow builds like so many mediocre JRPGs.

Ben Starr said it best: "Final Fantasy VIII is and always has been an S-tier Final Fantasy game."

I think my point about reading the primer still stands, but the biggest flaw of ff8 is that leveling actively hurts you in the long run, or that so much is literally not told to you about the game ingame.

Remember this was 1998, when alot of people still didn't have internet, so many people bought it expecting it to be the same as older final fantasy games when in reality it was a entirely new take on it, same could be levied at chrono cross if i'm being honest.

I'm saying this as someone who of the three 32 bit era ff's, considers 8 his favorite btw, 8 is hated a bit too much, but there's some legitimately justifiable reasons why it is hated, namely i blame games like final fantasy 8 for why so many games after it have such in-depth tutorials.

 

[Karaswinglet]

I like a lot of "hated" games but one that comes to mind is Dragon Quarter.

At the time, I never played a Breath of fire game or, at least, not having a Ps1 as a child, I never finished one of them as I've just seen friends playing it. I've seen the game taking a lot of hate due to the huge departure in every aspect from the previous games so, being my first game of the franchise, maybe I've seen it in a different light.

First of all, I loved the graphic style: the illustrations and character designs are downright beautiful, right up my alley and fits the gloomy setting so well. The system is quite interesting as it plays more strategically than usual, with strict use of action points, the encounters with enemies that can be far beyond your levels, environments that can make even the more weak enemy a lethal one, saves that are managed mostly by limited objects, an awesome yet fearsome power that can kill you and so on.

Quite the challenging game, maybe even unfair at some points. I can say it was fitting for such a grim, dark settings. Even the most unlikable of characters had such a tragic, bleak backstory and everyone wanted simply to have an objective in life that wasn't just surviving. Very simple characters, quite archetypal ones but I always thought that you don't need hyper complex characters to make a good story. Ryu is one of the lowest in terms of ranking, by birth, in a society that marks you when you come to life, not allowing you to create your future. Nina has her future and humanity taken away. Lin is disillusioned, not believing in people anymore and in a better future. They wander in the dark, trying to climb up to reach the fabled surface.

Very simple story elements, maybe presented with some roughly cut ingredients, yet very fitting for its themes. It was quite the journey, I would love to have time to play it again.

 

[SkoomaCatJesus]

I deeply love the Hydlide games, especially Virtual Hydlide. How, in the age of Dark Souls, can this game not be seen as a sleeper masterpiece is beyond me. I will admit that it suffers from severe slowdown on original hardware, but Virtual Hydlide is genuinely amazing in Mednafen. It is the definitive Demon's Souls of the SEGA Saturn.

P.S.
The soundtrack is unbelievably good and does 'it' better than Demon's Souls.

 

[dr grim]

View attachment 1736851480162.webp

This. Dragon ball ultimate battle 22.

It is known to be not very good, and people have found way better dragon ball games than this. ( Saturn version for ex )

but i still really like it, played it a lot with friends back then. nostalgia speaking here, but yeah.

 

[Prism_Red]

Arcade version of Pit-Fighter.
It's jank, it's goofy, it has weird controls, support 3 players, perfect game for a drunk night with friends.
Forget Smash bros, we got Pit-Fighter!

 

[Cyberfriend]

A game that comes to mind for me is Yoshi's Story for the N64. I know it's a rather simple game, but its art style still holds up really well and it's good stress-free time. View attachment 11907

This game was never hated

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

This game was never hated.

Are you sure? I mean I'm not well versed in Yoshi stuff but many Yoshi's Island players were disappointed this was not a proper sequel.

Or that Yoshi never got any full 3D game like Mario.

 

[hazys]

Really happy to see so much love for Dragon Quarter on this board.

I think people dislike Chibi Robo? It's one of my favorite series, apart from Zip-Lash.

 

[Karaswinglet]

Really happy to see so much love for Dragon Quarter on this board.

I think people dislike Chibi Robo? It's one of my favorite series, apart from Zip-Lash.

I agree about Dragon Quarter, it's nice to see it's more appreciated than expected. I slowly restarted a playtrough and it's as brutal as I remember but strangely it didn't felt as unnerving, maybe because I finished it so much time back in the day and I remember how to solve some critical parts.

I remember Chibi-robo being quite underestimated and then even derided, which is quite a shame. I played only the first one, not having the right console for the subsequent games, and I was blown away by the ideas and themes. There were a lot of very serious themes hidden by the wacky exterior.The sound design was unique too, like the choices for the sound effects of the steps or the one used to imitate the voices of the characters. The OST was quite nice, I couldn't help but hum the Drake Redcrest/Gicchoman theme, both versions:

I replayed it a lot of times, it's one of my favorite games for sure.

 

[hazys]

It's amazing! If you can, I strongly recommend playing the DS-only sequel, Happy Richie Oosouji, which has a great fan-translation. I think it's the best in the series.