Games that everyone hate but you love. Or vice versa

[Tsukishima]

I think the standout example of this for me is Drakengard (2003). I just love this game so much, i feel like everything that people find atrocious and abhorrent about this game is why it's the most hypnotic kind of flavour to me. Takayuki Aihara's approach on the violent soundtrack that people LOVE to bash is just an amazing soundtrack to me and i have so much favourites in that score and i really appreciate Aihara-san for his work on it. It's a violent, gory, doggedly take on how war actually is,, the soundtrack, gameplay and narrative is so exceptionally fuelled for the intention of the story and what it wants to show you that it has stuck with me vividly for all this time. I will stand with that game to death.

"A world without seals, thrown into chaos. Who fights for whom? Is there an answer?
"We've grown? Nonsense. We remain mere fools."
Other games are Yoshi's Story, Final Fantasy XIII-2, and htoL:NiQ: The Firefly Diary, which kind of ties into my perspective with Drakengard, a lot of the things are exceptionally stressful with its puzzles and mechanics but the mental struggle feels so uniquely tied into the game's narrative i just became an avid lover of that game. It's an interesting, if coincidental design of videogames where the potential anguish you go through and tolerate because it feels compelling for its narrative is so unique and far between, but I love those games more than life itself.

 

[Fietto!]

Two for the price of one..
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While not hated, in recent years I hear many criticisms towards how this is one of the worst 2D Mario games... well, I quite like it, maybe because I grew up with this game over the sequel but I find myself revisiting it quite often.

On the other hand..
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I'm not the biggest fan of the sequel, I don't dislike it either, but while everybody else seems to prefer it over the first I find myself revisiting it quite less, possibly because I played this much later and thus have less nostalgia, but also hot take, I think the sprites are too big resulting in a screen cropping effect, also I don't like the openness making all the levels equally too easy until the final level where it spikes in difficulty, I rather difficulty spike in games be more gradual.

Literally WHO bashes Land 1?
It gets stroked as much for nostalgia as much as Mega Man 2.

 

[Clown Car Cats]

Silent Hill Origins, from what I've seen it's generally considered to just be a nothing burger, that at its best is a 5/10 experience, and at it's worst is actively screwing with the previously established plot in Silent Hill 1.
But idk I just vibe with it heavily. Travis is my personal favorite Silent Hill protagonist. He's the one I can empathize and relate to the most. The opening song is also just my favorite piece of music from Silent Hill, and the slow walk into town while it plays at the start of the game is just one of my favorite openings to a game ever. Idk I'm aware that it's a pretty average game all things considered, but it struck the right notes with me, so it stuck with me despite that.

 

[Tsukishima]

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Silent Hill Origins, from what I've seen it's generally considered to just be a nothing burger, that at its best is a 5/10 experience, and at it's worst is actively screwing with the previously established plot in Silent Hill 1.
But idk I just vibe with it heavily. Travis is my personal favorite Silent Hill protagonist. He's the one I can empathize and relate to the most. The opening song is also just my favorite piece of music from Silent Hill, and the slow walk into town while it plays at the start of the game is just one of my favorite openings to a game ever. Idk I'm aware that it's a pretty average game all things considered, but it struck the right notes with me, so it stuck with me despite that.

People disregard the Silent Hill's that came generally after 3-4 a lot but I dunno, it's not like Akira Yamaoka ever stopped ascending to greater heights with his music and that at least deserves so much recognition.

Homecoming probably is my favourite music from the series in general. That one is just a carnival of emotional floorfillers, especially Witchcraft with how hauntingly beautiful that song is.

Witchcraft always feels like a string of curses to my soul. I think the music is really doing its job if it does that with these games.

 

[Sanomoe]

I like Secret of Evermore. Although it was made using Secret of Mana as it's mold, and not having the same colorful aura that game has, I still like the more different vibe of this game, with it's more crude, serene locations, a more immersive OST, and having your dog change it's appearance based on the current area.

 

[GuyZero32k4]

Game that every hates that I like: Altered Beast. Cause it was the pack in game when I got the Genesis. Liked the arcade, liked the genesis port. Kinda liked the PS2 game, but needs better camera and final stage is wayyyy too long.

Game everyone loves that I hate : Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Not just the bull shit AI, I hated the Q sound soundtrack. Sounds good when you add bass to the damn thing. Music sounds alot better with more bass. Music and voices are too high pitched. Replacing the announcer with some bitch who sounds like Big Bird.

 

[Jdan-S]

I like Sonic Heroes despite its flaws.

As for vice versa, practically everyone's played the GTA series, but I haven't. I don't hate it; I just don't have any interest.

Also, Papers Please has gotten a lot of praise, but I just couldn't get into it since it reminded me too much of my former, stressful job when it released.

 

[Bakuma1997]

Castlevania Lords of shadow, some people belive it is a good Update to the Lament/Curse duology or that they are good GOW clones, i personally believe they are dull takes on both being good Castlevanias and good GOW clones, no camera adjustment, puzzles feeling dull and curbersome and a SLOW upgrade currency economy means i was already done with the game by the time i reached the Clock Tower

 

[werewolfx]

 

[zombie100379]

splatterhouse 2010 was considered a flop with most critics but i enjoyed it

 

[Bakuma1997]

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The Japanese version (Known as "Mad World") is infinitely fairer

 

[werewolfx]

The Japanese version (Known as "Mad World") is infinitely fairer

Oh I'm aware, I've played and beaten both. Mad City also has a second ending removed from the us release.

 

[cere]

I love Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter, I wish more people gave it a real chance, Breath of Fire fans it is peak I promise you.

I wouldn't say I "hate" it but Valkyrie Profile didn't click with me at all, and Silmeria on the PS2 clicked even less to the point where I just dropped it, which is a shame because the presentation in that game is fantastic, incredibly beautiful game.

 

[werewolfx]

I love Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter, I wish more people gave it a real chance, Breath of Fire fans it is peak I promise you.

I wouldn't say I "hate" it but Valkyrie Profile didn't click with me at all, and Silmeria on the PS2 clicked even less to the point where I just dropped it, which is a shame because the presentation in that game is fantastic, incredibly beautiful game.

VP is understandable, it's a love it or leave it game. as for Dragon Quarter

(I'm just kidding btw, you enjoy it as you wish♥)

 

[Michael Frank]

I like Secret of Evermore. Although it was made using Secret of Mana as it's mold, and not having the same colorful aura that game has, I still like the more different vibe of this game, with it's more crude, serene locations, a more immersive OST, and having your dog change it's appearance based on the current area.

The thing that made me fell in love with it was the B-Movie love style that not only the hero loves but the whole game embraces in it's historic settings, like Illbleed and House of the Dead, i wish newer devs, be it Indie or AAA, embraced this more colorful and campy horror, this style that i would describe as "Schlock Horror", like Day of the Dead or the Evil Dead Movies.

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The Japanese version, Mad City, was honestly a fun ride, the mixed section with vehicles and shooting reminded me of Gun-Dec, and oh man i loved that game, the USA version gave the game an amazing cover but a whole disservice to our boy Billy, for me the japanese version is the goat.

Also, on games that i love and most people hate...

This one is currently getting ported to PC, and i played it emulated various times alongside it's sequel, and i will always call it the ultimate bane for Dark Souls fans...because this game and it's sequel are 3D classicvanias with souls combat and i'm tired of pretending they are not, basically Konami tapped into a genre that we as a species were not yet ready to understand, and also, 60fps really make shine a 64 game honestly.

Another one...

"The more things change, the more they stay insane" Neo Contra wasn't a bad contra game.

 

[BrawlMan]

While not hated, in recent years I hear many criticisms towards how this is one of the worst 2D Mario games... well, I quite like it, maybe because I grew up with this game over the sequel but I find myself revisiting it quite often.

Who the fuck said that? I know some people find the game "underwhelming" due to the passage of time, but I guess they never played Hotel Mario. I don't recall Mario Land 2 hated much either, aside from Nintendo and Mario haters.

Castlevania Lords of shadow, some people belive it is a good Update to the Lament/Curse duology or that they are good GOW clones, i personally believe they are dull takes on both being good Castlevanias and good GOW clones, no camera adjustment, puzzles feeling dull and curbersome and a SLOW upgrade currency economy means i was already done with the game by the time i reached the Clock Tower

Castlevania: The 5 Best Selling Games In The Series (& 5 That Didn't Sell)

Castlevania may not be the best-selling series of all time, but many of its games managed to do fairly well, while others just fell flat.

www.thegamer.com

Best: Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow - 1.77 Million Units​

Sounds like the hate was a loud vocal minority, because it is the highest selling game in the franchise.

Bayou Billy

I only play Mad City with the English translation hack. I got it on my emulation device and go for a high score run every now and then. Still pretty average on the brawling sections though.

Street Fighter V. It is not hated as much since Arcade Edition and Champion Edition (2020). More so the latter, but it does have many advantages over all iterations of IV, due to having so much single player content and daily/weekly challenges. IV does have better visuals and gameplay technically, but Supers/Ultras are a pain in the ass to do for certain characters, unless you have an arcade stick, a fight pad, or are playing the 3DS version. V at least has different variety of arcade modes, with most of them based off of previous mainline SF games, and has Survival Mode. Something that got removed after vanilla SFIV.

The game also closes out some good characters arcs or arcs that were left hanging for a long time. Also, it was nice seeing those deep cuts of more Final Fight characters like Lucia appearing, and Akira from Rival Schools showing up. Another advantage are stage fatalities, or humiliations in this case. Knock an opponent down to 0 health at the edge of the screen, and they'll be knocked into a hazard or break apart the scenery leading into a new are you and your rival can fight in. Assuming it was on the first round, or you have more than three rounds enabled. Not even SFVI brought this back, despite being a better version of V. SFV is a much fun game to play, and it's one I go back to just to try out the other arcade modes and do easier super combinations and practice those.

Everyone didn't hate RE3R, but more than a few "passionate fans" online went way overboard on the game, and acted as if it was the worst game ever made. There are things I don't agree with what Capcom did and cutting content, but the remake is still about the same length as the original. I enjoy the combat mechanics and new and improved characterizations for Jill and Carlos. They work much better in the remake, than the original . The game gives you replay value by rewarding you for killing zombies/monster, and doing specific feats, so you can unlock the more powerful weapons and speedrun the game faster, and/or do them on the harder modes. The only things I dislike about the game are the complete removal of self-defense items, and hardest difficulty being complete bullshit. Especially at the final boss.

"The more things change, the more they stay insane" Neo Contra wasn't a bad contra game.

No, but it was pretty average overall. I found it better than Shattered Soldier, but that is only by comparison. Once you play Contra 4 or Contra Rebirth, it's hard going back to those two PS2 titles.

 

[Bakuma1997]

Castlevania: The 5 Best Selling Games In The Series (& 5 That Didn't Sell)

Castlevania may not be the best-selling series of all time, but many of its games managed to do fairly well, while others just fell flat.

www.thegamer.com

Sounds like the hate was a loud vocal minority, because it is the highest selling game in the franchise.

I actually meant the game is seen as great, but for me it was a clumsily done 3D translation that seemed to only take the flashy parts of Hack And Slashes without the substance to the battle