Hot takes

[Ikagura]

While I love many of the soundtracks that come from system sound chips, almost every game from the early to mid 90’s that had a CD soundtrack version (on some kind of CD system) was bound to sound better. There’s something so mystical and airy to the typical sounds of early CD soundtracks, and the more hype songs usually implement some kind of DnB inspiration that I personally dig a lot.

Redbook audie is great indeed, I love the Ys OST on the PC Engine because of it.

But there's something about several soundchip that cannot be replicated by CDs. Limitations can bring something.

Also, Sonic CD’s US Soundtrack is the better one to play the game to. The JP one is the better listen to on its own, and that’s brainwashed all of you into thinking it matches playing the game. It doesn’t. The U.S. soundtrack creates such a good atmosphere of Eggman’s takeover and pollution of this planet, driving home the themes of environmental conservation better than the JP soundtrack ever did.

CD's ost is the logical evolution of Sonic 1's. US is more atmospheric but also doesn't sound that much like Sega (Sonic is meant to sound punchy and fast).

At least it's better than whatever Sonic 4 Episode 1 and Sonic Frontiers' overworld themes were.

Oh yeah, for that and racing games.

Which ones? F-zero X and GX are made with the joystick in mind (especially GX with analog shoulder buttons as well).

Physical games can decay over the years, while roms never do.

That's true but even hard drives and servers can.

The truth is, though…. Paid digital sucks. There’s very little consumer benefit.

Paying for digital means buying the license (like on a physical medium) but I agree that the product shouldn't be sold as much (nor more) than the physical one simply because there's no logistic needed behind.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Paying for digital means buying the license (like on a physical medium) but I agree that the product shouldn't be sold as much (nor more) than the physical one simply because there's no logistic needed behind.

The big killer is license revoking. The fact that a game can be taken away, for any reason, is terrifying. Games, in my personal view, shouldn’t be a “service”. Even an arcade game. These are an art form, and should be accessible at any time. And home ownership shouldn’t be a luxury either, it should be a given. If one has the will, all games ever made should be within reach, and as many as possible should be easily accessible to all whom have a screen and CPU.

 

[Xdqwerty Xdqwerty]

Which ones? F-zero X and GX are made with the joystick in mind (especially GX with analog shoulder buttons as well).

I mean in general

 

[Pitokk]

I like final fantasy XIII.

 

[bfinch]

I got one!

Movement in shooters is better when it's floaty rather than the current 'movement shooter' style. Purely from a game design view.
A game that makes the player control the outcome of their movement choices is always going to be better. Making the player give more input to get a satisfactory output fails the player.

 

[Ikagura]

The big killer is license revoking. The fact that a game can be taken away, for any reason, is terrifying. Games, in my personal view, shouldn’t be a “service”. Even an arcade game. These are an art form, and should be accessible at any time. And home ownership shouldn’t be a luxury either, it should be a given. If one has the will, all games ever made should be within reach, and as many as possible should be easily accessible to all whom have a screen and CPU.

I agree about the license thing. It's awful too.

But remember that some physical games also were dependant on online servers to be able to run (like GFWL or even the StarForce DRM).


Video game being art is another debate but I think some art pieces were only available in private collections as well.

Movement in shooters is better when it's floaty rather than the current 'movement shooter' style. Purely from a game design view.
A game that makes the player control the outcome of their movement choices is always going to be better. Making the player give more input to get a satisfactory output fails the player.

What about Quake and Ultrakill?

 

[waterxwraith]

Final Fantasy X is also guilty of almost everything people lampoon Final Fantasy XIII over.

 

[Ikagura]

Final Fantasy X is also guilty of almost everything people lampoon Final Fantasy XIII over.

That's true.

However: I think that the game design of FFX was more acceptable in 2001-2002 was much less in 2009 - 2010 and in a post-Oblivion and post-Mass Effect world a classic JRPG already feels outdated.

FFX was the first fully voice acted game with a cinematic feel for the series. FFXIII felt like it was a PS2 game upscaled for the PS3.

 

[waterxwraith]

That's true.

However: I think that the game design of FFX was more acceptable in 2001-2002 was much less in 2009 - 2010 and in a post-Oblivion and post-Mass Effect world a classic JRPG already feels outdated.

FFX was the first fully voice acted game with a cinematic feel for the series. FFXIII felt like it was a PS2 game upscaled for the PS3.

The time frame adds context to the complaints, but in modern day, looking back, XIII wasn't all that bad.

 

[Ikagura]

The time frame adds context to the complaints, but in modern day, looking back, XIII wasn't all that bad.

Personally I've always seen FFXIII as a non-FF game with FF elements and the name slapped on.

Too futuristic imo and I think that I still vastly prefer the medieval fantasy feel of the first 6 games (okay, the sixth being more steampunk with magitech) + 9 than trying to do another FF7.

FFX also had a nice eastern fantasy setting making it stands out from the rest of the series and I almost wish they could try this again.

 

[King Torro]

I'm vexed by some indie devs slopping together a forced "low poly" or "low definition" graphics in order for their game to "look retro". Especially when the dev might have the talent to make the game look better but they.. don't.
There are a lot of great looking throwback graphics games and when done right and with proper talent it can look amazing, but some developers use a "retro style" as a crutch to serve low effort under the guise of "it's retro, it's supposed to look bad!"

 

[Ikagura]

I'm vexed by some indie devs slopping together a forced "low poly" or "low definition" graphics in order for their game to "look retro". Especially when the dev might have the talent to make the game look better but they.. don't.
There are a lot of great looking throwback graphics games and when done right and with proper talent it can look amazing, but some developers use a "retro style" as a crutch to serve low effort under the guise of "it's retro, it's supposed to look bad!"

Oh, so the same issue that many "retro styled pixel art 2D indie game" had back when it was becoming trendy to do NES-like graphics?

I agree that we've seen a rise of low poly PSX-style horror game that don't really do much efforts.

Even games like Ultrakill improved the models with updates. I also liked how Zortch looked, like a late N64 title (if not early Dreamcast).

 

[Spectro. Spectro.]

Super Mario Odyssey was a big letdown.

Super Mario Sunshine is one of the best mainline Mario games.

 

[waterxwraith]

Super Mario Odyssey was a big letdown.

Super Mario Sunshine is one of the best mainline Mario games.

I'll agree that odyssey is overhyped (still great)

but Sunshine?!

Post automatically merged: Oct 27, 2025

Oh, so the same issue that many "retro styled pixel art 2D indie game" had back when it was becoming trendy to do NES-like graphics?
View attachment 122692

I agree that we've seen a rise of low poly PSX-style horror game that don't really do much efforts.

Even games like Ultrakill improved the models with updates. I also liked how Zortch looked, like a late N64 title (if not early Dreamcast).

I've seen folks on tiktok refer to the style on the right as "millennial retro" which makes me laugh quite hard.

 

[bjork]

Super Mario Odyssey was a big letdown.

Super Mario Sunshine is one of the best mainline Mario games.

I think I agree? I got Odyssey right away, finished the story, and then never felt inclined to go back to it. The novelty of "Mario can be a dinosaur! Mario can be a weird rock guy" thing kinda wore off for me and really New Donk City is the most memorable thing for me.
I like Sunshine a lot. I kinda wish you just had unlimited water and I dislike the Yoshis in it, but other than that, hell yeah. I like the setting, the presentation, and the overall feel of Sunshine a lot.

 

[Metroid_Hybrid]

I never understood the hate that Mario Sunshine got either. It was absolutely gorgeous for its time.

I do remember that it was a bit challenging, so maybe it was that?

 

[bjork]

I never understood the hate that Mario Sunshine got either. It was absolutely gorgeous for its time.

I do remember that it was a bit challenging, so maybe it was that?

At least with Wind Waker, people were crying about it not being mature and you could go, "oh, you're acting like a spoiled kid, I get it." But with Mario, I never really understood because there never seemed to be a concrete reason.

 

[Ikagura]

Super Mario Odyssey was a big letdown.

Yeah maybe

Super Mario Sunshine is one of the best mainline Mario games.

Not better than 64, Galaxy, World nor Bros 3 though.

I never understood the hate that Mario Sunshine got either. It was absolutely gorgeous for its time.

I do remember that it was a bit challenging, so maybe it was that?

It looks gorgeous but graphics don't make the game.

It's challenging for the wrong reasons (mainly because of glitchy collisions and blue coins being borderline unfair).

At least with Wind Waker, people were crying about it not being mature and you could go, "oh, you're acting like a spoiled kid, I get it." But with Mario, I never really understood because there never seemed to be a concrete reason.

Maybe because it was the era of newer platformers and Sunshine kinda wasn't the Mario 128 people expected to see.

 

[bjork]

Maybe because it was the era of newer platformers and Sunshine kinda wasn't the Mario 128 people expected to see.

I wonder what it was that they were expecting? I know some of that tech demo later helped shape what would be Mario Galaxy, but I feel like people would not have been ready for Galaxy at the time of the GC.

 

[PhaseJump]

I never understood the hate that Mario Sunshine got either. It was absolutely gorgeous for its time.

I do remember that it was a bit challenging, so maybe it was that?

Unskippable cutscenes, a whole game built around similar levels or stages, needing to reload stages to grab multiple shines. It was tedious, not challenging.

There is a reason the game was considered a disappointment.

It's not even worth playing unless it's the Sunburn mod.

 

[Metroid_Hybrid]

Unskippable cutscenes, a whole game built around similar levels or stages, needing to reload stages to grab multiple shines. It was tedious, not challenging.

There is a reason the game was considered a disappointment.

It's not even worth playing unless it's the Sunburn mod.

meh..

I played and 100%'ed it back when it was the new Mario game, and I enjoyed it at the time for what it was..

 

[TheSoulWalker TheSoulWalker]

I think it would be safe to have a thread of just unpopular opinions as opposed to have a sea of threads of "This thing sucks" or "This is good actually."

Neutral ground, they don't have to be hot takes, just takes you think are unpopular but these are takes that you personally have.

My unpopular opinion is that I believe that the vocal side of the gaming community is spending more time hoping for the downfall of multiple companies and spending less time actually looking for the good titles. We are feeding into the same sale of content designed to make us angry in one way or another and are focused significantly less on stuff that is actually good.

I would recommend the flash game "We become what we behold" if you would like to see what I'm talking about.

 

[TechBlisSTer]

"When one stares into the shit abyss, the shit abyss stares back."

 

[Miles Miles]

Isn't there already a bunch of unpopular opinion threads?

 

[PhaseJump]

"When one stares into the shit abyss, the shit abyss stares back."