When playing through a game series, do you skip "the bad one"?

[mrrgrrgrr]

There are a ton of long running game franchises out there that have stood the test of time, but not all of their entries are winners. There's always at least one game that didn't sit right with people. I'm talking about stuff like Devil May Cry 2, Mega Man X7, Paper Mario Sticker Star, Metroid Other M, Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, etc. Games that are infamous for their low quality of gameplay in an otherwise great series, or at the very least have a poor reputation amongst fans.

When playing through a game series, whether it's for the first time or for the 50th time, do you still attempt to stomach these? Are there any that you tried out of morbid curiosity? Were there any that you tried for the first time that turned out to be better than you expected?

Personally, I've been replaying the Castlevania series from start to finish and I've made my way up to the 3D games. I was going to skip them and just focus on the 2D entries, but instead I ended up jumping into Castlevania 64 and I was pleasantly surprised. I wouldn't call it a good game per se, but it wasn't the dumpster fire I was expecting either.

Edit: Loving the responses so far, especially the topic of what we can consider "the bad one". It's such a nebulous term that could mean anything, so I'm facinated by how people have personally defined it thus far.

 

[Aldia Aldia]

Take a good look at my username and make a guess. /j

I used to, but nowdays I don't really "binge" franchises anymore either. If I want to play a series now, I'll play that series, bad games included.

 

[Picketinny_Railgun]

Rarely do I replay an entire series of games, but I think it's pretty stupid to force yourself to play a game you don't like because it's part of a series of sequels. I consider myself a Castlevania superfan but wouldn't play half those games ever again.

That being said, if you haven't played a game then don't let its reputation precede it unless you have a good idea of its content and your tastes. It's good to try new things.

 

[Majora Fi]

Yep.

 

[bombatomba77]

Yeah, but I hesitate to say, "bad ones," rather the ones I don't like/understand. For example, I play MGS1. Then I stop.

 

[4C374552A1CA2638]

If I'm going through the series, then no. People have varying tastes, and while one opinion wins out overall, that doesn't mean you'll have the same experience. I mean this in both the positive and negative, too--have you ever played something that was highly praised and didn't see what others saw in it?

The bad thing is, for both positive and negative general opinions, that colors your perception going in. "This was rated badly, so I just know I'm gonna hate this..." "This got a 10/10, so this is going to be so epic!"

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

Depends if i like "the bad one" or not

 

[HyperTurboFox]

Does these games count?

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

Does these games count?
View attachment 205766View attachment 205767

I guess

 

[PSVitaForever]

I have skipped FF13-2" and "FF13-3", despite buying the xbox360 cheap and used only to play FF13, because I liked FF13 very much and after seeing gameplay from the sequels I didn't feel like I would have liked them.

 

[jon2]

Depends on the meaning of "bad"

Bugged, censored, clipped (think Ace Combat 3), or just plain inaccessible (via emulators or the Repo) = skip

Hard, near kaizo, dated (graphics, gameplay, controls, etc.), fan-bashed storyline, needs grinding = will still try, and if it clicked with me, will still play and replay

 

[WitchDetective]

Honestly there's a good few "bad games" in franchises that are honestly just alright. Even in the examples given, I wouldn't call DMC2 or Megaman X7 completely unplayable games. They're just not as good as their respective series usually can be. I'd even wager there's a good amount of people who don't know what an actual atrocious game really is. As for myself, I get annoyed by not finishing a series if I like it enough, so I tend to play all the games.

 

[HyperTurboFox]

Depends on the meaning of "bad"

Bugged, censored, clipped (think Ace Combat 3), or just plain inaccessible (via emulators or the Repo) = skip

Hard, near kaizo, dated (graphics, gameplay, controls, etc.), fan-bashed storyline, needs grinding = will still try, and if it clicked with me, will still play and replay

I'm pretty sure, they are meaning games like Tales of Zestiria, Sonic 06 and Pokemon Gen 8/Gen 9.

 

[X y b e r - S k u ll]

If it's my first time playing, I'm always willing to give it a shot regardless of a games reputation. For replays; I'll absolutely skip a game if I know I didn't like it and I don't have the curiosity to maybe give it another chance.

 

[random0nonsense]

It depends if I have played it before. If my goal is to get through the series then I'll run through it at least one time. I may actually like it more than other people; I love Zelda II despite it "being the bad one." I will never play Spirit Tracks again, though.

 

[iamthemilkman]

Absolutely not. I have to experience the entirety of it. DMC2 may be the worst DMC game but it's still better than most games.

 

[sogib]

If I'm playing through a series for the first time, I'll check the bad ones, cuz I'm curious to see why they are considered bad.

 

[Dr.Kisaragi Dr.Kisaragi]

Well l will play first and see if I like it or not.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

No, because I want to form my own opinions on things.

 

[Emeraldfox37]

Yeah, but I hesitate to say, "bad ones," rather the ones I don't like/understand. For example, I play MGS1. Then I stop.

Really? I know the solid snake saga is hard to understand but you can just jump past 2 and play 3, that's what I did, and then I got a copy of 2 for free, shoved it in my PS2 and binged it, I'd say 3 is very easy to understand, it's literally all explained in the end literally so you don't even have to wrap your head around it because the entire plot is spoon fed to ya'

 

[JayceeRX]

I didn't skip Dark Souls II and it's become one of my favorite games of all time. DaS2 deserves its criticism and the majority of the criticism it receives is accurate, but there is something I love about DaS2 that I can't quite put my finger on. So I'm glad I didn't skip and miss out on "the bad one."

 

[Fietto!]

Yep.
View attachment 205741

Escaping this? That’s pretty meta.

 

[Majora Fi]

Does these games count?
View attachment 205766View attachment 205767

We never forget our first PS3

Post automatically merged: 45 minutes ago

Escaping this? That’s pretty meta.

This game was destined to fail, as there was a tug-of-war between the creative team (striving to update graphics+gameplay for new gen) and the executives (cutting resources on purpose because Lucas Arts were making more profit from Star Wars).

 

[Sheepy765]

It depends on if I find the game playable and if I like it. I’m probably not going to sit through the whole game if either of those are true, but I’ll give it a shot if it interests me at the very least.

 

[MajorMachina]

if the story for the bad one is just filler or was later retconned, than i tend to ignore it.

sometimes i just watch the cutscenes on youtube if i cant stand the game like i did with kingdom hearts chain of memories