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

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

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

The GBA or the PS2 version?

 

[MajorMachina]

The GBA or the PS2 version?

ps2 version. wasn't a fan of the card based combat

 

[shaggi shaggi]

If I'm playing a game for the first time, I want to at least form my own opinion of it. I don't force myself to play a game I don't like after playing it for a while. Why would I play a game I don't enjoy?

 

[DanCalibur]

I always give them a chance, sometimes they are not so bad but, sometimes they really are.
I never got why Dark Souls 2 is so hated, except for the ice DLC.
Castlevania 2 is okish for a short play with a guide, Dracula X is no Rondo of Blood but, is quite fun and challenging once you learn it's quirks.
Megaman 7 is a bad game now? I always loved it, specially the soundtrack.
Shining Wisdom... Well... That one I agree, all those complex gameplay mechanics condensed on just 3 buttons on a console with a 6 buttons controller felt like having to do a quick time event just to use a normal sword attack.

 

[4C374552A1CA2638]

ps2 version. wasn't a fan of the card based combat

Weirdly, I didn't like Re:Chain of Memories on Sora's side when I played it a long time ago, but I really came to like Riku's side once I figured out

Spoiler: Cheese

you can cheese every Duel by spamming cards.

I went through the GBA version more recently and thought Sora's side was fine, so I wonder what was 'wrong' back then for me.

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

Megaman 7 is a bad game now? I always loved it, specially the soundtrack.

I found most people having in their lists of best Mega Man games than people saying that is a bad game

 

[lestagio]

Nope. I find that I tend to disagree with lots of online opinions these days and sometimes "the bad one" ends up being one of my favorites. For example, I love Zelda 2, I love the New Super Mario Bros games, Donkey Kong Country 3 (Okay well that's not considered bad, but lesser, I guess), etc.

I generally don't play a game series in order (especially older things that don't require it). But I'll never intentionally skip a game just because it's considered "bad". I didn't get to play some of the early Sierra games until I was much older (I grew up with the VGA stuff), but when I went back to them years later, I found them pretty enjoyable despite the internet complaining about games like King's Quest 3.

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

Nope. I find that I tend to disagree with lots of online opinions these days and sometimes "the bad one" ends up being one of my favorites. For example, I love Zelda 2, I love the New Super Mario Bros games, Donkey Kong Country 3 (Okay well that's not considered bad, but lesser, I guess), etc.

I generally don't play a game series in order (especially older things that don't require it). But I'll never intentionally skip a game just because it's considered "bad". I didn't get to play some of the early Sierra games until I was much older (I grew up with the VGA stuff), but when I went back to them years later, I found them pretty enjoyable despite the internet complaining about games like King's Quest 3.

Wait, people consider DKC 3 and New Super Mario Bros (aside 2) the "bad games" of their respective series?

 

[lestagio]

Wait, people consider DKC 3 and New Super Mario Bros (aside 2) the "bad games" of their respective series?

DKC3 I generally find considered the "worst" of the 5 country games. Which I guess is fair since every single one is stellar, but I personally find I prefer it to DKC2 which is considered the "best".

As for the NSMB games, I see people complain about all of them outside of the original DS game. Sure, they're probably the worst MARIO games, but they're still very enjoyable. NSMB2 is a joy to play for me, and yet I constantly see it ripped on.

 

[Sfjeov]

Tbh shouldve skipped Apollo Justice but I got a little too curious and I heard the ost is pretty nice. The boy band case music is also painful.

 

[mariokarthero]

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.

No. I want to see for myself why that game is considered "bad". Maybe I find something good from it or maybe I end up agreeing with the majority opinion. I'll never know if I don't try

 

[BrawlMan]

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

This is pretty much me. That said, I don't have the time nor patience for most bad games. Even back in the day, I used my gaming time wisely.

 

[Haizujard]

No, I'll only skip it if I don't like the game.

 

[mrrgrrgrr]

Megaman 7 is a bad game now? I always loved it, specially the soundtrack.

Wait, who's calling Mega Man 7 a bad game? That game's awesome! It's not my favourite, but that's because I'm one of those weirdos who loves Mega Man 8 more.

 

[What's His Face]

No.

 

[mrrgrrgrr]

No.

Cool.

 

[JG509]

I'll give it a fair -no prejudgements- try just like the other entries of a franchise. If I feel it's worth my time in some capacity I'll stick to it until the end.
If I can't stand it for long then it goes to the trash and I move on to the next one (specially if the followup is considered a masterpiece).

The thing is, most of these truly awful games (the very kind that I cannot tolerate even with patience being my strong) fall into either:

-Useless and tedious padding everywhere.
-Does not care about your time/the player at all and does things that out of common sense, should not be done at any cost.
-It's terribly designed on the most basic things that any other good game would not screw up, again, out of common sense.

Games that are considered complete, unsalvageable garbage by majority of opinion usually have all 3 of these issues down until the very core of the game.

In a bonus thing, there's the screwing up the plot/characters big time which is the cherry on top.

 

[Mahan_Native]

not always.
most of the times i play the entire series even the bad ones.
but if i see a bad game that is not really related to the main story of that series or it's one of those series that each game is a different entry, i save that game for later or just decide to forget about it.

 

[Ikagura]

It depends but usually I let the smaller spinoff title for the end.

 

[bratish]

i always experience stuff myself and often find the wider audience wrong about the titles they consider the worst in the franchise. ive always liked zelda 2 and other m for example, maybe i just have evil in my heart, idk

 

[zerobear]

I'll start a 'bad one' but once it gets frustrating or annoying I'm like "Yeah okay, that's why people don't like this one" and just move on to the next game.
That being said, sometimes the 'bad ones' are a lot more fun that people give them credit for. I'll always be a Resident Evil 6 and Onimusha 4 defender

 

[Skellerick]

No, I need to experience how bad it is

 

[What's His Face]

Cool.

'Kay.

 

[mrrgrrgrr]

'Kay.