Unpopular Opinions about Video Games -

[The Shadow]

I think it's a combination of a few things, as mentioned, but I always assumed it was Baby's First Gritty Fantasy for a lot of gamers, so they hold it up on a pedestal. The Witcher universe is "dark" and "unforgiving" and everyone's a massive dick to you, swearing and spitting when you walk by, but hey you can bang the whores. You can't do that in Skyrim, can you? You also have "choices" in the game which either leads to an NPC dying or not which puts you, the gamer, with real "tough" decisions. Combine that with sad fiddle music when you're riding around (or female singing if you're on Viking Island), Dad-Geralt, Forced "Found Family", and monsters, and a lot of people will defend the game to death because it's "unique" and "relatable" and "Adult".

It's their first mature fantasy and they hold it up like it's manna from heaven when it is, at best, a semi-pretty setting with a terrible plot. The DLCs are way better than the actual game and that says a lot. And there's a ton of books out there that are way better, but who the fuck reads anymore.

The problem is, like every other thing they do, CDPR once again overextends themselves and the best part of the game is at the start with the Bloody Baron - everything after feels rushed and more retarded when you start picking it apart. Because their time management is atrocious. They focused too much on graphics and not enough on logical plot, cutting things as they went to rush it out into production, and it shows when you observe the game as a whole. It's pretty to look at sometimes, but the story is thin and the recycled monster contracts feel boring.

Personally, I wouldn't mind if the franchise ended with the third. I'd like a remaster of the second game just so I can punch Iorveth in the throat in HD, but considering how terrible remasters are, I'd rather have it forever locked in its current state. Plus they'd probably delete all the references to wife beating and the dick forest, because games aren't about having fun anymore. They're "art".

The most appealing part of The Witcher to me is the slavic-ness of the whole affair (the first game, for various reasons is still my favorite). That dreary, unforgiving world is done in a way fairly distinct from a typical American or British grimdark fantasy and the Outskirts and Vizima had amazing atmosphere. I don't understand why CDPR decided to make Witcher 3 so damned huge. I lost interest in the middle of the Viking Island.

IMO the 3rd game shouldn't have bothered with Ciri and Yennefer, it's 3 games in, too late to bring them in and have us care. Should have followed up with characters from the first two games more instead of introducing new (to players and not to the fucking NERDS that read books) important characters we're supposed to know all the backstory of right away.

 

[Marcus the Mong]

Realistic animation systems have ruined 3rd person games, characters steer like transatlantic cruise ships nowadays.
You only need the basic movement animations like running, walking, crouching etc., minimize everything in-between.

 

[AmpleApricots]

This is a bit more abstract and only regards some fringe games but...

Added complexity doesn't mean your game is automatically better than a game with less complex rules/system. In most cases it just leads to your game to have so many variables and dice rolls that it's so completely random that the player doesn't really understand what's going on (especially since they're also often poorly documented) and doesn't feel like he can really plan a strategy in a meaningful way without watching some autists youtube videos for five hours only to find out that half the systems are basically broken and exploitable in some way. It also makes it a lot harder to balance the game or write competent AI for it. I've been reading old RPG/tabletop strategy rulebooks when I realized I can just torrent them and a lot of these gaming systems work by modelling a lot of stuff with a few simple dice rolls which is/was a necessity because nobody wants to thumb through 500 pages of lists and roll dices hundreds of times in a session. When things moved off from these classical games to the computer and these computers got faster over the decades, programmers figured out computers can make millions of dice rolls and overview hundreds of thousands variables and kinda forgot about that the player is still a human and there are a lot of games that actually suffer for it. Strategy games and some CRPGs should become more simple in some regards again. The mantra should be easy to learn/understand, difficult to master.

Also for the love of god, take a class in statistics and get a spreadsheet program and at least plug some of your numbers in to find out if they aren't completely absurd.

 

[whitepumpkin]

The most appealing part of The Witcher to me is the slavic-ness of the whole affair (the first game, for various reasons is still my favorite). That dreary, unforgiving world is done in a way fairly distinct from a typical American or British grimdark fantasy and the Outskirts and Vizima had amazing atmosphere. I don't understand why CDPR decided to make Witcher 3 so damned huge. I lost interest in the middle of the Viking Island.

IMO the 3rd game shouldn't have bothered with Ciri and Yennefer, it's 3 games in, too late to bring them in and have us care. Should have followed up with characters from the first two games more instead of introducing new (to players and not to the fucking NERDS that read books) important characters we're supposed to know all the backstory of right away.

I honestly wish there was more slavic influences in the games. You get shots here and there (painted villages, novigrad's architecture, clothing) and a questline or two, but going to fantasy Norway/Denmark and southern France was disappointing considering you barely explore Redania and Temeria, which is literally northern Poland (flip the map and the coastline is the same). It still is unique, but it does lack the soul from say, the first game. Which you really could tell was a labour of love.

There was going to be more with characters from the second game. The Catriona Plague, which was prominent in the first, was going to have a storyline in the third but they scrapped it. Novigrad was going to be attacked by the Wild Hunt, but they scrapped that (and it seems they moved 'city being attacked' into the Blood and Wine DLC). There's files around the internet you can find of what was intended which had promise, but again it was thrown out for what we have now. It's depressing to think if they had just managed their time and learned how to continue the story they were telling instead of shoving Ciri in to be the Super Special Snowflake Savior, the game could have been more satisfying story-wise for anyone who played the games from the start. But as X Pac mentioned, it would lack the Father-Child dynamic that gamers jerk off to, so maybe it wouldn't have been successful.

But as it stands, TW3 was their big money maker, and I think it just solidified that they can do whatever they want after a game ends. All those decisions you made? Pointless. Those characters you liked? Ah, fuck 'em. Hell, kill them off screen like Kalkstein. No one will care, ammirite? As long as you get those 4K graphics. Story? No one plays games for that unless it's pure melodramatic schlock like The Last of Us.

I won't be surprised if in a few years, The Witcher 4 is announced starring Ciri in Zerrikannia fucking some black lesbian lover while she deals with the bigotry of the new modern age a la TLOU2. Geralt will be dead. Any male Witcher she meets will probably be a racist/sexist, and you fight them so that girls can be injected with the Trials for GRRL POWER, completely ignoring the lore because "misogyny". And in the end LOVE WINS and Ciri probably beheads a bunch of White Cis Males because why not. And if this comes true I'll drink an entire bottle of vodka in one gulp just to erase the pain.

 

[The Shadow]

This is a bit more abstract and only regards some fringe games but...

Added complexity doesn't mean your game is automatically better than a game with less complex rules/system. In most cases it just leads to your game to have so many variables and dice rolls that it's so completely random that the player doesn't really understand what's going on (especially since they're also often poorly documented) and doesn't feel like he can really plan a strategy in a meaningful way without watching some autists youtube videos for five hours only to find out that half the systems are basically broken and exploitable in some way. It also makes it a lot harder to balance the game or write competent AI for it. I've been reading old RPG/tabletop strategy rulebooks when I realized I can just torrent them and a lot of these gaming systems work by modelling a lot of stuff with a few simple dice rolls which is/was a necessity because nobody wants to thumb through 500 pages of lists and roll dices hundreds of times in a session. When things moved off from these classical games to the computer and these computers got faster over the decades, programmers figured out computers can make millions of dice rolls and overview hundreds of thousands variables and kinda forgot about that the player is still a human and there are a lot of games that actually suffer for it. Strategy games and some CRPGs should become more simple in some regards again. The mantra should be easy to learn/understand, difficult to master.

Also for the love of god, take a class in statistics and get a spreadsheet program and at least plug some of your numbers in to find out if they aren't completely absurd.

Honestly, I'm at the point where I'm fed up with the complexity of modern games and the amount of tutorials or homework outside the game they expect you to do. I'm an adult with a job and a nominal social life and I want to be able to finish games within a reasonable amount of time and not have it eat up all of my time and energy. More and more I'm craving pick up and play simplicity in games and not having to read a wiki just to understand what the fuck is going on in the story.

And really, at this point? FUCK games with crafting systems. It's just a churched up word for busywork or inventory management puzzles. I don't have time for this bullshit, don't make it a required way to advance. Too many games, open world in particular, are adding tedious busywork just to pad out the length. I play video games to escape that shit.

 

[Erika Furudo]

This is a bit more abstract and only regards some fringe games but...

Added complexity doesn't mean your game is automatically better than a game with less complex rules/system. In most cases it just leads to your game to have so many variables and dice rolls that it's so completely random that the player doesn't really understand what's going on (especially since they're also often poorly documented) and doesn't feel like he can really plan a strategy in a meaningful way without watching some autists youtube videos for five hours only to find out that half the systems are basically broken and exploitable in some way. It also makes it a lot harder to balance the game or write competent AI for it. I've been reading old RPG/tabletop strategy rulebooks when I realized I can just torrent them and a lot of these gaming systems work by modelling a lot of stuff with a few simple dice rolls which is/was a necessity because nobody wants to thumb through 500 pages of lists and roll dices hundreds of times in a session. When things moved off from these classical games to the computer and these computers got faster over the decades, programmers figured out computers can make millions of dice rolls and overview hundreds of thousands variables and kinda forgot about that the player is still a human and there are a lot of games that actually suffer for it. Strategy games and some CRPGs should become more simple in some regards again. The mantra should be easy to learn/understand, difficult to master.

Also for the love of god, take a class in statistics and get a spreadsheet program and at least plug some of your numbers in to find out if they aren't completely absurd.

Have you ever had the misfortune of playing Knights in the nightmare? I fucking hated it. The tutorial is just a series of files trying to explain the mechanics, and even then they cram in so many things it's just obnoxious.

Look at all that bullshit. If there is a better example of devs thinking complex = good I would love to see it (Excluding SS13, DF, etc).

Honestly, I'm at the point where I'm fed up with the complexity of modern games and the amount of tutorials or homework outside the game they expect you to do. I'm an adult with a job and a nominal social life and I want to be able to finish games within a reasonable amount of time and not have it eat up all of my time and energy. More and more I'm craving pick up and play simplicity in games and not having to read a wiki just to understand what the fuck is going on in the story.

And really, at this point? FUCK games with crafting systems. It's just a churched up word for busywork or inventory management puzzles. I don't have time for this bullshit, don't make it a required way to advance. Too many games, open world in particular, are adding tedious busywork just to pad out the length. I play video games to escape that shit.

Same boat tbh. If you haven't played it I think the original Mirrors Edge is a pretty perfect game. It's short and simple, but you can sink more time in if ou want to beat levels under certain times, ironically the reboot went with a shitty open world system with movement hidden behind skill trees. Color Zen was also a really nice game, it's short and is just simple puzzles, but really relaxing.

 

[The Shadow]

Have you ever had the misfortune of playing Knights in the nightmare? I fucking hated it. The tutorial is just a series of files trying to explain the mechanics, and even then they cram in so many things it's just obnoxious.

Look at all that bullshit. If there is a better example of devs thinking complex = good I would love to see it (Excluding SS13, DF, etc).

Same boat tbh. If you haven't played it I think the original Mirrors Edge is a pretty perfect game. It's short and simple, but you can sink more time in if ou want to beat levels under certain times, ironically the reboot went with a shitty open world system with movement hidden behind skill trees. Color Zen was also a really nice game, it's short and is just simple puzzles, but really relaxing.

So many games now are like SKILL TREES! OPEN WORLD! RPG ELEMENTS! MICROTRANSACTIONS!

And I'm like "fuck it imma fire up this Neo-Geo emulator."

 

[Marissa Moira]

Have you ever had the misfortune of playing Knights in the nightmare? I fucking hated it. The tutorial is just a series of files trying to explain the mechanics, and even then they cram in so many things it's just obnoxious.

Look at all that bullshit. If there is a better example of devs thinking complex = good I would love to see it (Excluding SS13, DF, etc).

Same boat tbh. If you haven't played it I think the original Mirrors Edge is a pretty perfect game. It's short and simple, but you can sink more time in if ou want to beat levels under certain times, ironically the reboot went with a shitty open world system with movement hidden behind skill trees. Color Zen was also a really nice game, it's short and is just simple puzzles, but really relaxing.

Complexity is for idiots who think they're smart.

 

[The Shadow]

Complexity is for idiots who think they're smart.

Complexity on its own is neither good nor bad, the challenge is to make that complexity intuitive and fun to learn. I would say the Civilization series strikes a perfect balance. It has complex systems but an easy to get into and inviting format.

 

[Canoodler]

Simplicity and complexity aren't inherently bad; what matters is how they are implemented.

 

[Calandrino]

DQ was a marketing ploy. Her sprite didn't move when you fought her. Have you actually gone back at her art?

You never got to Dark Queen, don't lie

I'm quickly finding out that it's a rather unpopular opinion of mine that video games were not, in fact, an endeavor of high art up until last generation and were simply a means for businesses to make money from the second they were sold.

Battletoads is art

 

[JamesFargo]

You never got to Dark Queen, don't lie

There are a series of warps that take you straight to the final stage. It's in the Top Secret Password Book put out by Nintendo Power.

And I STILL died en route.

Funny enough: Jessica Rabbit appears in WFRR, and she barely moves, either. She had more walking animations in the Game Boy version. Serious lack of jiggle physics on NES.

 

[IneptRobot]

Not sure if it's unpopular because people will disagree or just because they won't know what the fuck I'm talking about but Lego Rock Raiders had an amazing soundtrack and it would mostly fit perfectly into a Shadowrun/Cyberpunk game to this day.

 

[X Pac Heat]

Not sure if it's unpopular because people will disagree or just because they won't know what the fuck I'm talking about but Lego Rock Raiders had an amazing soundtrack and it would mostly fit perfectly into a Shadowrun/Cyberpunk game to this day.

That's pretty good stuff, but it's no Lego Racers

 

[IneptRobot]

That's pretty good stuff, but it's no Lego Racers

That specific song is why my mother cut the wires for my PC speakers. I had to play with headphones from then on.

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

I love the punny names for monsters in Dragon Quest English localizations. Sham Hatwitch is funny.

 

[Marissa Moira]

Why are people upset that the SMT5 protag has girl hair?

He always looked like a faggy lady boy since the first trailer.

 

[ProblematicUser420]

Unpopular Opinion I've recently gotten is that Skyrim overhaul mods actively make the game worse. I'm convinced nobody actually plays these for more than an hour and just endorses them based on the idea alone.

I've never played an overhaul mod that hasn't completely fucked my game up, or actively made shit more annoying 10 hours or more in. City Overhauls? 10 hours in find out half the AI is fucking bugged and shops or inns or something stops working entirely somewhere. Horse overhaul? My followers start getting naked everytime they dismount a horse. Warzones? Random ambushes start killing everyone in minor holds and settlements and the MCM to stop them doesn't work and neither do the console commands they give me. etc. etc. etc.

If there is a fix it fucks something else up somewhere else. If not, the fucking thing was abandoned years ago despite being one of the most popular mods on sites.

A lot of people will tell me to "just ignore the bug" but in that case I can just ignore the fact there isn't an actual war in skyrim, or that falkreath has a weak ass cemetery or whatever shit they were striving to fix.

 

[Overcast]

Why are people upset that the SMT5 protag has girl hair?

He always looked like a faggy lady boy since the first trailer.

I like to believe a lot of SMT fans are secretly gay that he isn’t macho looking like Demi-Fiend.

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

Silent Hill 1's story is often criticized for being too vague and confusing, but honestly that's why I love it so much. It makes SH1 feel like you're really in a nightmare, where nothing makes sense and events and characters will just phase in and out of existence (hell there's an ending where it's revealed it's all a dream). I don't think you're meant to fully understand what happened, especially since Harry barely understands himself. And maybe it's just me, but the fact that I don't quite understand the whole story doesn't detract from the raw emotion I feel when I finish the game even with the good endings.