Games You Hate That Everyone Else Loves

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Tales of Symphonia. I liked the cel-shaded backgrounds, they were very pretty, but the rest of it was pretty bad. Combat was lame and boring. Easy battles were way too easy, and hard ones were just a matter of making sure your teammates didn't kill themselves. The other mechanics were boring, insultingly easy puzzles, item creation was pointless, there's a flaw everywhere you turn. No single part of the gameplay was challenging or really any fun.

Characters were horrible in every way, except Raine who was cool, and they all had annoying voices. It's fine if characterization isn't the point of your story, and I think RPG fans put way too much emphasis on backstory - what your characters do is what's important. Plot was utter nonsense, which is fine in RPGs but it was so self-serious. The worst part is that it really thought it was a smart game.

Why do people like this game? I cannot understand it.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I love Tales of Symphonia - it's one my favorite JRPGs!

I do agree with your complaints though. The battle system isn't the best - I find that turn-based/real-time hybrids never really work perfectly. The item creation was indeed mostly pointless (either that or I found it too damn tedious to ever sink a decent amount of time into), and the story is absolutely abysmal.

But I found the individuals towns, dungeons, and quests captivating enough to cause me to keep playing. I also adored the characters, voice acting, and music. I finished the entire game in a handful of marathon sessions.

And though most people disagree with me, I find the second ToS game (Dawn of the New World) to be better than the first.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Hm, the music was all right but it doesn't compare to Sakuraba's better works (the older tri-ace games of course).

If you're interested in a realtime/turn-based hybrid you should check out Valkyrie Profile 2. That's the only game I can think of that did it right. I didn't finish Symphonia, but I got pretty far. What dungeons did you like? Maybe the final dungeon was awesome and I missed it.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Yeah the final dungeon in ToS was probably the best.

I actually think I own Valkyrie Profile 2 but have never touched it.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

It is pretty darn good. Gorgeous too, if you hold X and Triangle while it starts you can run it in 480p.

[3DSStrider]

Soul Calibur V. The single player is the biggest reason, because, suprisingly for a Soul Calibur game, it sucks. I tore through the game in three days, all of which were school nights. Not only that, but there are no arcade mode endings. I can't go online, because it keeps disconnecting me even when my PS3 is right next to the router, even though I can play KoF XIII and SFIII with minimal lag upstairs. The game also feels boring. The narrator sucks, the menus are depressing, I can barely remember any music, the character designs are boring, and the characters themselves are annoying. The only reason I own this game is for the collector's edition packaging.

[StuntDouble]

I can't stand Mass Effect. Granted, I only played the first one, so I don't know if things improved with the sequels. I think I played around 5 hours or so, and it felt like 4 and a half hours of that was dialog. When I finally saw action, something about the controls just felt..off. I've played and enjoyed other third person action games, but I just couldn't get into this one. Also, it's the only game I've actually fallen asleep playing.

[Xeogred]

The Uncharted series and anything that plays like them. I can only play game-plays-itself styled games for 30 minutes at a time max before I get so bored.

I tend to want to have my own experience with a game, games like these are the complete opposite of that with forced-everything thrown at you and so much hand holding. Took me weeks to finish Enslaved, when that game was like... ~6 hours long? Sums it up...

[Razzmatazz]

I echo the sentiments towards Metal Gear Solid. I played through the first disc of Twin Snakes and gave up in the end as I was rarely playing, it was cut scene after cut scene. There's a difference between a game and an interactive film. And although I enjoyed Heavy Rain, it was more for the graphical spectacle and exploring areas (a lot like Shenmue). I'm a big fan of Splinter Cell and have never understood why MGS gets more love than SC.

I probably don't "hate" the Call of Duty series, but it's a game I just don't see why it has a huge following. I played through two levels of Black Ops and it wasn't for me, just another war torn FPS. Yet I enjoyed and completed all the Gears of War games, they had character, challenging bosses and most importantly humour.

The Halo series is another one I've just never "got". I enjoyed Halo 1 and 2, although I played most of it in co-op, but never got into the series after that. I think it has to do with not playing these games online, I've always preferred the thinking man's game of Rainbow Six or Splinter Cell more than the gung ho action of COD or Halo. But as friends have played these FPS games, and got skilled at them, I find it really hard to play them now, as I just get killed instantly.

[REPO Man]

At some point I liked it and there's a few fangames out (one of which is for the 2600), but I can't stand:

HALO