Do You Have Any Unpopular Gaming Opinions?

[miked]

I like Paper Mario n64 better than thousand year door on GameCube. It seems like people always say that the GC game is the "same thing but better". I've tried to start that game like 4 times now and it just moves to slow and I can't get into it, yet I have beat the n64 game several times. I also didn't play it until it was released on the Wii virtual console so I know its not nostalgia coming into play.

[CFFJR]

Since Disney apparently doesn't want to make a Sugar Rush game...

Seems like a missed opportunity doesn't it?

[BitFaced]

Have you guys played Crash Nitro Kart? Even though it was developed by a different team, I think it's an excellent follow up. Since Disney apparently doesn't want to make a Sugar Rush game, CNK is my kart racer of choice these days.

Same here, and Crash Tag Team Racing isn't too bad either.

I hate Diddy Kong Racing.

I'm not alone on that one.

I admittedly don't like looking back on Donkey Kong 64 myself. I probably mentioned this once but it's just a weird trigger for me, like I played most of the game over a weekend with a high fever or something... simply thinking of the game makes me nauseous, lol.

Are you sure it isn't the DK rap? It has been known to induce vomiting, and I keep a copy of the game next to a bottle of ipecac in case on of my children accidentally ingests poison.

I LOVE the monkey rap!
Monkey rap is awesome and you know it!

That's an unpopular opinion?

[o.pwuaioc]

Two more things:

I didn't care for Paper Mario at all. I was bored to tears within seconds. It couldn't grab my attention at all. I don't think I got very far before I yawned and gave up. While many RPGs have soporific moments, I tend to find the cutesy ones to be some of the worst.

I absolutely hate voice acting in video games. I think it just barely works in games like Metal Gear Solid or Fable, but overall, voice acting is just unbearable.

[Retrodude]

Try "Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete". The voice acting there is some of the best I've ever heard in a game.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I absolutely hate voice acting in video games. I think it just barely works in games like Metal Gear Solid or Fable, but overall, voice acting is just unbearable.

I basically agree. At best I find it bearable. I don't think I've ever played a game where the voice acting was an asset or felt necessary.

[ExedExes]

About voice acting -- I think the Splinter Cell series is pretty good. Michael Ironside voices Sam. The enemy cast with the forced Asian/Russian/Spanish accents -- not so convincing

[Menegrothx]

I absolutely hate voice acting in video games. I think it just barely works in games like Metal Gear Solid or Fable, but overall, voice acting is just unbearable.

I basically agree. At best I find it bearable. I don't think I've ever played a game where the voice acting was an asset or felt necessary.

Just a few games that come to my mind:

System Shock, System Shock 2, Bioshock. I think SS2 espescially had some really convincingly voice acted audio logs.
Half-Life 1/2
Portal 1/2
Max Payne 1/2
When it comes to character dialogue in RPGs, I think Vampire: The Masquerade had the best and most convincing voice acting. It has a lot to do with the way the characters were animated, as they characters react in a very human like manner to your dialogue options. LA Noire had the same thing, although it's not a RPG, was done with a lot better technology and MUCH bigger budget.


That being said, I wish WRPGs would become more like they used to be: only the key characters and their key conversations are voice acted, but 98% of all dialogue is just in text. Nowadays writing quality and actual roleplaying has suffered in many new RPGs because game developers cant afford to have so much dialogue being voice acted, but they want all text/conversations to be voice acted, so they settle for less text and streamlined conversations.

[Xeogred]

Vampire: The Masquerade is the Deus Ex styled one, right? I still really need to hit that up.

I completely agree that, if it's not an Obisidian game, I could easily do with text rather than voices. Don't even get me started on how insanely boring 80% of the dialogue is in Bethesda developed games, Fallout 3 or Skyrim, but New Vegas on the other hand... Obsidian's games could be talking about a dog taking a crap, and I'd be completely hooked and at full attention. The voices play a large part obviously, but the writing can easily make or break things as well for me.

Deus Ex HR was good but honestly I think the weakest part was, hands down Jensen's voice actor. The Batman Bale voice was so over the top and when every single other character in the game sounded human and natural, it stood out like a sore thumb to me. Completely unnecessary.

The writing and dialogue in the original Deus Ex is still awesome to me, though it does have some weak voices off and on. Hong Kong can be a chore to get through haha, but the stuff with the AI's, Bob Page, etc, were always top notch.

SS2 is indeed a different beast though, along with Thief. Garrett's voice actor is probably among the best I've heard in gaming period. He played that hilarious ghost dog in Skyrim that was like the best dialogue in the game to me because of how hilarious he sounded. The writing is good in Looking Glass' stuff, but damn this guy is so convincing it's insane, he made the cynical Garrett so real and believable and the villain in Thief 2 is utterly unforgettable. When you first hear this villain it's practically hilarious, but the further you get in the game the crazier it got and this hilarious voice became haunting in a sense. It was just so damn convincing that you were going up against this religious lunatic and everything. SHODAN from SS2 was the exact same thing, it gets so real.

I think JC's voice actor in Deus Ex did Paul and Walton Simons as well. Gotta love how some of these older voice actors did a lot of work yet the quality shows.

Bioshock Infinite was excellent too and it was great they brought in some unknowns to do the main characters. It's always a plus when I don't hear Nolan North (he's admittedly pretty good, like in Alpha Protocol. But yeah his Draka voice is so overplayed and booked).

I'd rather JRPG's go back to almost purely 100% text, but I have to admit Lost Odyssey had a really good dub I thought. So it can work... but yeah. That game did not voice everything though like town stuff and some minor scenes.

So anyways yeah, I agree for the most part. I do like voice acting and it can work, but it doesn't need to be every single NPC or cutscene, too much of an emphasis can hurt it in the long run. When I got really far into Skyrim I seriously started going out of my way to not talk to people because it was such a chore burning through boring text and hearing the same dozen or so voices over and over again. I'd be 100% fine if these open world games only voiced key storyline quests and segments, like Menegrothx mentions with the older stuff.

[Menegrothx]

Good call on Thief 2

I'd rather JRPG's go back to almost purely 100% text, but I have to admit Lost Odyssey had a really good dub I thought. So it can work... but yeah. That game did not voice everything though like town stuff and some minor scenes.

Me too. Come to think of it, I don't think any of my favorite JRPGs have much/any voice acting besides Personas 3 and 4. Japanese to American dubs tend to suck and given what kind of characters so many JRPGs have, there will be a lot of obnoxity (is that even a real word?) involved. Especially those cheery and loud young female characters. FF7 and 9, two games that I enjoy, would probably be a lot worse if they were voice acted.
Anyways I mentioned WRPGs specifically due to the fact that in oldschool WRPGs you usually had a lot of dialogue options and you could choose to play a good guy, neutral or bad, be seducitve, be a violent psychopat etc so to there was always a lot of options while usually in JRPGs you can't affect the story so there's a lot of less lines to be voice acted.