The game that everyone hates you for hating...!

[MrEco]

I hate just about every 3D platformer. My kid always wants to play Mario Sunshine, and it annoys me to even watch that game. I don't think platformers should even be in 3D. Too much camera bullshit to put up with. But I do love me some good 2D platform goodness.

Also, I'm with you guys about Guitar Hero and Smash Bros. I never liked either of them. I hate Smash Bros Brawl mostly because of Mario's super-stylish Abercrombie and Fitch overalls.

Although I don't "hate" 3D platformers, they definitely feel inferior to 2D ones. Something about being in 3D over-complicates the simplistic fun garnered from going towards the right for nigh infinity and pressing the jump button to get over any and every obstacle. That(I think) is the essence of a platformer. Simplistic fun. That never gets old.

[J T]

Every once in a while I come across a game that seems to be all of three things. 1) It's generally popular. 2) It has a large fan base that I interact with on an almost daily basis. And 3) I hate it/don't like it/couldn't bother to care for it. As you can guess people get very protective of their favourite little $50 plastic disk and feel the need to "rip me a new one"(As those crazy kids say nowadays ) and teach me all of the reasons why my opinion is factually wrong. Has this ever happened to you? If so, what was the game, and what are your reasons for not liking it?

My answer is in your avatar. I was really disappointed in Final Fantasy X.

I loved Final Fantasy I, II (USA), III (USA), VII, and VIII (never played IX). I bought Final Fantasy X as soon as it came out because I couldn't wait to see how the series looked on the PS2. I find Tidus' voice to be nasaly and grating. He's also whiny and obnoxious. I couldn't stand him and his chubby little face and its hard to get into a game when you don't like the main character. I therefore never bought that Yuna could be in love with him and all of their romance seemed so cliche and corny, especially the infamous laughing scene. Blitz ball was a boring distraction from the main quest. I thought the way you had to level up on the sphere grid was tedious. Wakka was a dumb jock friend/comic relief character that I couldn't relate with. The whole thing just didn't work for me despite the excellent graphics and sound and a reasonably good battle engine (I do like the conditional turn based battles; however, long animations on summons wear me out).

So there you have it. One of the most widely loved RPGs of all time is one I just don't like, and I'm a person that likes RPGs.

[t0yrobo]

Every Final Fantasy game playstation and beyond, plus most every other jrpg, and everything since square and enix became one company. That's a whole lot of hate I can wind up with. It's a good time though

[fingersmaloy]

RPGs in general. To me they just seem like books plus a lot of busywork. And I'm not really big on the whole fantasy motif that so many of them use. I'm playing through Chrono Trigger DS lately, but I don't really see what makes it so much better than any other RPG.

[Pulsar_t]

RPGs in general. To me they just seem like books plus a lot of busywork. And I'm not really big on the whole fantasy motif that so many of them use. I'm playing through Chrono Trigger DS lately, but I don't really see what makes it so much better than any other RPG.

I would agree but I found CTDS to be great fun even though I'm not inclined towards turn-based JRPGs. Perhaps it is the small, portal DSLite screens that helped make it a favourable experience. Nowadays I prefer WRPGs like Mass Effect since they're quite shorter and more focused. As for FFX it was my first FF game so naturally it is my favourite as well.

Other popular games I generally dislike: Halo, GTA4 (though I loved GTA Chinatown Wars.. go figure), Guitar Hero, NFS, Call of Duty, DKC, Tekken, Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing, the Castlevanias and post-16bit Zeldas (tried it side-by-side with Shenmue and I liked the latter much better). And there was this PC adventure title called Runaway that had an awfully annoying protagonist yet many loved that game.

[the7k]

Final Fantasy X (and above): Granted, I don't care much for FFVII-IX in retrospect, but at least I enjoyed them back in the day. (Well, not VIII, but I at least beat VII and IX.) X, however, bored me sooner than halfway in and it seemed like completing it would be a monumental chore. All the production values in the world couldn't save me from the "Been There, Done That" feeling, and I've picked up more interesting and flesh-out characters with a pooper scooper.

Tales of Symphonia (and above): As much as I loved Tales of Phantasia, with its combination of 2D Fighter and RPG, after seeing some of the PSX titles I could see the charm was starting to wear off. Then, Symphonia came to release me from the 'No RPG' curse on the Gamecube. Unfortunately, it's a curse that should have stayed in affect a little longer. Does a game get ANY more generic than this one? It's not awful, it just isn't good either. It is so dreadfully bland, and the series as a whole has stayed that way since.

Marvel Vs. Capcom 2: I loved MvC, it is one of my favorite fighters ever. How do you make it better? More characters, obviously! A LOT more characters!

Wrong. The huge character effect is nullified when half the roster is dreadfully nerfed and about eight characters rule the realm as nigh-indestructible gods. Let's also not forget that the backgrounds were bland as hell and could easily have been placed in any other generic fighting game... remember iconic MvC series stages like Wily's Fortress, The Dark Realm, E.Honda's Bath House, The Daily Bugle? Not in this game! Remember how every character in the MvC series had their own theme song? Not in this game! Remember how they managed to intertwine the storylines of these characters to give longtime Marvel and Capcom fans something to nerd-gasm over? Not in this game!

MvC2 can be fun with friends, as long as those friends are like minded, but I ALWAYS find that in every group of friends, one is going to be a Keith 'The Reaker' Apicary who uses some combination of Sentinel, Storm, Magneto, Cable, Dr. Doom and Blackheart.

Guitar Hero/Rock Band: Rock Band is higher in my mind, but the whole 'plastic instrument' deal wore off after Guitar Hero III. Rock Band was fun for a while, but after going through the standard mode twice, it wore off too. They just don't have the same fun factor that games like Audio Surf, Frequency and Amplitude have, and they don't have the quirkiness of games like Space Channel 5, Um Jammer Lammy or Parappa the Rapper.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance: I loved FFT. Love loved it. I'd have it's man-babies. Were it not for FFT, I wouldn't have gone back to play Tactics Ogre for the SNES, and I wouldn't have switched from JRPGs to Tactical RPGs. Unfortunately, FFTA couldn't bring the same magic as FFT. Part of FFT's greatness was it's story. As badly translated as it was, it didn't treat you like a kid. Everything that happened in FFT - save the demon transformations and such - could have very likely happened in our own history. The story had complexity.

And FFTA took a shit on all of that. The story? Find the crystals. Oh joy. No political struggle, no back-stabbing, just a huge step backwards. Thanks.

Edit: Forgot some.

Halo series: I've just never understood the appeal of this series. If I want Arcade-style FPS, no one does it better than Unreal. What's more, everyone seems to revel in it's "Goldeneye-ness", which if you ask me is shooting pretty damn low. I can't recall exactly what was out during Goldeneye fever, but I'm pretty sure Quake 2 was out, and that game made Goldeneye it's bitch.

Gears of War series: If I had an Xbox 360, I'd get this. The only problem is that the co-op game is done in a jiffy. The sequel, while managing to make co-op more entertaining, managed to royally screw up online multiplayer.

But the worst part of GoW is the influence it had on other games. Cover Mechanics. Everyone loves cover mechanics and I fucking hate them. Having a button I can press so that I cling to a wall in the middle of a fire fight is about the same effect as having the Windows key right next to the fire key, and IT'S TOTALLY UNNECESSARY! It's not like we didn't know how to use cover back in the day and just stood around waiting to get shot, it's called strafing! It's called ducking! Use them like a real man!

God of War series: The other GoW, I never understood the appeal Kratos has with most people. He's just a perpetual angry face. Moreover, nothing this game does hasn't been done before, and I'd argue, done better. I'll take Devil May Cry and Prince of Persia any day, thank you.

And GoW's creator is such a dick-head! He's like one of those deviant-TARTlets that thinks they're the uber-shit and can't be humble for even one second. (Not really about the game, per say, but I just hate that asshat. He's only slightly lower than Uwe Boll on the douche-baggery tier.)

[Peffico]

Final Fantasy VII is what does it for me. It seems like a 3d version of final fantasy IV which isn't a bad thing but considering that all final fantasies are the same this one seems to emphasize on being the same to IV except for the fact of Materia. It is way overrated and I can't understand why either. Maybe because it was on the PlayStation or who knows. I think it just got way too much attention than it deserved.

Shenmue also just because I feel like I shouldn't have to put so much time into a game just for it to get good.

[sakicfan84]

Mario Kart games. I just don't see the appeal in them. They are fun in multiplayer, but I just don't see the point of playing it in single player. They gave way too much of a boost to the people trailing the leader. I hate games that assist the people trailing behind. If I want to play a racing game, I actually want there to be some real racing involved.

I honestly don't really see the reason for all the love with the Sonic series. I think Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island and Super Mario Brothers 3 were all vastly superior to any of the early Sonic games which people praise. I don't even think the Sonic games are in the same league as Mario games. I'm not sure how they got so damned popular. I loved the Genesis, but I never really could bring myself to get into Sonic. I wouldn't even have a Sonic title included in the top 10 genesis games.

[General Chaos]

I absolutely hate Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Having also played through Halo 3 I can attest to disliking it as well, though "hate" would be a strong word to use there. Interestingly my wife feels the same way about Halo 3. We both agree that it's just missing something that makes shooters fun. The only thing it has going for it are the vehicles and good co-op options.

Smash Bros. I love, and I generally don't like fighting games. Let's see-ah yes, I dislike the majority of Final Fantasy games, GTA (except the DS version, strangely), and, ok here goes one that will inspire some true hated: I don't hate it, but I've just never "gotten" the big deal with Chrono Trigger.

[lisalover1]

"Are you wearing a Dreamcast shirt? Are you serious? Sega sucks, dude! They sucked since they started with the Genesis!"
"Wow, you're a real asshole. So what, you're a Nintendo fan? Sony?"
"Nintendo! I've been playing them forever! I started with Donkey Kong Country; that's still my favorite game ever!"
"Why? It looked cool for the time, but the gameplay was actually a step down from even the first Super Mario Bros. All they added were some boring mine-cart bits."
"Well, you only say that because Sonic was YOUR first game. Sorry I don't have the same tastes as you! Sonic's just like Mario, but faster!"
"Well yeah, of course. That in and of itself adds a ton to the game. Think of the complex physics system that had, especially considering the time. In the third zone there are parts where you have to ramp up a quarter-pipe and bounce along bumpers to reach certain areas, and the velocity and distance you'll have when you jump from the vertical wall of the quarter-pipe varies depending on your speed, so that added a whole new dimension to the gameplay. That wouldn't have had the same effect had the character moved in a slow, cumbersome manner like in Donkey Kong Country."
"Fuck you, you just say that because it's your first game. That's why Nintendo beat Sega."

I think the reason people liked DKC because it excelled in all the most basic of areas [music, control, graphics, length, etc.], and everyone was so sick of flash-in-the-pan games that were all too common at the time. I actually liked DKC, but I like Sonic, too. Just don't classify me as an arrogant Nintendo fanboy just because I liked the game.

One game I absolutely hate is Street Fighter II. It's way too difficult, too generic, and far too repetitive. It's just BRUTALLY hard. It's cold, tough, and unforgiving. I hate it.

Final Fantasy IV: So Square got their hands on a SNES dev kit. Whoop-de-frickin'-doo. So, let's see what they can do... well, they made a boring game with a generic stroyline, unlikable characters with no important backstory whatsoever. Throw in some graphics that could be done on the PC-Engine, and you've got the worst game in the mainstream FF series.

If you haven't already noticed, this entrie post has been sarcasm. All of it. For everyone out there who says they hate a game, just for shock value. There are so many people out there that will hate a game only because everyone else hates it. Imagine if nobody heard anything about a game before playing it; everyone's opinons would be DRASTICALLY different... but I do still like DKC.