Do You Have Any Unpopular Gaming Opinions?

[prfsnl_gmr]

I have bought Shovel Knight for both GOG and 3DS because of Sarge's praise. He can be persuasive, watch out guys.

I beat it a few days ago, and I am currently finishing up the challenges and working my way through the Plague of Shadows expansion. It is very good; it is a lot of fun; it reminds me of my favorite NES platformers; and the pixel art is fantastic. It is not very difficult, however, and I think I cold "1CC" it with a bit of practice. The optional challenges make up for this a bit, however.

Also...WARNING!...WARNING!...UNPOPULAR OPINION!...

The "random" gameplay elements that make "hardcore" RPGs difficult would be intolerable and wholly inacceptable if they were employed in any other genre.

[dsheinem]

I'm glad Erik thinks my contribution was great!

My point is/was that a thread where people are encouraged to express their "unpopular opinion" will inevitably become susceptible to the worst elements of hipster posturing, backlash to hipster posturing, backlash to the use of the words hipster or posturing or backlash, etc. Thus the "circle jerk" and/or "trollng" nature of the thread I spoke out about years ago. A post like this from someone like me is also par for the course, of course. Boring thread is boring.

tldr: I figured that this thread would rarely if ever be a place for productive discussion/criticism of games, and that has largely been my experience every time I've poked my nose into it. It is about the most vacuous popular thread we have.

[Ack]

It is about the most vacuous popular thread we have.

You're welcome!

[Gunstar Green]

The "random" gameplay elements that make "hardcore" RPGs difficult would be intolerable and wholly inacceptable if they were employed in any other genre.

I'm not entirely sure. A lot of random and procedurally generated things sound good on paper when talking about other genres but sometimes fall flat in actual practice.

[prfsnl_gmr]

tldr: I figured that this thread would rarely if ever be a place for productive discussion/criticism of games, and that has largely been my experience every time I've poked my nose into it. It is about the most vacuous popular thread we have.

My experience has been almost the exact opposite. I think this thread has inspired some really good discussions...

EDIT: See above and (hopefully) below.

[Ack]

The "random" gameplay elements that make "hardcore" RPGs difficult would be intolerable and wholly inacceptable if they were employed in any other genre.

What do you mean by gameplay elements?

[marlowe221]

tldr: I figured that this thread would rarely if ever be a place for productive discussion/criticism of games, and that has largely been my experience every time I've poked my nose into it. It is about the most vacuous popular thread we have.

My experience has been almost the exact opposite. I think this thread has inspired some really good discussions...

EDIT: See above and (hopefully) below.

I agree. Not only that, for me this thread is a place where I know people aren't going to jump down my throat for not agreeing with the majority about game X.

[BogusMeatFactory]

No worries, I actually enjoyed my time with GRAW. But then I eat pain for breakfast.

Another bone for the pile.

[Exhuminator]

It is about the most vacuous popular thread we have.

Oh really?

But then I eat pain for breakfast.

Well there's always brunch.

(I haven't been hungry enough yet.)

[prfsnl_gmr]

The "random" gameplay elements that make "hardcore" RPGs difficult would be intolerable and wholly inacceptable if they were employed in any other genre.

What do you mean by gameplay elements?

In games like Wizardy IV, your party can (and probably will) be randomly destroyed during a random encounter, and, in all honesty, there really isn't anything you can do about it. (Whether your party is destroyed is dictated almost entirely by "rolls" over which you have no control.) If this happened during a platformer or fighting game - e.g., platforms appeared and disappeared randomly, your opponent's strength fluctuated randomly, etc. - we would probably consider the game to be completely broken.