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Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

Posts 921 to 940 of 1,271

Th3solution

While I’m in the neighborhood, I’ll drop an unpopular opinion —
Telltale games are quite enjoyable. I’m not terribly bothered by the lack of consequences in my choices and certainly games like Detroit Become Human and Life is Strange have done the narrative choice-and-consequence style better, but nearly every TT game has been a decent outing for me personally.

I say this as I have completed the 3rd episode of Batman The Enemy Within last night.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Th3solution

@KratosMD Yeah, I haven’t played one for a long while and booting up The Enemy Within I’ve been overall pleased with how it looks and plays. The gameplay is paper thin with just simple QTE’s, the Riddler puzzles are extremely basic, and the narrative choices are often scripted to be a manipulative no-win situation, but I really enjoy the story. And the visuals have a great “comic book” feel to them. I did have a pretty bad glitch at one part of episode 2 where the on screen visuals all but disappeared for about 3 minutes while the dialog (including the choices) continued unabated in the background. That was weird. But as soon as the scene was over it was back to functioning again.

I think it’s all about going in with appropriate expectations. I’m not looking for a Dark Souls level of gameplay when I boot up a Telltale game; I just want to turn my mind off and be told a story. And for that they work pretty well, imo. I think the hate stems from the fact that people expect some innovation or increased complexity, but they all essentially play the same. I’ve grown to expect that’s what they will be and so it’s fine.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Ralizah

I think the reaction to Telltale games changing was a variety of things:

  • Dilution of quality - Telltale started really, really strong out of the gate with The Walking Dead Season One, but, over the years, they started taking on one way too much licensed stuff, and many of their projects as a result ended up dipping in quality in the eyes of many fans. A classic case of a developer going bigger than they could handle.
  • Oversaturation - Telltale also released too many of these games in quick succession. Reminds me, in a way, of what happened with the Star Wars license under Disney, where the films stopped being events due to how quickly they were cranking the films out.
  • The format - I think people have started to grow increasingly suspicious of the episodic format that these games popularized over the years.
  • The emptiness of moral choices in their games - Telltale brought back the idea of moral choice in games in a big way, imo, with the tense, decision-filled gameplay of their Walking Dead series, but it became clear to people that the apparent autonomy they had within the context of the narrative in these games was largely illusory. Your choices didn't actually matter when it came to the broader direction of the games, and I think, like with Mass Effect 3, many gamers didn't enjoy the sense that their choices were irrelevant to the broader evolution of the narrative.
  • The novelty faded - When TWD S1 first released, adventure games were a dying/nearly dead form of the genre (the only other notable one I can think of that released before it was David Cage's Heavy Rain, which was a PS3 exclusive), and Telltale's output seemed excited. But since then, other companies with more clout and resources have been developing games like this, and Telltale failed to evolve to compete with these more sophisticated efforts. Although it's not really the same, it reminds me of the quick rise and fall of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, where suspicion of the format and adoption of it by bigger players like Epic left the trailblazing indie developer that started it all in the dust. In Telltale's case, it was a much slower fade to irrelevance.

Edited on by Ralizah

Currently Playing: Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re- Boot Camp (NS)

PSN: Ralizah

LieutenantFatman

@KratosMD
I think there are some entertaining Telltale games, I liked them as they are story focused and my wife could enjoy them with me.

My main issue with them is their illusion of player choice. There are too many occasions where you make a choice and it's far too obvious it made no difference to the outcome at all. I think they did improve on that a bit in some of their later games though.

Edited on by LieutenantFatman

LieutenantFatman

Th3solution

@Arugula Surprised that Borderlands was the one you didn’t like, as it was one of the stronger ones in most people’s opinion. (Unpopular Opinion alert!) My least favorite was probably Back to the Future, but it is such an old game it really shows its age. It has the most complex puzzles and gameplay of any I’ve played though.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

nessisonett

I actually loved Back to the Future, it was the first one I played and it was on my old phone years ago. My favourites are the Sam & Max games though, still a shame you can’t play them on current consoles.

Plumbing’s just Lego innit. Water Lego.

Trans rights are human rights.

BearsEatBeets

The puzzles were definitely trickier in Back to the Future and they certainly streamlined the gameplay so there isn't really much to work out. I enjoyed most of Telltales games with the First Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us and Borderlands my personal favourites. Youtube channel NoClip has a really interesting documentary on the downfall of Telltale games told by ex-employees. It gives insight into how it was mismanaged and how they fell apart just as sounds like they may have been turning a corner creatively.

BearsEatBeets

PSN: leejon5

mookysam

@Ralizah I felt it was both an impactful exploration of loss and grief and a morality tale on the terrible things people may be driven to in order to protect someone they love. I suppose in some ways it also pits utilitarianism against the narrow interests of the self.
The ending subverts player expectations. We're used to playing the "good guy who saves the world", yet here Joel destroys humanity's chance to cure the plague because he can't bear to lose Ellie. He's a broken man and she's a surrogate for the daughter he so tragically loses in the game's prologue. It's not necessarily easy for the player to condemn a role they've inhabited for 20 hours and become emotionally invested in, particularly given the attachment to Ellie, yet Joel's actions nevertheless cause a very strong feeling of unease.

@Th3solution It was moving and provoked quite a strong emotional response. The ending and a certain scene midway stayed with me for days, but it's because of that I don't want to play it again and am not interested in the sequel. It was an overwhelmingly depressing and negative experience. I recognise the good things about the game, but would say that over the years my thoughts have hardened into not really liking it.


On Telltale games, I like the few I've played or watch others play as they're undemanding and generally nice to play through.

Black Lives Matter
Trans rights are human rights

nessisonett

Red Dead 2 is a better experience when you haven’t played the first game - specifically the epilogue. It was seeing my mum finish the game that made me feel this way, to her it was an accomplishment to see John finally get the life Arthur wanted for him. Obviously to us that have played the first game, it’s hard to feel that great about this when we know how it ends. She’s wanting to play the first game now but honestly, I think it ends at a really nice place and playing the first game would just leave her feeling empty.

Plumbing’s just Lego innit. Water Lego.

Trans rights are human rights.

BearsEatBeets

@nessisonett I can totally understand that. Of course having played RDR 1 I feel that makes the epilogue even more enjoyable for me. Now the story is finished I get to potter around the old west as John and have his family home to go back to every now and then.
That's why i think that while RDR2 is technically and mechanically a superior game to the original I actually prefer the story of RDR and enjoyed playing as John more. Through the original John is already a redeemed person whose trying to do right by people but his past rightly or wrongly catches up with him.

I suppose you could tell your mum to only play the missions up until he gets his family back and leave the last couple of missions undone to not sully the prequel. But I get that could be odd.

BearsEatBeets

PSN: leejon5

RogerRoger

@Arugula They do still occasionally crop up, although they're often not as obvious. Most of the combat in Spidey's linear levels has been "you're in a room of enemies, and there's the door, but the prompt to open it won't appear until everybody's unconscious" and I think it's the same in a lot of the big-name franchises, like the Arkham games and Uncharted. Just because said combat is spread out across larger, more elaborate areas doesn't essentially make them any different from glorified arenas.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

Ryall

You should play the best game in the series 1st without worrying about spoilers or backstory.

Ryall

FullbringIchigo

@Arugula i mean sometimes they make sense but most of the time they don't and just feel like padding BUT on the flip side if the combat mechanics are fun then it doesn't bother me much

"I pity you. You just don't get it at all...there's not a thing I don't cherish!"

"Now! This is it! Now is the time to choose! Die and be free of pain or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!

nessisonett

@Ryall Some games are ok with that line of thinking but some series just fall flat. The Trails games are so much better played in order for example. I’d say the Yakuza games are better in order too.

Plumbing’s just Lego innit. Water Lego.

Trans rights are human rights.

RogerRoger

@Arugula Oh, sure. Execution is everything. As much as I love Arkham Origins, for example, the crescendo towards its big finale is an ever-increasing series of very simple, square rooms in which Batman becomes locked with a steadily-increasing number and variety of enemies. The pacing isn't great, and can definitely feel like the slog you're describing.

Apologies if I sounded like I was defending them, or disagreeing with you! I totally get it!

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

Thrillho

@Ryall I know two of my favourite games of all time are Mass Effect 2 and The Witcher 3 and I didn’t play preceding games in either series (mainly because they weren’t on PlayStation consoles at the time).

Thrillho

Anti-Matter

1. Wii "shovelware" games are still far better than any rated 18+ games.

2. Girlie games (Imagine series, Cooking Mama, Fashion games, etc) are billion times better than any Western AAA 3rd party games.

3. I would like to have kiddie looking gaming devices with White color and some fancy designed by me rather than a Black color gaming devices with adult and edgy looking that i always hate. I want to make a statement that i am an adult but very confident to be kiddie in public.

Edited on by Anti-Matter

Anti-Matter

nessisonett

@Anti-Matter I do enjoy a bit of New Style Boutique at times but I just couldn’t be swayed that Ninjabread Man is better than Red Dead Redemption 2. The thread is unpopular opinions, not sheer madness 😂😂😂

Plumbing’s just Lego innit. Water Lego.

Trans rights are human rights.

Anti-Matter

@nessisonett
Just remember i play and do the opposite as typical adult male gamers.
Just like my statement from my unpopular opinions.

Anti-Matter

Ralizah

@Anti-Matter What if a game is M-rated, but it's a Wiiware-esque shovelware minigame collection where shirtless musclemen engage in various sorts of cooking and gardening activities?

Currently Playing: Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re- Boot Camp (NS)

PSN: Ralizah

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