nudgenudge
Member
For me, it would have to be Life is Strange: Before the Storm.
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What is the worst written game you've ever played?
- Thread starter nudgenudge
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FantasticHaxorus
Senior Member
My taste in game writing tends towards the absurdly cartoonish (see signature lol) and most of the games I pick up tend to be pretty popular (or at least have some sort of cult following) but I was given Sonic Forces as a gift once and it was really bad from what I remember.
For a more interesting answer; I wouldn't say Hollow Knight was the worst or anything but I felt when you finally pieced together all the scattered lore behind ridiculous bosses and difficult platforming it felt like it didn't have much of a point. Feels like the most I can get from the main story is "unlimited power is bad, man" which. isn't all that interesting. There's some nicer stuff on the side and the game itself is really fun though so it's still worth playing.
For a more interesting answer; I wouldn't say Hollow Knight was the worst or anything but I felt when you finally pieced together all the scattered lore behind ridiculous bosses and difficult platforming it felt like it didn't have much of a point. Feels like the most I can get from the main story is "unlimited power is bad, man" which. isn't all that interesting. There's some nicer stuff on the side and the game itself is really fun though so it's still worth playing.
nudgenudge
Member
forces is awful
I would say Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric probably easily tops this, but I feel that listing Sonic games is sort of a cheating, since those games have never had the best stories in general.
Otherwise, I think Hunt Down the Freeman probably lands fairly comfortably into this category. The game's story feels like the writer(s) had a checklist of stereotypical fan fiction tropes and applied each and every one of them as thoroughly straight as they possibly could, not helped by the fact that the story hinges largely on not just the player being familiar with the events of the previous games in the Half-Life series, but also only makes sense if you assume that the protagonist himself has also played the previous games. The icing on the cake is the dialogue stolen from other (and better) media, the most iconic being the use of Bane's iconic "Now you have my permission to die" line from The Dark Knight Rises*. But even if you can somehow tolerate all of this, the story is poorly-paced and overwrought with clichés presented without an ounce of deviation or personality to compensate for its creatively bankrupt characterization and plot structure.
I'm aware that this is just a fan game, but Valve apparently doesn't care that the creators are charging money for it and hosting it on Steam, so I'm going to treat it as if it were official.
* The fact that when choosing dialogue to plagiarize they chose the Batman movie considered the worst for its respective time period is also pretty alarming. It would be like plagiarizing The Room and expecting to win an Oscar.
Otherwise, I think Hunt Down the Freeman probably lands fairly comfortably into this category. The game's story feels like the writer(s) had a checklist of stereotypical fan fiction tropes and applied each and every one of them as thoroughly straight as they possibly could, not helped by the fact that the story hinges largely on not just the player being familiar with the events of the previous games in the Half-Life series, but also only makes sense if you assume that the protagonist himself has also played the previous games. The icing on the cake is the dialogue stolen from other (and better) media, the most iconic being the use of Bane's iconic "Now you have my permission to die" line from The Dark Knight Rises*. But even if you can somehow tolerate all of this, the story is poorly-paced and overwrought with clichés presented without an ounce of deviation or personality to compensate for its creatively bankrupt characterization and plot structure.
I'm aware that this is just a fan game, but Valve apparently doesn't care that the creators are charging money for it and hosting it on Steam, so I'm going to treat it as if it were official.
* The fact that when choosing dialogue to plagiarize they chose the Batman movie considered the worst for its respective time period is also pretty alarming. It would be like plagiarizing The Room and expecting to win an Oscar.
Fire Emblem Fates Conquest. The gameplay is challenging so most people agree it’s one of the better routes in the game for gameplay but story wise it’s easily the worst in the series.
At least the interesting gameplay balances out the bad story a bit.
At least the interesting gameplay balances out the bad story a bit.
Wiimfiuser
huge MMSF fan
Sonic '06. It wasn't written in the first place. It never happened.
Also it's a good sonic game dont bully me-
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Also it's a good sonic game dont bully me-
I don't buy a lot of games without fully knowing what I'm getting myself into, so I have been able to avoid major clunkers - The real danger is a game from my favourite franchise being a flop as there are certain games I buy without waiting for reviews (Dragon Age, Zelda, Animal Crossing, Fallout,Mass Effect...)
Which leads me to say that the worst written game I have ever played has to be:
Mass Effect Andromeda.
I don't even know if it is THAT terribly written, or if it's simply just a case of it being incredibly weak when stacked against it's predecessors. Although, saying that - with my less-than-critical eye when it comes to writing nuances - even I could tell there was some straight up hot garbage dialogue in that game. Like, what in the high-school-creative-writing-assignment-written-at-lunch-on-the-due-date NONSENSE is THIS. There is that (now infamous) moment with the woman who says, "my face is tired", and that ain't even the worst of it. The story itself was pretty forgettable, too - I'm legit sat here trying to remember the intricacies of the story outside ~ woz cyrogenically frozen and blasted into another galaxy, now everything is a big oh no situation ~
Such a disappointing game.
Which leads me to say that the worst written game I have ever played has to be:
Mass Effect Andromeda.
I don't even know if it is THAT terribly written, or if it's simply just a case of it being incredibly weak when stacked against it's predecessors. Although, saying that - with my less-than-critical eye when it comes to writing nuances - even I could tell there was some straight up hot garbage dialogue in that game. Like, what in the high-school-creative-writing-assignment-written-at-lunch-on-the-due-date NONSENSE is THIS. There is that (now infamous) moment with the woman who says, "my face is tired", and that ain't even the worst of it. The story itself was pretty forgettable, too - I'm legit sat here trying to remember the intricacies of the story outside ~ woz cyrogenically frozen and blasted into another galaxy, now everything is a big oh no situation ~
Such a disappointing game.
LuchaSloth
Sloth
Honestly, most Nintendo games are pretty horribly written.
Like...Zelda is always "stop Ganon and rescue the princess". Mario is always "rescue the princess". Pokemon is always "become the champion" (with the caveat of making you tolerate a bunch of useless side characters who make you feel like you couldn't do it on your own...Lol)
Like...Zelda is always "stop Ganon and rescue the princess". Mario is always "rescue the princess". Pokemon is always "become the champion" (with the caveat of making you tolerate a bunch of useless side characters who make you feel like you couldn't do it on your own...Lol)
I wouldn't call any of those games horribly written. They're not terribly original, nor are they exactly Shakespearean, but they're usually at least decent examples of those tired tropes. If not that, they at least have fun dialogue and interactions throughout the course of the game.
Pokémon notwithstanding, since... that series definitely has some real bad ones. Black/White1 and ORAS's Delta Episode in particular come to mind.
Pokémon notwithstanding, since... that series definitely has some real bad ones. Black/White1 and ORAS's Delta Episode in particular come to mind.
DinosaurDumpster
You're watching Disney Channel
Hmm... does the minecraft chat count? i'm always finding toxic 8 year olds when I enter a mini game waiting room or survival server. they don't have very good writing.
if not, then well, any sonic game. the only sonic game that i'd say has decent writing is sonic heroes.
if not, then well, any sonic game. the only sonic game that i'd say has decent writing is sonic heroes.
I feel it's a good idea to avoid mentioning games that aren't intended to be well-written. Games like Pokemon, Mario, etc. are more for the gameplay than a story. (Though PMD Time/Darkness/Sky is incredibly well-written and engaging for a Pokemon game. Something different happened there and it worked well)
That being said, I have to second what someone else wrote on here. Fire Emblem Conquest (and Birthright, and Revelation). The gameplay of any Fire Emblem game is going to be fun, but the story just wasn't there for me in any of those. Of course, these games followed Awakening, and so they were put in a tough spot; very little can compare to how fantastic Awakening was.
That being said, I have to second what someone else wrote on here. Fire Emblem Conquest (and Birthright, and Revelation). The gameplay of any Fire Emblem game is going to be fun, but the story just wasn't there for me in any of those. Of course, these games followed Awakening, and so they were put in a tough spot; very little can compare to how fantastic Awakening was.
I think with Pokémon, that stopped being true at Gen 3. The story of the games have become increasingly more complex to largely mixed results. They're no longer simple stories that serve as basic context for gameplay, so I think it's more than fair to criticize them for it.
xSuperMario64x
Canadian at heart 💜🇨🇦
I haven't actually played them myself but I really didn't like the story and writing of Pokemon Sword/Shield at all, especially the post game with the weird hair guys and the Crown Tundra.
I'm not saying it's intended to be bad, but I have a really hard time enjoying Röki. Mostly cause I think it's suffering really bad from actually making the game go forward and you can easily get lost/stuck early on because vague clues and also the coding for the Switch port is a bit annoying since you have to literally mash buttons sometimes. It's like the world's cutest concept and story but if they make you get lost /un/intentional it's just I'd rather not sit with a guide thru the whole game lol.
A lot of explore/adventure/point and click suffer from it though, I remember I played PW: Dual Destinies for 3DS just as one example I kinda gave up after a while and just deleted it. Also a lot of indie/smaller games I had on Steam I just uninstalled, lol.
A lot of explore/adventure/point and click suffer from it though, I remember I played PW: Dual Destinies for 3DS just as one example I kinda gave up after a while and just deleted it. Also a lot of indie/smaller games I had on Steam I just uninstalled, lol.
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Cosmic_Crossfade
•~You are my sun, moon and stars~°
You all know which Elderscrolls 
Dunquixote
Water King
I was very disappointed with tales of zestiria. I don’t remember if it was completely or that much of the writing.
To a degree FFXV. I was a day one player, didn’t get the dlc with mine. I felt the story was good but there were some plot holes (not sure if those would be filled by the dlc; that did make me not want to get the dlc though and i still haven’t even though i want the ardyn one). Also, this has nothing to do with writing but the post-game dungeon was very disappointing too.
FFX-2 - i shouldn’t put this here since i haven’t played it (i saw the concert scene and then turned the game off). I liked what I heard about it from friends on tumblr— the story sounded like it had potential since I was intrigued by post Sin spira what kind of politics and stuff going on there but idk, the sudden fashion change of rikku and yuna bugged me (they were so much cuter in X) and the while tidus coming back in spite how x concluded annoyed me since I thought x’s ending was great and there can’t always be a 100% happy ending. i do like some but I thought x’s ending should have been left alone.
To a degree FFXV. I was a day one player, didn’t get the dlc with mine. I felt the story was good but there were some plot holes (not sure if those would be filled by the dlc; that did make me not want to get the dlc though and i still haven’t even though i want the ardyn one). Also, this has nothing to do with writing but the post-game dungeon was very disappointing too.
FFX-2 - i shouldn’t put this here since i haven’t played it (i saw the concert scene and then turned the game off). I liked what I heard about it from friends on tumblr— the story sounded like it had potential since I was intrigued by post Sin spira what kind of politics and stuff going on there but idk, the sudden fashion change of rikku and yuna bugged me (they were so much cuter in X) and the while tidus coming back in spite how x concluded annoyed me since I thought x’s ending was great and there can’t always be a 100% happy ending. i do like some but I thought x’s ending should have been left alone.
not the game as a whole, but it came up just recently in a discussion with a friend and we both unanimously agreed that ace attorney case 4-3 is one of the worst things ever made
