Games you were excited for that disappointed you?

[ObstinateSparrow]

My biggest disappointment has to be Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX. I played the original Rscue Team Red (which, along with Rescue Team Blue, is what DX is a remake of), and loved it. Too bad my GBA doesn't work anymore. So when I found out this game was going to be remastered, you bet I was excited. But when I acyually got around to playing DX, well...

I could complain about it for days. I'll just mention my biggest peeve with this game: it almost plays itself! Really! It should have been called Baby's First Mystery Dungeon. I plan on selling my copy and byuing Rescue Team Blue instead.

The Pokemon games in general have been disappointing. Ever since Alpha Sapphire / Omega Ruby (which were excellent), they have been going downhill fast.

 

[~Kilza~]

I was sure I talked about this topic in detail in another thread, and sure enough, I did. Just to recap that post in a different manner:
Yooka-Laylee: How not to make a spiritual successor for a series you love
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts: How not to make a sequel for a series you love
Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D: How not to remake the greatest video game of all time

 

[FrostyAlmonds]

I remember that game. It felt like the team went to some 14 year old girl and asked her to write a OOC fanfic. Emil and Marta, I can't believe I remember their names, just felt so much like a fanfiction that some heart gushing shipper wrote.

Him hating on Lloyd in the beginning to the point of murder was hard not to dislike. Like they couldn't even really delve into the reason why. It was so weak.

SOMEONE SHARES MY OPINION!!! Like literally my exact feelings for this game was some kid's cringe self insert OC fanfiction and the OG cast was just there awkwardly sitting through this awful excuse of a romance.

But no really, I went into this game with the lowest of low expectations, Symphonia was an incredibly special game to me and I knew not to get my hopes up for a sequel because I KNEW I would be disappointed if I did. Didn't even buy the game straight away, kind of waited on it and eventually was like 'oh yeah I should play this' and picked it up used. You can tell I had no actual excitement for it...AND I WAS STILL DISSAPOINTED?? Like it was so bad I could not believe this was a legit game made by the same team and not some personally made fangame.

But that doesn't fit the thread since I wasn't excited for it, I would have to go with Yooka Laylee. I was big into the Banjo games so knowing the team was coming back with a passion project...and then they slapped Nintendo users in the face and I didn't even bother getting it (digital only is a real turn off for me), and then I hear it was pretty bad too so I'm glad I didn't waste my money.

 

[Aerith]

Oh man, I have a ton of games like this unfortunately lol. Fresh off the top of my head is Rune Factory 5. I was just grateful that we were just going to get a new Rune Factory, since it'd been so long, and the love interests all had great designs! But it's a very buggy game and it's not nearly as extensive as RF4 was. I can kind of get it since they really put their soul into RF4 (maybe thinking it would be the last one, not sure?) but... meh. I wish they'd done more or included some updates.

 

[-Blue-]

SOMEONE SHARES MY OPINION!!! Like literally my exact feelings for this game was some kid's cringe self insert OC fanfiction and the OG cast was just there awkwardly sitting through this awful excuse of a romance.

But no really, I went into this game with the lowest of low expectations, Symphonia was an incredibly special game to me and I knew not to get my hopes up for a sequel because I KNEW I would be disappointed if I did. Didn't even buy the game straight away, kind of waited on it and eventually was like 'oh yeah I should play this' and picked it up used. You can tell I had no actual excitement for it...AND I WAS STILL DISSAPOINTED?? Like it was so bad I could not believe this was a legit game made by the same team and not some personally made fangame.

But that doesn't fit the thread since I wasn't excited for it, I would have to go with Yooka Laylee. I was big into the Banjo games so knowing the team was coming back with a passion project...and then they slapped Nintendo users in the face and I didn't even bother getting it (digital only is a real turn off for me), and then I hear it was pretty bad too so I'm glad I didn't waste my money.

I can't remember when I bought it. It was probably when it released or pretty close. But it became very clear from booting it up that this wasn't going to be for me. I don't think a lot of people share the same opinion because there's not a lot who have played the game or even remember it. I only remember bits and pieces. It's not only a bad sequel, it's just a bad game.

The main character has like this psychopathic demon inside him? And the girl main is like omg that's so hot I love that messed up side of yours. They just barfed rainbows, glitter, and fanfiction all over this game.

Yooka Laylee wasn't bad, but it left a lot to be desired. It was still fun! But if you want a true successor to Banjo Kazooie, A Hat In Time is that game. I'd love to see that group make another game like that or even a sequel. It has so much potential. I'd say that YL is a better sequel/homage than TOS 2.0 or whatever it was called.

 

[QueenCobra]

I thought Bowser’s Inside Story was kinda gross (despite appreciating its creativity) and a lot of the Harry Potter video games (like 1-4) are so frustrating they aren’t fun anymore— like needlessly difficult. It’s even worse when you don’t know what to do and Ron’s like “Hurry up, Harry!” I’m like…I would if I knew what I was doing lol

 

[Mr.Fox]

Wreck.It.Ralph.

Saw the movie, loved it, heard the game was coming out...and couldn't believe how bare bones it was. So boring and bland, you can tell they just cranked it out as quickly as possible once the movie took off.
Not even a bonus Fix-It-Felix Jr level or anything.

 

[slzzpz]

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The trailers and hype leading up to it made it such a let down. The game starts off strong with the hospital section but quickly falls off and becomes repetitive with cut and paste missions. The game abruptly ends with Chapter 2 with no resolution to the story. The cut Chapter 3 could only be seen as a video if you had bought the collector's edition. Either way it was later uploaded to YouTube. The game mechanics were amazing but I felt like it wasn't fully used to it's maximum. All the cut content, etc...I could go on lol

I don't think anything will come as close as MGSV. I think Kingdom Hearts 3 comes second.

 

[Khaoticnoize187]

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The trailers and hype leading up to it made it such a let down. The game starts off strong with the hospital section but quickly falls off and becomes repetitive with cut and paste missions. The game abruptly ends with Chapter 2 with no resolution to the story. The cut Chapter 3 could only be seen as a video if you had bought the collector's edition. Either way it was later uploaded to YouTube. The game mechanics were amazing but I felt like it wasn't fully used to it's maximum. All the cut content, etc...I could go on lol

I don't think anything will come as close as MGSV. I think Kingdom Hearts 3 comes second.

^ this honestly, lot of it is routed to the way konami was treating kojima at the time he was still working for them

 

[rocketspruggs]

I got disappointed with Bendy and the Ink Machine, because it's boring and difficult, and Cuphead, because it is way too difficult...

And also, Cartoon Network: Battle Crashers, the gameplay is boring and repetitive.

 

[Envy]

Animal Crossing City Folk, Pokemon Sun/Moon, Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, The Sims 4 (knew it would be a disappointment from the second it was shown, though). Also, Ocarina of Time 3D. I was excited for Diamond/Pearl remakes until they actually showed them, I instantly knew they were going to be a major disappointment compared to past Pokemon remakes (excluding LGP/E, which shall not be spoken of).

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

One game that I didn’t like very much was Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Gates to Infinity. Stupid first boss fight of the game took me two years to clear because I kept being defeated and thing is I was an Axew and didn’t have any type disadvantages in the fight. That sort of ruined the Mystery Dungeon games for me. I also didn’t like Pokémon Conquest very much and found it to be too easy to the point I 100% the game twice in only five days and this was even before the free DLC was released. Other games that greatly disappointed are the two South Park games that are on the Switch (just couldn’t get into them), Sonic Colors Ultimate, and Lego Brawls which lied about having “fan favorites” as the only branded characters you could have were Ninjago, Monkey Kid, and Jurassic Park and didn’t even have the option to use Wildstyle, Harry Potter, or even Lego City characters like Chase or Rex. Plus there is no offline single player mode and I hate playing multiplayer games especially when I’m trying to learn how to play the game! There’s a reason I never participate in online matches in Smash.

 

[kiwikenobi]

I was very excited for Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, and I even enjoyed most of it, but then the ending revealed a surprise twist that ruined the whole experience for me retroactively. The ending changed everything in the whole story, and I was extremely disappointed.

 

[Neb]

I won't mention the Switch Pokemon games since other people already have. Instead I'll talk about a few other games.

Paper Mario Sticker Star was a game I was excited for months. I was obsessed with Paper Mario 64 and Super Paper Mario as a kid and getting a new one was so exciting. I watched the trailers and read the Nintendo Power articles over and over again. Then I picked the game up and was massively disappointed. Battles were pointless since all you got was coins and no exp points. The game had a million annoying environmental puzzles that stumped me to no end. Most of the music was really bland with a few exceptions. All the cool NPCs from past games were replaced with endless generic Toads and Mario enemies. I sold the game a few weeks after release and only reached the third world. It was the first game I spent ages hyped up for and was let down.

More recently was Octopath Traveler. In my head I called it my dream game. I loved the HD 2D artstyle and the music in the trailers was incredible. I played the demo before release and was hooked by the dancer's story. Then I played the final game. None of the stories connected with each other in any way and the playable characters say nothing unless you're currently doing one of their chapters. Most of the stories weren't particularly interesting and from what I heard the dancer's story had a generic ending. The combat, visuals, and music were great, but the story just fell flat. In an RPG that emphasizes story like Octopath Traveler I felt like that was a huge let down. I sold the game and the GameStop employees guilt tripped me over it. I repurchased the game later digitally, but never got super far since once I had all the characters they were all too underleveled for some reason and even after grinding for hours didn't get much stronger. I haven't touched it since.

 

[Sheando]

During the pandemic, I backed a handful of video games on Kickstarter. Most have yet to release (Coral Island switch port, PLEASE be soon), but Lonesome Village, billed as a Zelda/Animal Crossing hybrid with in-depth puzzle dungeons and town building gameplay, released a while back. Sadly, I never finished the game. The town development was lackluster, consisting mostly of fetch quests for interchangeable NPCs. The puzzles were mostly very simple; they felt more appropriate for older children than adults. I was hoping for challenging puzzles (with maybe some ability to adjust difficulty or receive hints if necessary) but no such luck. And whenever you receive a clue about how to progress the story, the small guide character pops up and says “I’m pretty sure I saw that on THE BEACH!”, effectively nullifying any thought you might have had to expend in order to complete this already oversimplified quest. I was just very disappointed by how half-finished the game felt. I could see it being a fun way to relax and unwind if what you’re looking for is repetitive gameplay and minimal thought, almost like an app game, but it did not feel like a full Switch title to me.

 

[Cowplant]

I was most disappointed with the release of New Horizons. I've been disappointed with games in the past, but a lot of the time you can see the writing on the wall ahead of time by watching trailers and gameplay videos. I'm a huge Animal Crossing and I wanted to experience a lot of blind, so I watched the trailers but stayed away from gameplay videos, and everything that I saw was so promising (except for the inclusion of crafting, which even then I was confused why they would add that, but I was optimistic!) that I was fully convinced that this was the greatest Animal Crossing game ever and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.

I've tried so hard to like New Horizons. I remember when I made my first town. I tried so hard to get into it, but the tools breaking constantly and the meager, strangely implemented gameplay and content actually frustrated me. I've made a few more towns since then, but every time when I play I find myself thinking "man, this makes me wanna play Animal Crossing" which is a weird feeling to have when you are, in fact, playing Animal Crossing.

I'm glad the developers tried a lot of new things on this entry. I'll always support developers trying new things and failing then them going for a safe, but tried and true approach. New Horizons feels like a completely new approach to the Animal Crossing formula and I don't hate a lot of the ideas. But I feel like they didn't stick the landing. As someone who likes to build and customize, New Horizons feels like an unnecessarily frustrating and limiting way to create, even with all of its supposed innovations. And as someone who likes life sims, I honestly have no clue how you could consider New Horizons one when all of the characters are so lifeless and amiable and there's no attempt at creating a cohesive, lively world. So, I'm still excited to see what they do with the next entry but I think I'm going to do more research than letting previous goodwill blind me.

 

[SkyKnight03]

Oh god Sticker Star. I was among the children who bought this and expected it was a 3DS version of the original Paper Mario games. It didn't help that the trailers were completely misleading and showed a unique partner character.

Then I went to my cousins house for a night stay. I was excited to play this new game and opened up my new copy.

Pure confusion.

 

[Dunquixote]

There have been a couple at least for me:

Dragon Age Inquisition: Before they added something to scale the bosses, one of the bosses was so easy. Considering how he was in Dragon Age II’s dlc, it was a big letdown. The mount movements felt so unnatural and the speed didn’t impress me at all. The customization seemed hyped up but it ended up being disappointing. I felt like single player could have been so much better had they not introduced multiplayer; I didn’t bother with multiplayer since to me (even though I read that the developers originally intended to make Dragon Age multiplayer), the game seems better as a single player. Also, I got burnt out way too fast farming for materials; too much of a grind for this game.

Mario Party Superstars: I was expecting everything to be exactly like the original Mario Parties—more maps from the ones I’ve played, the game didn’t have the charm that the originals had for me. The controls felt different and more difficult (mini games). No Monty the Mole; I was hoping he’d be playable; I enjoyed seeing him in the last tbtwc’s streams of the other Mario Party. I still had a lot of fun during tbtwc in the two sessions I got though.

Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain: I don’t remember too much since it’s been a long time since i last played it. I remember that there were a lot of minor things that I didn’t like, like the credits during each mission. I know I really enjoyed the story. I think the gameplay could have been better though.

I think there are some others but I’ll post about them another time.

 

[ribbitribbon]

pioneers of olive town. it was… okay. the newer story of seasons games just don’t seem to have the same charm the older ones did. i thought the characters were sort of bland and i just lost interest before i could get into it. i did get the special package and all for it so i wish i enjoyed it more.

 

[-Raven-]

Xenoblade 2, I don’t need to say anything I don’t need to for Yooka-Laylee either right

I don’t know if this counts because I didn’t get it at launch or something, but by the time I got to play Persona 5, I knew about how many issues it had and so it was unimpressive af. Sorry but style doesn’t save it when I don’t give a heck about any of the characters, 4G is still king.

Zera Myths Awaken demo is great but like… the level revamps look much worse and emptier, and I’m disappointed af in the development surrounding the game but that is all I’ll say

Also +1 on Legends Arceus being the actual Sinnoh remakes. Honestly the music made me cry