Unpopular gaming opinions

[mynooka]

I agree, Pokemon X/Y seemed like the first game that really held your hand as you played it. I remember the older games being about you figuring out where to go and putting the pressure of taking down Team Rocket, etc. squarely on your shoulders.

Now every time I do something worthwhile, one of those stupid kids whose supposed to be your "friend" shows up and tells you were to go. It felt so contrived and really took away from the experience. The old Pokemon stories were never anything special but at least it felt like YOU were the one exploring and not just part of some fabricated team, going along for the ride.

 

[toxapex]

I agree, Pokemon X/Y seemed like the first game that really held your hand as you played it. I remember the older games being about you figuring out where to go and putting the pressure of taking down Team Rocket, etc. squarely on your shoulders.

Now every time I do something worthwhile, one of those stupid kids whose supposed to be your "friend" shows up and tells you were to go. It felt so contrived and really took away from the experience. The old Pokemon stories were never anything special but at least it felt like YOU were the one exploring and not just part of some fabricated team, going along for the ride.

Yeah, and even in ORAS, I'm partway through the game, but it seems like there's more tutorial-esque cutscenes. It's really jarring and takes away from the feeling of exploration. Like when you're about to exit Slateport city and explore what I consider to be one of the most iconc areas in the pokemon series... You get pulled back by a cutscene that forces you to do a pokemon contest.

 

[mynooka]

Yeah, and even in ORAS, I'm partway through the game, but it seems like there's more tutorial-esque cutscenes. It's really jarring and takes away from the feeling of exploration. Like when you're about to exit Slateport city and explore what I consider to be one of the most iconc areas in the pokemon series... You get pulled back by a cutscene that forces you to do a pokemon contest.

Exactly! That sucks. The old Pokemon games made you figure out who to talk to or where to go. It seems like with the enhancements of the 3DS, Game Freak has added too much fluff and taken a little away from the core Pokemon experience. I get they're trying to make it as appealing as possible, but I don't know...I feel like they've definitely lost something along the way.

 

[Quill]

Exactly! That sucks. The old Pokemon games made you figure out who to talk to or where to go. It seems like with the enhancements of the 3DS, Game Freak has added too much fluff and taken a little away from the core Pokemon experience. I get they're trying to make it as appealing as possible, but I don't know...I feel like they've definitely lost something along the way.

That's exactly how I felt about 99% of the features added in XY, and I also agree with what you said earlier, that the sense of exploration was gone from the game. I don't understand people who rave so highly about XY- have they never played Pokemon before, or are they easily sold on shiny graphics?

It's sad, because I originally bought my 3DS to get back into playing the Pokemon games... but it's the one cartridge that's been pretty much permanently shelved.

 

[Tao]

I agree, Pokemon X/Y seemed like the first game that really held your hand as you played it. I remember the older games being about you figuring out where to go and putting the pressure of taking down Team Rocket, etc. squarely on your shoulders.

Now every time I do something worthwhile, one of those stupid kids whose supposed to be your "friend" shows up and tells you were to go. It felt so contrived and really took away from the experience. The old Pokemon stories were never anything special but at least it felt like YOU were the one exploring and not just part of some fabricated team, going along for the ride.

I don't think the 3D Pokemon games necessarily hold your hand any more than the old games did. There's still roughly the same amount of 'tutorial' and direction as the older games from what I can tell.

I think the older Pokemon games had less interruptions though. They told you exactly where to go and how to do it but they did it within about 3 text boxes of dialogue, where as the 3D ones have tons of useless cutscenes trying to make you care about stuff you don't necessarily care about.

I'm playing ORAS now and it feels like they're holding my hand more, but they're not really. It's just that I keep getting cutscenes every 2 minutes whilst they try to throw character development and story at me, both of which I don't care about...I just wanna catch Pokemon. May and Wally are the worst characters for this, constantly interrupting me with barely anything interesting to say.



I did hate the 'friends' in X/Y though. They were no friends of mine. I despised the fat one.

 

[rockthemike13]

That's exactly how I felt about 99% of the features added in XY, and I also agree with what you said earlier, that the sense of exploration was gone from the game. I don't understand people who rave so highly about XY- have they never played Pokemon before, or are they easily sold on shiny graphics?

It's sad, because I originally bought my 3DS to get back into playing the Pokemon games... but it's the one cartridge that's been pretty much permanently shelved.

My friend and I were talking about this today.

Mario vs mario 2 vs mario 3 vs Super Mario World vs Mario 64 vs Mario Sunshine vs Mario Galaxy.

All the same core gameplay, but totally different ideas, themes, innovations.

Zelda NES, Link To The Past, Ocarina of Time, etc etc. While all are totally different, none fail to be Zelda.

Pokemon R/B-X/Y, they're all EXACTLY the same game. Move into a small town, get a rival, 8 gym leaders, incompetent organization occasionally getting in your way, elite 4 (technically 5). So lame, I want to like Pokemon SO bad. But I can't, I JUST CAN'T.

 

[mynooka]

That's exactly how I felt about 99% of the features added in XY, and I also agree with what you said earlier, that the sense of exploration was gone from the game. I don't understand people who rave so highly about XY- have they never played Pokemon before, or are they easily sold on shiny graphics?

It's sad, because I originally bought my 3DS to get back into playing the Pokemon games... but it's the one cartridge that's been pretty much permanently shelved.

Yea, that's pretty much how it was for me. I heard everyone say X/Y was the greatest Pokemon to date, so of course I picked it up. I agree, the graphics were great so maybe that's what people focused on, idk. I wanted to finish the Pokedex because I had never done it before (and I had a lot of free time lol), but man...by the time I did that, I was so ready to be DONE with that game. And I really don't see myself picking up another traditional Pokemon game, maybe ever again.

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I don't think the 3D Pokemon games necessarily hold your hand any more than the old games did. There's still roughly the same amount of 'tutorial' and direction as the older games from what I can tell.

I think the older Pokemon games had less interruptions though. They told you exactly where to go and how to do it but they did it within about 3 text boxes of dialogue, where as the 3D ones have tons of useless cutscenes trying to make you care about stuff you don't necessarily care about.

I'm playing ORAS now and it feels like they're holding my hand more, but they're not really. It's just that I keep getting cutscenes every 2 minutes whilst they try to throw character development and story at me, both of which I don't care about...I just wanna catch Pokemon. May and Wally are the worst characters for this, constantly interrupting me with barely anything interesting to say.



I did hate the 'friends' in X/Y though. They were no friends of mine. I despised the fat one.

I think that's the difference. While the old games did say you need to go here or fix that problem, they did it without wasting your time. In the newer games, all your "friends" show up whenever you move 5 feet and basically act as a guide the whole game. Pokemon was always about the player growing and becoming the best trainer he/she could be. Now it feels like Call of Duty as oppose to Goldeneye.

...and yes I hated the fat one too. The non-rival girl was annoying too. Just showing up and contributing nothing. XD

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My friend and I were talking about this today.

Mario vs mario 2 vs mario 3 vs Super Mario World vs Mario 64 vs Mario Sunshine vs Mario Galaxy.

All the same core gameplay, but totally different ideas, themes, innovations.

Zelda NES, Link To The Past, Ocarina of Time, etc etc. While all are totally different, none fail to be Zelda.

Pokemon R/B-X/Y, they're all EXACTLY the same game. Move into a small town, get a rival, 8 gym leaders, incompetent organization occasionally getting in your way, elite 4 (technically 5). So lame, I want to like Pokemon SO bad. But I can't, I JUST CAN'T.

It's ok, it's not for everybody. I think it prints to much money to change the formula now though lol.

 

[Tao]

My friend and I were talking about this today.

Mario vs mario 2 vs mario 3 vs Super Mario World vs Mario 64 vs Mario Sunshine vs Mario Galaxy.

All the same core gameplay, but totally different ideas, themes, innovations.

Zelda NES, Link To The Past, Ocarina of Time, etc etc. While all are totally different, none fail to be Zelda.

Pokemon R/B-X/Y, they're all EXACTLY the same game. Move into a small town, get a rival, 8 gym leaders, incompetent organization occasionally getting in your way, elite 4 (technically 5). So lame, I want to like Pokemon SO bad. But I can't, I JUST CAN'T.

I don't think that's a great comparison at all. You're looking at it entirely from a story perspective, in which non of those games are unique.

- Pokemon: Kid gets Pokemon > goes to beat gyms > evil guys > master ball > elite 4 > Champion> go catch legendaries
- Zelda: Small village > something happens > adventure > few dungeons > get 1 useful item in each dungeon > bad guy is mentioned > Master Sword > few more dungeons > kill bad guy > bonus: if the bad guy wasn't Ganon, Ganon will probably appear.
- Mario: Peach gets captured > Go through themed worlds (Mushroom Kingdom, ice, fire, cave, spoopy house, etc) > Save the princess


They have deviations from the norm, like Mario Bros 2 (the American version not technically even being a Mario game) or Majora's Mask but for the most part, they're as guilty of repeating the same thing over and over as Pokemon.



If the story and what order things happen is the sole factor in video game innovation, then CoD is the greatest game ever (untrue).

 

[mynooka]

if the bad guy wasn't Ganon, Ganon will probably appear.

Lol this is so true. "Oh look! The bad guy is named something weird, has red hair, and wears dark purple and black colors. Hmmmm...wonder who this could be...? Oh wow! It's totally Ganon again! :0"

It's like if Bowser changed forms every time and every person he changed into was red orange and green. Not saying I hate it, but it's always funny how Ganon tries to disguise himself like he's the Wizard of Oz or something lol.

 

[Tao]

Lol this is so true. "Oh look! The bad guy is named something weird, has red hair, and wears dark purple and black colors. Hmmmm...wonder who this could be...? Oh wow! It's totally Ganon again! :0"

It's like if Bowser changed forms every time and every person he changed into was red orange and green. Not saying I hate it, but it's always funny how Ganon tries to disguise himself like he's the Wizard of Oz or something lol.

Twilight Princess: "Oh, this Zant guy is the villain? That's different" end of game "Oh...There's Ganon"

Mario Sunshine: "Blue Mario is the villain?", "Bowser. Jr is the villain?", "ahhhh, there's Bowser!"



They're not even twists anymore since I kind of expect them to show up anyway.

They should release a Mario game where Bowser really isn't the villain and totally blow my mind. He should turn in a towel covered in bubbles and be like "Whoa, what's going on here, Mario? This ain't nothing to do with me! I'm serious, brah!"

 

[Reindeer]

They're not even twists anymore since I kind of expect them to show up anyway.

They should release a Mario game where Bowser really isn't the villain and totally blow my mind. He should turn in a towel covered in bubbles and be like "Whoa, what's going on here, Mario? This ain't nothing to do with me! I'm serious, brah!"

What about Super Mario Land 1 and 2?
And for Zelda, Four Swords games/Minish Cap/DS games.

I think B/W made a nice change to the format. It was small, like the titles from other series I mentioned above. Instead of fighting the Champion after the Elite Four, you fought N and Ghetsis, the leader of Team Plasma. That finished the game, so the only way to battle the Champion was by re-challenging the Elite Four in the post-game.

Basically it's just changing who the final boss is.
In Super Mario Land 2, it's Wario instead of Bowser.
In Minish Cap, it's Vaati instead of Ganon.
In Black/White, it's N & Ghetsis instead of the Champion.
Apart from that, the games have the same story setup as their predecessors.

 

[LambdaDelta]

tbf on Zelda

Zelda: Ganon
Zelda 2: Shadow Link
A Link to The Past: Ganon
Link's Awakening: Nightmare (different forms, one based off Ganon)
Ocarina of Time: Ganon
Majora's Mask: Majora's Mask (different forms)
Oracle of Seasons: General Onox (Ganon for the linked ending)
Oracle of Ages: Veran (different forms) (Ganon for the linked ending)
Four Swords: Vaati (different forms)
The Wind Waker: Ganondorf
Four Swords Adventures: Ganon
The Minish Cap: Vaati (different forms)
Twilight Princess: Ganondorf
Phantom Hourglass: Bellum
Spirit Tracks: Malladus
Skyward Sword: Demise
A Link Between Worlds: Yuga (merged with Ganon)

6/17 games where Ganon(dorf)'s the main final boss
2/17 where he's the final boss for the "extra" true ending (arguably 1 here, due to the nature of this, though if you count the Onox/Veran fights for non-Ganon....)
2/17 where he's kinda notable in the final boss category, but in no way a final boss directly
7/17 where he just isn't in any way final boss at all

So Ganon(dorf) is unquestionably the most notable of the Zelda villains A big part due to the early games and its overall lore focusing on him a lot in one way or another. Though I also feel OoT's popularity helped a lot with this too. Especially since dark skin with red hair evil man Ganondorf is far more recognizable than blue pig Ganon. But Zelda is also generally far better at keeping its final bosses somewhat fresh compared to (mainline) Mario, even with the "lol Ganon(dorf)" asspull at the end still happening way too often.

 

[lars708]

tbf on Zelda

Zelda: Ganon
Zelda 2: Shadow Link
A Link to The Past: Ganon
Link's Awakening: Nightmare (different forms, one based off Ganon)
Ocarina of Time: Ganon
Majora's Mask: Majora's Mask (different forms)
Oracle of Seasons: General Onox (Ganon for the linked ending)
Oracle of Ages: Veran (different forms) (Ganon for the linked ending)
Four Swords: Vaati (different forms)
The Wind Waker: Ganondorf
Four Swords Adventures: Ganon
The Minish Cap: Vaati (different forms)
Twilight Princess: Ganondorf
Phantom Hourglass: Bellum
Spirit Tracks: Malladus
Skyward Sword: Demise
A Link Between Worlds: Yuga (merged with Ganon)

6/17 games where Ganon(dorf)'s the main final boss
2/17 where he's the final boss for the "extra" true ending (arguably 1 here, due to the nature of this, though if you count the Onox/Veran fights for non-Ganon....)
2/17 where he's kinda notable in the final boss category, but in no way a final boss directly
7/17 where he just isn't in any way final boss at all

So Ganon(dorf) is unquestionably the most notable of the Zelda villains A big part due to the early games and its overall lore focusing on him a lot in one way or another. Though I also feel OoT's popularity helped a lot with this too. Especially since dark skin with red hair evil man Ganondorf is far more recognizable than blue pig Ganon. But Zelda is also generally far better at keeping its final bosses somewhat fresh compared to (mainline) Mario, even with the "lol Ganon(dorf)" asspull at the end still happening way too often.

Oh whoa you did some research there! I appreciate that! And you are totally right!

 

[Nerd House]

They should release a Mario game where Bowser really isn't the villain and totally blow my mind.

Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story...?

 

[lars708]

Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story...?

Lol he tried to be the villian but failed awfully so yea Bowser is not the villian in that game, problem solved Tao xD

 

[LambdaDelta]

Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story...?

tbh I'm not quite sure spinoffs should count for this

especially since in that case, you my as well say Bowser isn't the (main) villain 90% of the time

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Oh whoa you did some research there! I appreciate that! And you are totally right!

I actually did check all of it to make sure I wasn't misremembering anything, but about 90% of this was just off the top of my head.

and thanks

 

[Jarrad]

Wait is there a really a difference between Ganon and Ganondorf? I thought that Ganon was just the shortened version...

 

[Tao]

tbf on Zelda

Stuff

Yea, there's still more variation in the Zelda games for the villain, but Ganon is still the reoccurring villain we expect to see and it's not a surprise when he is, even if it's not as much as you think at first.

With that aside, most of the games still follow a pretty standard series of events though, again, with exceptions.

Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story...?

I was specifically talking about the 'main series' platformers rather than spin-offs.

It was mentioned that Wario/Daisy were in 2 of those but that's why I keep saying 'in general' (so that I have room for error without being wrong :3). It's still been a while since Peach wasn't kidnapped by Bowser though, enough time that when/if it does happen again, people will probably lose their **** over the plot twist.

 

[LambdaDelta]

Wait is there a really a difference between Ganon and Ganondorf? I thought that Ganon was just the shortened version...

Ganondorf is the Gerudo thief that first debuted in Ocarina of Time.

Ganon is the (usually blue) humanoid boar that debuted in Zelda 1, and Ganondorf's monstrous form that may or may not show intelligent thought depending on the game.

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With that aside, most of the games still follow a pretty standard series of events though, again, with exceptions.

Can't argue there, but that's really complaining about something totally unrelated.

 

[Tao]

Ganondorf is the Gerudo thief that first debuted in Ocarina of Time.

Ganon is the (usually blue) humanoid boar that debuted in Zelda 1, and Ganondorf's monstrous form that may or may not show intelligent thought depending on the game.

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Can't argue there, but that's really complaining about something totally unrelated.

Actually, that was the original argument xD