What are your unpopular gaming opinions?

[Champ Gold]

i wish they hadn't made jigglypuff in 64, and instead went with a more iconic character. they were kinda trying to force jiggly to be popular at the time, but it didn't really work out in the end.

meowth as a playable character woulda been nice!

ps: i kinda feel like jiggly is only still here cause she's a 64 veteran? if she'd debuted in melee, she might not still be here...

You can say the same thing for &. Those characters alone wouldn't ever comeback but the fandom loves them just like .

Also despite my love for bird brain, would have been cut if wasn't a Melee vet.

 

[muddykips]

well, falcon and ness are stars of their own games and have iconic value in their own right. jiggly is kind of just... jiggly. people like her because she was in the first game, but there wasn't much iconic about her to kick off with.

...i was gonna argue against that falco thing, but that's kind of a good point. i still dunno why they cut wolf.

 

[Inclemence]

Got a few:
- Didn't really get the hype for Fallout 3, felt it was pretty boring a good portion of the game and I felt NV was better
- Sonic Adventure 2 was the only ever game in the series that didn't bore me to tears and/or pissed me off
- Wind Waker > OoT/MM
- Halo 3 > CE/2
- I can understand the value of the half-life games had on today's games, but i honestly felt all of the games were just mundane AF puzzles and traveling with only a few things here and there not completely killing it (although valve still does a good job a picking good VOs)
- Loved playing FF13/13.2

 

[Nixon Corral]

Got a few:
- Didn't really get the hype for Fallout 3, felt it was pretty boring a good portion of the game and I felt NV was better

I agree.

FO2 >= FO:NV > FO1 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> FO3

Fallout 3 is a mediocre Bethesda fanfiction. I expect FO4 to follow in its path (but I certainly hope it doesn't).

- Sonic Adventure 2 was the only ever game in the series that didn't bore me to tears and/or pissed me off

That's funny because SA2 is pretty bad.

 

[Khao]

Clearly you weren't there for the nightmare that was the release of Diablo 3. Required online and broken launch servers =! a good time.

Well, that was a problem with ****ty release servers rather than a problem with the game itself. After they fixed the server issues, I think it was pretty enjoyable experience (though I know a lot of people would disagree with that, which is why this is unpopular =P). Since then, it just keeps improving.

Reasoning? I personally believe it's the best and then X/Y are the worst (although Gen 1 is close to as bad as X/Y because of the numerous glitches and badly-aging graphics).

Every gen is pretty much the same game with more content and features, they just keep improving themselves. And I'm not saying that from total ignorance, I have played and beaten at least one game per generation (save for gen 5, which I didn't get because I wanted to wait for a 3DS Pokémon). Every feature they cut is either replaced, or just wasn't important in the first place.

X/Y is definitely my favorite gen.

 

[Spak]

Every gen is pretty much the same game with more content and features, they just keep improving themselves. And I'm not saying that from total ignorance, I have played and beaten at least one game per generation (save for gen 5, which I didn't get because I wanted to wait for a 3DS Pokémon). Every feature they cut is either replaced, or just wasn't important in the first place.

X/Y is definitely my favorite gen.

Here is my opinion on Gen VI (originally posted in), and then later down in the thread I posted this in defense of why I like Gen 2 the best:

I agree that 1 is broken, but 2 is my favorite gen of all time. The music is teriffic, graphics were a substantial improvement over the previous gen, it had a good plot, Lance interacting with you throughout the game made the fight with him at the end even cooler, the day and night cycles were revolutionary, the Pokemon designs were excellent, it had the best endgame of any Pokemon (16 badges, going to the previous regeon for the last 8 to see how things have changed), you can transfer all of your Pokemon between gen 1 and 2 games, it added in Dark and Steel (which were types that actually HELPED the balancing), and the it had a good difficulty level, and the coolest last fight of any Pokemon games (fighting Red on My. Silver). Honestly, I think 2 has the most character out of any Pokemon gen. But I guess we just have differing opinions.

To your point about every gen improving upon the last, that just isn't completely true. I like the OST from Gen 2 more than Gen 4 (except maybe the champ music), Gen 3 took out the day/night cycle, Gen 4's graphics were worse than Gen 3's (didn't like the partially 3D partially 2D art style), Battle Revolution was a disaster compared to the Stadiums or Colosseum/XD, the storyline, rivavls, and characters in general took a dive Gen 3 (with the exception of Stephen), got worse 4, got immensely better 5, and 6 proved that quality is better than quantity, the count of new Pokemon was SUPER low gen 6, game balance got worse in Gen 6, framerate drops have always been a thing in Pokemon games but it got worse in the overworld from Gens 4&5, then got pretty bad in-battle Gen 6, endgame has been substantially shortened in Gen 6, and I'm probably reiterating points from the criticisms on Gen 6 thread that I made by now. I still have more points that I know I didn't point out on that big run-on sentence above this, but every time I start to talk about Pokemon it's hard to stop.

If you still like Gen VI the best of all the Pokemon games after reading this, then congratulations. That's why this thread is unpopular opinions.

 

[finalark]

Well, that was a problem with ****ty release servers rather than a problem with the game itself. After they fixed the server issues, I think it was pretty enjoyable experience (though I know a lot of people would disagree with that, which is why this is unpopular =P). Since then, it just keeps improving.

Finally, someone who gets it.

Personally, I have never played a Blizzard game I've disliked. Yeah, online only was a poor choice for D3 and I'll agree the game's early days were rough but now it's freaking fantastic.

 

[Khao]

Here is my opinion on Gen VI (originally posted in), and then later down in the thread I posted this in defense of why I like Gen 2 the best:


To your point about every gen improving upon the last, that just isn't completely true. I like the OST from Gen 2 more than Gen 4 (except maybe the champ music), Gen 3 took out the day/night cycle, Gen 4's graphics were worse than Gen 3's (didn't like the partially 3D partially 2D art style), Battle Revolution was a disaster compared to the Stadiums or Colosseum/XD, the storyline, rivavls, and characters in general took a dive Gen 3 (with the exception of Stephen), got worse 4, got immensely better 5, and 6 proved that quality is better than quantity, the count of new Pokemon was SUPER low gen 6, game balance got worse in Gen 6, framerate drops have always been a thing in Pokemon games but it got worse in the overworld from Gens 4&5, then got pretty bad in-battle Gen 6, endgame has been substantially shortened in Gen 6, and I'm probably reiterating points from the criticisms on Gen 6 thread that I made by now. I still have more points that I know I didn't point out on that big run-on sentence above this, but every time I start to talk about Pokemon it's hard to stop.

If you still like Gen VI the best of all the Pokemon games after reading this, then congratulations. That's why this thread is unpopular opinions.

*Shrug* yeah, I still do. Most of those things don't really mean much to me. Might be worth to say that I play Pokémon games super casually and don't really care about their plot, so I don't really care about stuff like balance, or characterization or whatever. As for graphics and music, those things are pretty subjective anyway.

As for stuff external to the the main games... Lol, yeah, I definitely agree that Battle Revolution was awful and not even comparable to the Stadiums or Colliseum. Don't even know why they released that thing, it's pretty much worthless as a game on its own and isn't even that great as just a complement to the DS titles.

I was specifically talking about the main games, though.

 

[G Rank Zinogre]

Might as well write some more unpopular opinions

- Battle Network is my favorite Mega Man series, while X is my least favorite.

- I get a kick out of a lot of Dragon Ball/DBZ games, with some exceptions, of course (Taiketsu...)

- I'm gonna say it, I'm not a fan of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, the vertical combat got old fast, I don't know, maybe I just need to play it more.

- Super Paper Mario is my favorite, although The Thousand-Year Door is a close second.

- Golden Suns 1&2 are hands-down, without a doubt, my favorite RPGs ever. Oh, and Dark Dawn was decent.

- The Klonoa series should really be played more often, they're very well designed and charming platformers.

...I'll go put on my hipster glasses and take my seat at Starbucks now.



EDIT: I agree that every Pokemon gen makes some improvement(s) over the last, sometimes it may be small, other times, game changing. Although I do think that some gens are simply better than others, each gen without a doubt has its merits and definitely makes them special to one person or another. But personally I'm a fan of the modern Pokémon games, if Gen 3 is still considered "modern" by today's standards.

 

[Spak]

Might as well write some more unpopular opinions

- Battle Network is my favorite Mega Man series, while X is my least favorite.

- I get a kick out of a lot of Dragon Ball/DBZ games, with some exceptions, of course (Taiketsu...)

- I'm gonna say it, I'm not a fan of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, the vertical combat got old fast, I don't know, maybe I just need to play it more.

- Super Paper Mario is my favorite, although The Thousand-Year Door is a close second.

- Golden Suns 1&2 are hands-down, without a doubt, my favorite RPGs ever. Oh, and Dark Dawn was decent.

- The Klonoa series should really be played more often, they're very well designed and charming platformers.

...I'll go put on my hipster glasses and take my seat at Starbucks now.



EDIT: I agree that every Pokemon gen makes some improvement(s) over the last, sometimes it may be small, other times, game changing. Although I do think that some gens are simply better than others, each gen without a doubt has its merits and definitely makes them special to one person or another. But personally I'm a fan of the modern Pokémon games, if Gen 3 is still considered "modern" by today's standards.

Honestly, I consider a gen to be modern for about the next full gen (so at the start of Gen 7, Gen 5 will no longer be modern), But how long a Gen is would be completely dependant upon your perception of time. One thing I like about Gen 6 is freedom of movement with the Circle Pad, which is a first time in a Pokemon game (if you are only counting main games).

 

[delcamex]

i wish they hadn't made jigglypuff in 64, and instead went with a more iconic character. they were kinda trying to force jiggly to be popular at the time, but it didn't really work out in the end.

meowth as a playable character woulda been nice!

ps: i kinda feel like jiggly is only still here cause she's a 64 veteran? if she'd debuted in melee, she might not still be here...

I'm pretty sure Jigglypuff is really popular in japan, that's why they included it in 64, and I think it gained popularity worldwide because of that (and the anime I guess) so I don't think it's gonna get out of the smash anytime soon, because it's a veteran from 64 and I think those are like untouchable, and because she is really popular and a good character imo.

It's not (although I do get a kick out of seeing kids born post-2000 trying to figure out how to use it).

You mean it's not bad? Or do you mean it's not an unpopular opinion?

 

[Spak]

You mean it's not bad? Or do you mean it's not an unpopular opinion?

It's not unpopular. It has one of the worst joysticks of all time, a strange shape, three prongs so you couldn't always have access to all buttons on the controller, and an odd button layout.

 

[★Malik★™]

I was one who never understood the hype behind Minecraft. I was one of those guys who said "this game looks boring", etc.

But then I tried the demo. Over the years with frustrating games like Call of Duty, Destiny's PVP, pretty much any PVP game, I will say that I now enjoy the calm that it brings. Although, things can get a bit hectic in survival mode, it has been a blast. I guess I was a kid then who needed flashy numbers, catchy 'you've unlocked' soundbites, and a craving to maintain an irrelevant number known as K/D. Minecraft has been the most peaceful game I've played, which is why I'm definitely looking forward to No Man's Sky.

X/Y is definitely my favorite gen.

Did you find it incredibly easy?

 

[Khao]

Did you find it incredibly easy?

And there's my one and only problem with the game, lol. Not enough to make me dislike it, but yeah, it was pretty lame when it comes to difficulty.

I mean, no Pokémon game has been particularly difficult, but gen VI was extremely straightforward. The only time I remember having any kind of trouble was the very last Pokémon in the final battle of the league, which I just ended up defeating via Destiny Bond effortlessly in my second try. Other than that, it was smooth sailing.

 

[finalark]

- I get a kick out of a lot of Dragon Ball/DBZ games, with some exceptions, of course (Taiketsu...)

- Super Paper Mario is my favorite, although The Thousand-Year Door is a close second.

- Golden Suns 1&2 are hands-down, without a doubt, my favorite RPGs ever. Oh, and Dark Dawn was decent.

- The Klonoa series should really be played more often, they're very well designed and charming platformers.

I really wouldn't consider these unpopular. Most DBZ games are loved by the fans, as is Super Paper despite it's drastic change in game play. Both Golden Sun games are generally considered highlights of the GBA's library and are rather liked by RPG fans.

Plus Klonoa seems to be pretty well liked by the people who have played them. I wouldn't say it's that people don't like the games, it's just that not a whole lot of people have touched the series so they really can't have an opinion on them.

if Gen 3 is still considered "modern" by today's standards.

Gen 3 came out when I was nine.

I'm twenty one now.

I don't think gen 3 is modern by any stretch of the word.

 

[G Rank Zinogre]

Gen 3 came out when I was nine.

I'm twenty one now.

I don't think gen 3 is modern by any stretch of the word.

My childhood (well kind of) is retro now. I:

 

[Khao]

Gen 3 came out when I was nine.

I'm twenty one now.

I don't think gen 3 is modern by any stretch of the word.

Well, depends on your standards.

You could argue that gaming in general is modern. =P

 

[Minato]

I'm not sure if I want to call gen 3 modern or not. I feel like it added a ton of staples to the series that forever stayed.

But yeah, at the same time it's pretty old lol.

 

[Rutger]

Gen III is most certainly not modern, haha. It may have started things like natures and double battles, but it's still before the physical/special split, netplay, and unlimited TM use, among other things.

As for the whole Gen VI discussion, I feel Gen VI is without question the strongest game from a gameplay point of view. Of couse, when I say that I'm mainly speaking of double battles since those are now the competitive standard as far as The Pokemon Company is concerned. The balance is pretty good, and while there are plenty common strong pokemon, none dominate and we can get away with plenty of creative sets. There's also no need for any complicated banlists like you'd find at Smogon. Breading has been greatly streamlined, and while I still think it'd be better to just get rid of IVs affecting stats, at least it's far easier to bread for good IVs.

On the single player side of things, X and Y certainly have plenty of issues. The lack of a strong post-game hurts a lot(though let's not fool ourselves, the post-game is always bad in the first games of a new gen, so hopefully Z or X2/Y2 or whatever they do next will be a big improvement like always). The story is weak, which hurts more since the first B/W games were not that long ago. The framerate problems, which I don't mind as much since it's a turned-based RPG, are still hard to look past. The low number of new Pokemon is also a little disappointing.

Still, I think the Kalos region is far more interesting than Hoenn. The fact that HMs are not needed as often is a step in the right direction. Also the Pokemon variety is the best in the series and that's a great thing, there are now over 700 Pokemon, I should not be running into Wingull on almost every damn route.

I would not call Gen VI's single player content my favorite, but it does enough to keep it from being my least favorite. That and the gameplay improvements are enough for me to say that Gen VI was a worthwhile addition to the series.
Now if only we could get a Pokemon game that can offer a challenge outside of "maybe you should grind a bit before the next gym/elite four".

 

[DEDEDEDEDEDE]

I mean he was originally in Smash because F-Zero on SNES sold a million copies, and F-Zero X came out less than a year before Smash 64. It was very much a relevant series at the time, and I don't think there's much of a reason to remove a character with such a unique moveset. I also think popularity in Smash is a perfectly good reason to keep a character. Why wouldn't you continue to preserve the fans' favorite characters? Besides, you could say the same about Roy, Game & Watch, and others.

I completely agree that Nintendo should get to work on a new F-Zero, but I think pretty much everyone that's played the series does too.

Edit: Relevant pic

His time has passed because he is a terrible character from a terrible extremely overrated game. Kill this series off once and for all Nintendo.

A vast majority of people who play Smash have probably never touched Fire Emblem, Mother or Xenoblade. Doesn't mean those characters shouldn't be in.

Emulation, emulation everywhere.

 

[Spak]

His time has passed because he is a terrible character from a terrible extremely overrated game. Kill this series off once and for all Nintendo.

Is there a reasoning for this unpopular opinion?

 

[Nixon Corral]

His time has passed because he is a terrible character from a terrible extremely overrated game. Kill this series off once and for all Nintendo.

Why would you want a series that other people care about to die? That's the part I don't get. There are plenty of series I don't like, but I don't want them to just disappear. I can't muster that much spite. No video game franchise gets under my skin like that.

Emulation

I think he's saying they don't emulate those games either. Ie, many have never played those games at all, but their characters are still welcome in Smash.

Is there a reasoning for this unpopular opinion?

He answered above. Basically, he doesn't like the series because he's a F1 fan, and its lack of realism bothers him. He also described the series as "boring" and "easy," which makes me wonder how much he's played.

 

[Plunder]

People not understanding how other people can have different opinions than them.


The internet in a nutshell.


You guys should know better especially in a thread called "unpopular opinions"


For me -

I think Final Fantasy X is horrendous. bad Voice acting, generic story, trite characters, regrettable "new" battle and leveling system, the level design was mediocre. The only thing I really liked about it was some of the music....but every FF games has superb music, so...

I actually liked FFXII a WHOLE lot more. At first I hated it, then I gave it a second chance a year later and loved and and played it 3 more times. The only real criticism I have with that game was the unfortunate way they compressed the voice tracks, everything else about it I rather enjoyed.

 

[Nixon Corral]

People not understanding how other people can have different opinions than them.


The internet in a nutshell.


You guys should know better especially in a thread called "unpopular opinions"

Oh, I thought being condescending and passive aggressive was the internet in a nutshell.

I suppose the meaning of my post wasn't clear enough. What I meant was I can't empathize with spite on that level. I understand that he can have a different opinion, but I find the emotions that drive that opinion to be questionable.

 

[finalark]

His time has passed because he is a terrible character from a terrible extremely overrated game. Kill this series off once and for all Nintendo.

I don't know why you're so bitter towards F-Zero, but if you don't like it then don't play it. It's as simple as that.

Plus it seems a little cruel to be asking for the death of a series that hasn't seen a new installment since 2004.

Emulation, emulation everywhere.

@ Nixon Corral was right.

generic story, trite characters, regrettable "new" battle and leveling system,

To be fair, FFX's story was very original back in 2001. Well, technically Grandia II did the whole "young girl sets out on a religious journey only to discover her faith is a sham and a front for some terrible evil" plot first, but FFX did it second. It wasn't until years later that it became cliche.

I think most of the characters are pretty hit and miss. I really disliked Tidus when I first played the game but as I've gotten older I've found his position more understandable. Auron is undoubtedly one of the better characters, I find Rikku very likable and IMO Wakka actually has a really engaging character arc if you can get past his cheesy voice. That being said, the voice acting sucks hard and really hurts the overall narrative.

I actually really liked the new battle system. It was a return to pre-ATB and the focus on turn management made fights much more strategic, if a bit slow sometimes. Plus I though the sphere grid was pretty rad. It's different, but I like it for the feeling of progression it gives you.

 

[the.tok]

I really liked FFXIII. I consider FFXIII-2 among the very best FF with X and II.
Before seeing this thread, I really thought nobody liked them, seeing how many flames I get when I bring this up

I didn't like any rockstar games except GTA1. When they went to 3D, GTAs became kind of 'meh', too serious and focused around driving. And I did try the majority of them. I hate the driving in GTA. Red dead was a little less worse but still. I hate when games give me this feeling of having a big empty world, with no purpose.
Assassin's creed... meh

I don't like CoD, and basically all FPS. only a handful (Halo, Perfect dark, L4D) were good. The rest ...
I never understood what the fuss was with tomb raider. Infinitely inferior to mario64 as a platformer.

I liked resident evil 5. A lot. It is not a "true" resident evil, but the coop grinding is so much fun. There are not that many offline coop games like that.

Fallout 2 > New Vegas > Fallout 1
Fallout 3 doesn't count

Super street fighter 2 turbo HD Remix is the best SF2

DBZ budokai tenkaichi 3 was fantastic

Starfox adventure was really bad and shallow

All Zeldas are good. The least good is TP (zelda1 for 2D), but it's still pretty good. I'm currently doing MM, and I find it to be nothing special for now. I loved a link between two worlds and skyward sword, but will wait a bit before saying that they are as good as link's awakening and OoT.

 

[Nixon Corral]

Fallout 2 > New Vegas > Fallout 1
Fallout 3 doesn't count

This is correct.

 

[Twewy]

I'm convinced DEDEDEDE is that dude from that MEGACOCK FASTEST ****** IN THE WORLD copypasta from SA. Chapter 7 messed him up so bad that he formed extreme hatred for it.

I kid, I kid. Gonna call you out on calling it "easy" though, unless you're secretly CrazyGameNerd.

Wanna know what games I think are easier than what people say, though? Dark Souls 1 and 2. They have some challenge, yes, but they treat the difficulty like it's OMG SOOPER HARD XD PREPARE TO DIE. Even without using builds that can cheese through the game, they're not the toughest you'll play. Dark Souls being the toughest ever is the literal definition of a meme, not just one of those silly Internet ones that 9gag would claim they made or something.

 

[finalark]

Wanna know what games I think are easier than what people say, though? Dark Souls 1 and 2. They have some challenge, yes, but they treat the difficulty like it's OMG SOOPER HARD XD PREPARE TO DIE. Even without using builds that can cheese through the game, they're not the toughest you'll play. Dark Souls being the toughest ever is the literal definition of a meme, not just one of those silly Internet ones that 9gag would claim they made or something.

My first experience with Dark Souls was when two of my friends, who are big fans of the series, invited me over so I could try it. Given what I had heard, of course I was curious. Anyway, as we booted up the game my friends kept on telling me that I'd get my ass kicked in the tutorial.

Na bro, I've beaten the NES Castlevanias. This ain't nothin'.

After the tutorials I wandered around a bit and came to a tunnel filled with skeletons who beat the crap out of me. I was then informed that if I'm getting beat this hard it's because I'm too low level for this area.

Huh. I thought I was losing because this game was supposed to be hard.

I think Dark Souls is a fun game, not one I'd play constantly or with a ton of enthusiasm, but still fun. I'm sure it's hard if you're not used to playing games like that, but as a Castlevania fan it's easy to apply what I learned from those games to Dark Souls.

 

[SlickJ]

I never in all of my times playing Ocarina of Time found Navi to be annoying in the slightest.

I actually agree with you on that, if anything the way Navi says "Hey listen" is actually kind of funny to me.

 

[Champ Gold]

I hope I don't start q controversy but I hate showhorned Protagonist for sake of the equality.


I'm black but I don't care about my character's skin color to feel attached to. I can easily do that with Japanese characters.

 

[Carrill]

I hope I don't start q controversy but I hate showhorned Protagonist for sake of the equality.


I'm black but I don't care about my character's skin color to feel attached to. I can easily do that with Japanese characters.

I agree that it's not all that difficult to be able to relate to a character despite them having a different gender or a different skin tone than you. Sometimes, you don't have to identify with the character at all. Do I need to relate with Mario to be able to enjoy one of his games? Not at all.

Still, it's never a bad thing to add a little more diversity to the characters we have in our games. I was hoping you could elaborate a little more on what games in particular you felt had minority protagonists who were shoehorned.

 

[Champ Gold]

I agree that it's not all that difficult to be able to relate to a character despite them having a different gender or a different skin tone than you. Sometimes, you don't have to identify with the character at all. Do I need to relate with Mario to be able to enjoy one of his games? Not at all.

Still, it's never a bad thing to add a little more diversity to the characters we have in our games. I was hoping you could elaborate a little more on what games in particular you felt had minority protagonists who were shoehorned.

There was this game called Remember Me which was notorious and known for having a Black Female protagonist and was making a big deal out of it but was forgotten and the game wasn't as special as it made it out to be.

 

[finalark]

FNAF4 came out today, so I figured now's a good time for me to express how I feel about the series.

FNAF is the best thing to happen to the survival horror genre since Amnesia.

Yes, the endless praise these games get and their vocal fans can get annoying, but the games themselves are fun to play and are a breath of fresh air from the endless hordes of Amnesia and Slender clones that were flooding the scene beforehand. And honestly, I'm okay with the rate at which these games are released. They aren't simple rehashes, each game actively makes an effort to distance itself from its predecessors so it can introduce a number of new twists on the original formula. And for the most part these new mechanics almost always work.

 

[Carrill]

So this one might ruffle a few feathers. I was just discussing this in a Skype group I belong to and it did not go well. People got super-defensive about it.

Kirby games' copy abilities are a shallow mechanic.

Don't get me wrong. They're fun. I love them as much as anybody else. Yoyo Kirby from Super Star is my favorite, actually. They helped define Kirby as a character and as a franchise. But at the heart of it, they're really just a box of toys. You absorb a blade knight and you have a fun time hacking away at enemies with a sword. After that, you just get bored of it or you lose it at some point. Then, it's onto the next power. Instead of the game being designed around one mechanic that's multi-faceted, it's designed around several little abilities that come and go as you play.

It hurts the boss design as well. Because you can have almost any power at any boss encounter, there's almost no need to pay attention to a boss's attack patterns. You pretty much hack and slash at them until they're dead. Compare this to bosses in the original Kirby's Dream Land where paying attention to the boss's attack patterns mattered because the entire game centered around inhaling and redirecting what your enemies threw at you. I know Kirby games are supposed to be easy but hacking away wildly at a boss enemy feels formless to me.

Last, I'm going to say that copy abilities themselves have caused the series to stagnate. Remember how Kirby 64 was unique and fun for having the mechanic that allowed us to combine powers? We'll probably never see anything as cool as that again because there's not really much you can do to improve a box of toys other than add new toys. It's just not a mechanic that lends itself very well to being improved over installments.

What's also interesting is the fact that Kirby's Epic Yarn is the most critically acclaimed Kirby game in recent time. I think that the game being based around the concept of a world made of yarn that Kirby can manipulate offers way more freedom and depth in game design than the copy abilities could ever have.

 

[Kurri ★]

So this one might ruffle a few feathers. I was just discussing this in a Skype group I belong to and it did not go well. People got super-defensive about it.

Kirby games' copy abilities are a shallow mechanic.

Don't get me wrong. They're fun. I love them as much as anybody else. Yoyo Kirby from Super Star is my favorite, actually. They helped define Kirby as a character and as a franchise. But at the heart of it, they're really just a box of toys. You absorb a blade knight and you have a fun time hacking away at enemies with a sword. After that, you just get bored of it or you lose it at some point. Then, it's onto the next power. Instead of the game being designed around one mechanic that's multi-faceted, it's designed around several little abilities that come and go as you play.

It hurts the boss design as well. Because you can have almost any power at any boss encounter, there's almost no need to pay attention to a boss's attack patterns. You pretty much hack and slash at them until they're dead. Compare this to bosses in the original Kirby's Dream Land where paying attention to the boss's attack patterns mattered because the entire game centered around inhaling and redirecting what your enemies threw at you. I know Kirby games are supposed to be easy but hacking away wildly at a boss enemy feels formless to me.

Last, I'm going to say that copy abilities themselves have caused the series to stagnate. Remember how Kirby 64 was unique and fun for having the mechanic that allowed us to combine powers? We'll probably never see anything as cool as that again because there's not really much you can do to improve a box of toys other than add new toys. It's just not a mechanic that lends itself very well to being improved over installments.

What's also interesting is the fact that Kirby's Epic Yarn is the most critically acclaimed Kirby game in recent time. I think that the game being based around the concept of a world made of yarn that Kirby can manipulate offers way more freedom and depth in game design than the copy abilities could ever have.

Never thought about that.

Aside from instances where the ability opened new routes, they really haven't done much aside from being fun little toys. Kirby at it's most difficult was when you didn't have an ability which forced you to learn the attack pattern of bosses and plan out how to defeat them. Give him the sword ability and you can attack whenever you pleased.

 

[Narelex]

Never thought about that.

Aside from instances where the ability opened new routes, they really haven't done much aside from being fun little toys. Kirby at it's most difficult was when you didn't have an ability which forced you to learn the attack pattern of bosses and plan out how to defeat them. Give him the sword ability and you can attack whenever you pleased.

Sounds like the bosses need to do more damage, have their attacks be more threatening and have more health then. So that you can't just hack away and have to use the abilities strategically and dodge their moves.

 

[finalark]

Instead of the game being designed around one mechanic that's multi-faceted, it's designed around several little abilities that come and go as you play.

That's not bad game design, since technically tailoring the levels to a primary mechanic is good design, but I agree with you on a lot of points. Really, the only time that you need a specific ability is if you're going for 100%. And there are some levels designed around specific abilities, but usually that's the only ability available in the level.

I do agree with you that it's hurt the series in the long run. Most of the games run together for me since they're all so similar.

 

[Dre89]

I don't think games have to be difficult to be good. Easy games can be good if they have fluid gameplay or are relaxing in some way.

I also think that in a way, the SNES graphics have aged better than the 64's

 

[Champ Gold]

I don't think games have to be difficult to be good. Easy games can be good if they have fluid gameplay or are relaxing in some way.

I also think that in a way, the SNES graphics have aged better than the 64's

16-bit games have been aging better for the past 20 years. For God sakes, Super Metroid and Sonic 3 & Knuckles look incredible and aged like fine $300 wine