Highly Rated "Classic" Game You Don't Like

[poofyhairguy]

So one thing I think is funny is that "classic" games in consoleland are often not up for debate, even though gaming tastes vary wildly. I think for many gamers this homogenous view of the industry means that often our dirty little gaming secret is the AAA classic game everyone loved that we just didn't like. So I want to ask:

Out of old titles (10+ years) that are now considered classic, which one or ones do you personally not like very much?

For me the answer is Super Mario 64. I mean I had plenty of fun as a kid running around the (then new as a concept) 3D world, but the camera was such a nightmare that I never bothered to "complete" the game and get enough stars to see Yoshi because harder levels were such a grind. I got enough stars to beat it once way back when, and then never played it again for more than a level. Meanwhile I have beaten my favorite side scrolling Mario (M3) every few years like clockwork. As far as that initial wow factor, day one with the N64 I was actually more amazed flying around in Pilotwings 64 then I was playing Mario. I actually like Mario Sunshine more than Mario 64 as far as the style, and because I didn't like Mario 64 I didn't like any of the N64 games that were bad copies (Banjo, Conkers, the Rare Star Fox game, etc.). The only "open world" N64 game I liked close to that mold was OOT (which is my third favorite Zelda game).

What classic game did you not like? What is your gaming secret?

 

[Lil Frier]

There are a lot of them I just never played, either due to not owning the console or just not having interest in the genre. I remember trying Ocarina of Time at a friend's once, and it was years after it had actually come out (he and I we into playing Halo on the original Xbox by then), and I just didn't care about it. I played maybe 20 minutes, and it was just dull to me. That held true when I recently for The Wind Waker HD for free on the Wii U--it just starts so slowly I gave up from boredom.

 

[Anteaus]

I've always felt that Final Fantasy VII was the Avatar of its day. It was a somewhat above average game that catapulted to huge success due to a combination of technical achievement and good timing. I liked the story but ultimately built a dislike to it for due to ATB and battle load times. I have always preferred pure turn based Final Fantasy games, and thus I don't like FF7.

I think the reason FF7 hasn't been remade in spite of the huge profit potential is that the core gameplay hasn't aged well and would ultimately make people question why they liked it so much in the first place. Obviously I'm just speaking for myself so there is no need for anyone to jump in and tell me how wrong I am. It's an opinion.

 

[Bird222]

So one thing I think is funny is that "classic" games in consoleland are often not up for debate, even though gaming tastes vary wildly. I think for many gamers this homogenous view of the industry means that often our dirty little gaming secret is the AAA classic game everyone loved that we just didn't like. So I want to ask:

Out of old titles (10+ years) that are now considered classic, which one or ones do you personally not like very much?

For me the answer is Super Mario 64. I mean I had plenty of fun as a kid running around the (then new as a concept) 3D world, but the camera was such a nightmare that I never bothered to "complete" the game and get enough stars to see Yoshi because harder levels were such a grind. I got enough stars to beat it once way back when, and then never played it again for more than a level. Meanwhile I have beaten my favorite side scrolling Mario (M3) every few years like clockwork. As far as that initial wow factor, day one with the N64 I was actually more amazed flying around in Pilotwings 64 then I was playing Mario. I actually like Mario Sunshine more than Mario 64 as far as the style, and because I didn't like Mario 64 I didn't like any of the N64 games that were bad copies (Banjo, Conkers, the Rare Star Fox game, etc.). The only "open world" N64 game I liked close to that mold was OOT (which is my third favorite Zelda game).

What classic game did you not like? What is your gaming secret?

I liked Mario 64. Didn't really like Mario Sunshine. I never really got into the Zelda franchise. I think I liked the first one ok.

 

[Lil Frier]

Also, I preferred Banjo-Kazooie to Super Mario 64, though I liked both. Something else of that nature, I thought Snowboard Kids was better than Mario Kart, and I'd apply the same to Diddy Kong Racing. I'd rank them:

1. Snowboard Kids (1+2): I love the items in the game, and the thing as a whole is cool.
2. Diddy Kong Racing: The non-racing competitions are sweet.
3. Mario Kart: Not bad, just not as good.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I've always felt that Final Fantasy VII was the Avatar of its day. It was a somewhat above average game that catapulted to huge success due to a combination of technical achievement and good timing. I liked the story but ultimately built a dislike to it for due to ATB and battle load times. I have always preferred pure turn based Final Fantasy games, and thus I don't like FF7.

I think the reason FF7 hasn't been remade in spite of the huge profit potential is that the core gameplay hasn't aged well and would ultimately make people question why they liked it so much in the first place. Obviously I'm just speaking for myself so there is no need for anyone to jump in and tell me how wrong I am. It's an opinion.

I will be honest, I have avoided replaying FF7 since its release (past the first 20 minutes or so just to hear the music) because I am scared that it won't hold up. Even back in the day it wasn't my favorite FF because I didn't like how scarce the sidequests were compared to previous titles. Twenty plus years later I am still finding out cool combos at the FF6 Colosseum, while I am pretty sure me and my strategy guide maxed out FF7 back in 1997.

Actually I had a friend ruin about half of FF7 for me a few years ago when he asked one question about the most emotional scene:

"What is Cloud standing on here?"

I will never forgive him for that.

 

[razel]

That held true when I recently for The Wind Waker HD for free on the Wii U--it just starts so slowly I gave up from boredom.

Okami. For a very similar reason. It wasn't until roughly 1 hour after the game begins that you can do anything remotely resembling a game. You are watching a bad and slowly subtitled cartoon. It was primarily the fact that you couldn't skip ahead the subtitles. I could read much faster than it was displaying.

After 30 minutes of play after the 1+ hour 'intro', I started encountering more tutorials where I couldn't skip past the subtitles, so I gave up. I plan on revisiting the Okami HD version, since you can skip it, but not anytime soon.

I'm sure it's a great game, ruined by forced impatience.

 

[purbeast0]

shen mue - thought it was boring as hell

final fantasy 7 - that is the reason i no longer like RPG's. that is the first game that started making rpg's take forever to finish. they had some attacks that you would start, go take a crap, make a grilled cheese sandwich, take a nap, then get up and the movie still wouldn't finish. hated that game so much. i loved rpgs where you just pressed "attack" and it had you swipe your sword, and a number just appeared above your enemies head. didnt take forever.

mario kart 64 - this is the game that ruined the mario kart series. i remember mastering the game in about 4 days and was pissed i bought it. the game had absolutely no skill necessary to be good at it. it had that stupid wiggle turn thing to get speed boosts, which take 0 skill, as opposed to the jump sliding on the SNES one, which took skill to actually do correctly. i recently played MK on the wii-u, and by my second race, i was beating the guy who owned the game because the game is still to this day a piece of cake, and the mechanics are identical. still has that stupid slide/speed boost thing, and the whole randomness of good items to people behind you is even worse than it was back on the N64. that franchise is terrible. the only other good one was the DS one (aside from SNES)

 

[TheSlamma]

like other have said FF7 was complete junk to me. Loved 1-6 though

 

[mmntech]

For me the answer is Super Mario 64.

Yeah, Mario 64 may have been hugely influential but it was very rough around the edges. Actually, I'm not a big fan of the Mario series at all. They have their merits but I can never seem to get into them. I was always more a Sonic guy. Back when Sonic was good I mean.

Okami. For a very similar reason. It wasn't until roughly 1 hour after the game begins that you can do anything remotely resembling a game. You are watching a bad and slowly subtitled cartoon. It was primarily the fact that you couldn't skip ahead the subtitles. I could read much faster than it was displaying.

Okami is very slow to start and is a bit heavy on dialogue, but it does get a lot better. It's similar to Zelda but there's not as much dungeon diving.

As for highly rated games I don't like.
1. Metal Gear Solid 4: I'm not a huge stealth fan to begin with but the LONG cutscenes and cheesy story really killed it for me.

2. Final Fantasy: Another series that I agree has its merits but I usually get fed up of the grinding in JRPGs pretty quickly.

 

[cmdrdredd]

The only ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Ico - Just boring to me
Any of the Dragon Warrior games
Tekken - I know there is a pretty decent following for them but I don't like them
Star Fox (any of them)
Goldeneye - At the time of its release I had been playing Quake on PC and then a year after it released, Unreal. The aim controls were superior so I was bias against it.

 

[tdawg]

Half-Life series, Team Fortress... I couldn't stand the latter and the former gave me motion sickness (though I didn't really get into the game at all each time I tried).

 

[Ichinisan]

I think we play Super Mario 64 on a completely differently level. I feel "free" when playing that game and I constantly do dangerous shortcuts that would seem insane to any player that worries about losing a life.

I love that game.

I also go back and play the #$%ing HELL out of some Super Mario Bros. 3.

I was totally hyped for Zelda:OoT and ended up not really liking it. I loved the black-and-white Gameboy title (Link's Awakening) and the Super NES game (Link to the Past). OoT felt like a downgrade to me.

 

[Ichinisan]

...
mario kart 64 - this is the game that ruined the mario kart series. i remember mastering the game in about 4 days and was pissed i bought it. the game had absolutely no skill necessary to be good at it. it had that stupid wiggle turn thing to get speed boosts, which take 0 skill, as opposed to the jump sliding on the SNES one, which took skill to actually do correctly. i recently played MK on the wii-u, and by my second race, i was beating the guy who owned the game because the game is still to this day a piece of cake, and the mechanics are identical. still has that stupid slide/speed boost thing, and the whole randomness of good items to people behind you is even worse than it was back on the N64. that franchise is terrible. the only other good one was the DS one (aside from SNES)

You couldn't be more wrong about this. I agree that the extra hard unlockable cup in SMK was pretty hard, but SM64 has a great bit of challenge too. Did you unlock all the course ghosts in time trial mode?

Battle mode on Block Fort was #$%^ing amazing. Every other version of Mario Kart since has had an absolutely terrible battle mode.

 

[mmntech]

The only ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Ico - Just boring to me
Any of the Dragon Warrior games
Tekken - I know there is a pretty decent following for them but I don't like them
Star Fox (any of them)
Goldeneye - At the time of its release I had been playing Quake on PC and then a year after it released, Unreal. The aim controls were superior so I was bias against it.

Yeah, Ico's a weird one. It's another one of those games that IMO isn't great on its own but was hugely influential.

 

[Zodiark1593]

Shadow of the Collossus.

The game was perhaps the best looking on the PS2 but that I felt was about all it had going. I didn't play much during the week I borrowed it, but the game seemed to move at an utter snails pace, even compared to some slower jrpgs I've played. Fighting the monsters was much closer to a chore than anything, due in part to the pacing. Story did not catch my interest enough to make the slow gameplay worthwhile.

 

[xantub]

Ico.
Minecraft (ok it's not 'classic', but it does look worse than most 'classics' )

 

[Ichinisan]

Shadow of the Collossus.

The game was perhaps the best looking on the PS2 but that I felt was about all it had going. I didn't play much during the week I borrowed it, but the game seemed to move at an utter snails pace, even compared to some slower jrpgs I've played. Fighting the monsters was much closer to a chore than anything, due in part to the pacing. Story did not catch my interest enough to make the slow gameplay worthwhile.

Nooooo! D:

You play CoD, bro?

 

[purbeast0]

You couldn't be more wrong about this. I agree that the extra hard unlockable cup in SMK was pretty hard, but SM64 has a great bit of challenge too. Did you unlock all the course ghosts in time trial mode?

Battle mode on Block Fort was #$%^ing amazing. Every other version of Mario Kart since has had an absolutely terrible battle mode.

MK64 has no challenge at all, again, i finished the game 100% in about 4 days. took no skill to get good at it. the game has 0 sense of speed, even in the fastest cup. absolutely none. the 50cc in SMK felt faster than the 150cc in MK64. forgot to mention the crap sense of speed.

and battle mode can't make up for pure crap mechanics. if the engine is terrible, nothing else about the game matters to me. and the engine is pure garbage in that game (and every other MK after except DS).

 

[master_shake_]

"What is Cloud standing on here?"

I will never forgive him for that.

he's got a point

:biggrin:

for me it's goldeneye64

i played the hell out of multiplayer when i was younger but almost 20 years later it's meh.

 

[mmntech]

Nooooo! D:

You play CoD, bro?

Well... I don't think he's wrong. Both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus were sort of the first true art house games. Their style infuenced a lot of later games such as Twilight Princess and MGS3. Maybe they did deserve their praise when they first came out.

I was introduced to both these games when the HD rerelease came out. So my perceptions aren't tinted with nostalgia. When you strip them of their legacy, it's pretty easy see why some people don't like them. IMO, they're a bit too large in scope but too thin on story and gameplay. The whole experience can get a bit tedious after awhile. I've tried sitting down and playing them several times but I just can't get myself invested. There's been far better games since, both mainstream and art house, that have built on their concepts. Journey is one of them.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I'm another that can't get into FF7. I've tried multiple times. I remember being soo excited when it came out.

Same with Mario 64, Zelda OoT/MM. I've tried multiple times and just can't get into them. I "WANT" to like them. Especially since people rave about them. Just can't do it. Also don't like the Donkey Kong Country series. Pretty much, I hated the N64, although I did kinda like Conkers. Side Note: It is interesting to know that Majoras Mask was heavily influenced by the Twin Peaks show which the creator was really into at the time.

As for Shadow of the Colossus, it really was like the first Zelda. Your story was through exploring/adventuring. It wasn't told to you. It really was a gimmick game overall though, but it was done well.

 

[pathos]

Anything nintendo develops (mario, metroid, zelda, all boring series to me)

Anything Sonic the hedgehog.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Metal Gear Solid 2 got really high ratings, and to be fair, I though the game mechanics were pretty good when I first played it. But as I've ranted about before (in probably my favorite ever post on these forums), the game devolves into self-parody almost immediately, and then keeps on digging. It features Dracula and Fat Rollerblade Bomberman for God's sake. By the time you're running around naked while your boss tells you how to prune the bushes and you're vomiting blood because a gallon of Everclear is the only thing that will allow you to power through this nonsense, it's clear that the sequel might have been a little bit of a letdown to one of the greatest games of all time.

 

[Zodiark1593]

Nooooo! D:

You play CoD, bro?

No, no, and negatory.