Game's Not Nearly As Good As Heralded

Thread for games that everyone seems to roll over for, but the game's aren't really as good as they claim them to be.

My first choice is Castlevania IV

This is a strange case, back around 4 years ago people were like, "Castlevania IV, that was a pretty good game."

Then James Rolfe said it was his favorite game of all time at one point and then people were, "Castlevania IV is one of the top 10 greatest games of all TIME!!!"

Is it bad, no. But it isn't the best game ever, or even the best in the series. Not by a long shot.

1. Graphics: Graphics are quite good, however I do have issues with a few of the sprites actually. Skeletons look clunky and apelike, not sure what it is they just look weird. The bone dragons are strange also, they look rather skinny and are more bone anacondas than anything else. The rotating room was gimmicky and rather stupid looking. Other than that not too much to complain about.

2. Control: People seem to say that it has the best controls in the series, however the issue is that Eric Lecarde in Bloodlines plays almost exactly the same. Now this actually works against the game believe it or not when you include 8-way attacks, the difficulty actually is what makes Castlevania. Compare playing Eric to playing John in BL, Eric feels like you're cheating at the game. The controls are good, but not good for Castlevania.

3. Music: This is the BIG ONE. I really hated the music to IV. Simon's Theme and the Ending Theme were the only songs that I felt had some of the Castlevania fell. The Cave area had totally forgettable music, as for the rest of the game it sounded like someone pounding on a cheap Casio keyboard like a kid trying to learn to play music, only difference is that he will eventually realize it sounds like garbage. I actually have to blame this one on the samples they used for the game. SNES has a certain sort of default set of sampled instruments that make it into 80% of its library, I can honestly say I HATE that set. There are few games in the SNES library that have music I like namely Demon's Crest, Yoshi's Island, and Dracula XX.

4. Sounds: This one is a mixed bag, I like Simon's hurt grunt and dying yell. However, and I think everyone knows this sound, when you kill a skeleton or most of the other enemies, it sounds like a high-pitched floppy drive that is about to break it's belt, or like someone turbo-farted. There are some good ones and some bad ones, but I call it a neutral point here.

5. Overall score: Like I said, the game isn't bad, however it isn't nearly as good as people make it out to be. I'd say a solid 8/10, Castlevania 3 and Dracula X were my personal picks for the best in the series. They were a perfect marriage of style, difficulty, music and graphics. Honestly it is on somewhat of an equal ground to Bloodlines with me. Bloodlines has better composed music, IV has better graphics. Bloodlines has more consistent sound effects, IV has better sampled ones.

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Originally Posted by GriskaGyoran

3. Music: This is the BIG ONE. I really hated the music to IV. Simon's Theme and the Ending Theme were the only songs that I felt had some of the Castlevania fell. The Cave area had totally forgettable music, as for the rest of the game it sounded like someone pounding on a cheap Casio keyboard like a kid trying to learn to play music, only difference is that he will eventually realize it sounds like garbage. I actually have to blame this one on the samples they used for the game. SNES has a certain sort of default set of sampled instruments that make it into 80% of its library, I can honestly say I HATE that set.

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:ok:

All of these things, in hindsight seem obvious relative to the other entries in the series. But BITD, this game was the shit. Still one of my all-time favorites, and I happen to love the music.

Personally, I find the Phantasy Star series to be severely overrated amongst SEGA gamers. Just never did it for me.

Castlevania IV is a great game... if you use the passwords. It has a very strong start with great graphics and energetic music. Then it just becomes a really brown, uninspired game until the end when they finally come up with some clever uses for the whip and the graphics and music are suddenly great again.

I always felt like they had amazing plans for the beginning and the end but when it came time to fill in the middle they just phoned in a long stretch of boredom. People often crap on Dracula X for not being as good as the PC Engine game that it's modeled after and Bloodlines for controlling more like the NES games but to me they're both better than Castlevania IV.

I can honestly say I didn't care much for the game back in the day either. I never beat it when I was a kid, partially because I could only play it at a friend's house and partially because I'd get tired of it after the first few levels.

Astal on the sega Saturn.

Great graphics, great music, not so good level design in some cases.

I'm really happy to finally have it in my collection but it's certainly not the end-all 2D platformer on the Saturn. The gameplay is nothing outstanding, just good.

Phantasy Star IV
Bare Knuckle 3
Starfox
Donkey Kong Country
Super Mario World
Super Mario 64
Sonic Advance 1&2
Any Halo after 2 1

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Originally Posted by AlecRob

Astal on the sega Saturn.

Great graphics, great music, not so good level design in some cases.

I'm really happy to finally have it in my collection but it's certainly not the end-all 2D platformer on the Saturn. The gameplay is nothing outstanding, just good.

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I have never heard anybody say that it's a great game.

Anyways for me it has to be Guardian Heroes. Graphics are way to pixelated, you have to have the Undead Hero roaming around (lame) and probably 80% of the 45 characters for the vs mode are worthless. It's not a bad game by know means but it's not great IMO.

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

Phantasy Star IV
Bare Knuckle 3
Starfox
Donkey Kong Country
Super Mario World
Super Mario 64
Sonic Advance 1&2
Any Halo after 2

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You say these games weren't as good as people claimed, but you think Halo 1&2 were good?You must not have played any PC shooters.I also agree with OP, Castlevania IV is slow garbage in my opinion, music was decent though.I was going to say Final Fanytasy 7, but I'm sure that's an unspoken truth, so I'll pick something different.In my recent memory, I'd have to say Red Dead Redemption was no where, and I mean not even remotely close as good as people said it was.The controls were sloppy, the game was ugly,and it was boring, the story was somewhat decent, but it doesn't make the game any better, glad I only spent 20 on it.

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Originally Posted by kokujin

You say these games weren't as good as people claimed, but you think Halo 1&2 were good?You must not have played any PC shooters.

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No no, Halo 1 is good (It was the first playable console FPS, and no, not even Golden Eye was "playable"). Halo 2 is crap.
Exhumed is the only console FPS that's any good and even so I'm wishing I was playing it on a PC the whole time.

I'll also add Guild Wars 1, overrated crap. Luckily ArenaNET seems to agree with me since they changed everything in number 2.

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

No no, Halo 1 is good (It was the first playable console FPS, and no, not even Golden Eye was "playable"). Halo 2 is crap.
Exhumed is the only console FPS that's any good and even so I'm wishing I was playing it on a PC the whole time.

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I don't agree with you, but I got you.You're lucky we're on a Sega site, or that Goldeneye comment would have started a storm.

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Originally Posted by kokujin

I don't agree with you, but I got you.You're lucky we're on a Sega site, or that Goldeneye comment would have started a storm.

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I'd say Mario 64 and DKC would create much bigger shitstorms.

Guardian Heroes. I thought the gameplay was just way too stiff for a beat-em-up. Not that it's bad but not my cup of tea.

I still think most RPGs are vastly overrated, especially 16-bit era and before. They're all so fucking repetitive, and the gameplay feels like just a chore to advance the story. I've played maybe two or three RPGs with random encounters that were actually entertaining (Shining in the Darkness and Panzer Dragoon Saga come to mind). And yet everybody wants to suck the dick of Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, every Final Fantasy, both Lunars, and the ilk. They're not fun games. If I wanted to play an unfun game just for the fantasy story, I'd simply go read a fantasy novel. I just don't get the appeal. I prefer strategy RPGs like the Fire Emblem series. They're far more entertaining.

That also ties into Pokemon, which I think is probably the most overrated series of all-time. What is fun about the series? Granted I enjoyed it immensely when I was young but when I came back to it long after not playing since the 2nd generation, I found it to be extremely repetitive and boring. There's pretty much no story and it's the same shit over and over and over again.

My first playthrough of Chrono Trigger was on the DS, and I only played a handful of JRPGs before, but I finished it. I liked it that much I guess.. I also reached the final boss in FFX but was underleveled and had to cheat my way into finishing it.

I had Bare Knuckle III and it was my favourite Megadrive brawler. Granted it's a divisive entry but for me at least it delivered the goods.

My personal entry would be Bioshock. I had a good time but critics went overboard with it. The same binary morality system was used in Dishonored as well.. it's just plain ludicrous.

Castlevania IVs music grows on you over time, goes more for an atmospheric, mood music style, works well with the levels. I like Clockwork Mansion, Forest of Monsters, Pillared Corridor (think that's what they're called, I'm no expert).

Where it comes to the graphics I have to say Konami handled the parallax very nicely, there's often 3 independent backgrounds each with proper pixel art, the pallette is certainly a little drab, I guess they were going for a dingy horror look, I don't have much of a problem with it.

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As for most overrated, probably Halo, if it wasn't for the excellent split screen multiplayer it would literally have no redeeming qualities at all (well, I guess the graphics were good for the time, physics etc).

I don't know what half you folks are smoking.....but I'll like some.

When I read the title question, my first thought was "Most of them."

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Originally Posted by Baloo

That also ties into Pokemon, which I think is probably the most overrated series of all-time. What is fun about the series? Granted I enjoyed it immensely when I was young but when I came back to it long after not playing since the 2nd generation, I found it to be extremely repetitive and boring. There's pretty much no story and it's the same shit over and over and over again.

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Pokemon appeals on all levels, children like collecting, but more mature players play for the intense battles.

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Originally Posted by GriskaGyoran

Thread for games that everyone seems to roll over for, but the game's aren't really as good as they claim them to be.

My first choice is Castlevania IV

This is a strange case, back around 4 years ago people were like, "Castlevania IV, that was a pretty good game."

Then James Rolfe said it was his favorite game of all time at one point and then people were, "Castlevania IV is one of the top 10 greatest games of all TIME!!!"

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Nah, SCV4 was heralded as one of the GOAT Castlevanias way before James reviewed it.

But yeah, I would agree that it's "overrated". I've bashed Castlevania 4 quite a bit, but the game does have its merits. I think a lot of the praise it gets has to do with nostalgia though. People like to pan Bloodlines for feeling "old" but that's only until you get used to the confine/premise of the controls. It's like with Streets of Rage 2 and 3. If you've ever played 3 and then gone back to 2, the controls feel very stiff at first. Once you play a level or two you get used to it and then it feels weird going back to 3. Also, SCV4's controls have always annoyed me, the whip flail is nearly useless, and sometimes it unintentionally does the flail when you want to do a normal strike. For whatever reason, 4 doesn't feel as action-oriented either. At least not until the final handful of levels.

But yeah, people say 4 is the best 2D Castlevania. I wouldn't even say it's the best one from the 16 bit gen. Rondo of Blood is my undisputed favorite classic Castlevania, then Bloodlines and the X68000 game, and then 4.

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Originally Posted by AlecRob

Astal on the sega Saturn.

Great graphics, great music, not so good level design in some cases.

I'm really happy to finally have it in my collection but it's certainly not the end-all 2D platformer on the Saturn. The gameplay is nothing outstanding, just good.

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Astal stands as "what could have been" for the Saturn, at least for me anyway. It's unfortunate that 3D emerged, just as 2D was reaching its peak. A Saturn with all 2D games could've been amazing (although yes the Saturn is still a great system as long as you import, 2D only would've meant logical progressions for Sonic, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe).

A lot of the modern blockbuster games don't live up to the hype.

Assassin's Creed 2 - I played for several hours without getting killed. Swordfights, rooftop jumping, and all that other cool stuff just isn't fun without any challenge. It could have been a great game if only they included difficulty settings.

Uncharted series - I like the series but it's way more style than substance. The platforming is automatic so you don't have to worry about falling, the puzzles are so easy I don't know why they're even included, and the story is not movie quality no matter what people say. The environments and decent cover-shooter gunplay are the best aspects.

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Originally Posted by kokujin

Pokemon appeals on all levels, children like collecting, but more mature players play for the intense battles.

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Still, seeing it rank above every game Sega has ever made on mainstream media top lists is frustrating.

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Originally Posted by Pulstar

My personal entry would be Bioshock. I had a good time but critics went overboard with it. The same binary morality system was used in Dishonored as well.. it's just plain ludicrous.

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At least Dishonored offers a variety of approaches from a gameplay perspective. It lets the player be more creative than Bioshock does.

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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater

Uncharted series - I like the series but it's way more style than substance. The platforming is automatic so you don't have to worry about falling, the puzzles are so easy I don't know why they're even included, and the story is not movie quality no matter what people say. The environments and decent cover-shooter gunplay are the best aspects.
.

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This series is so mediocre, the first game was probably the best.

I'm going to go with all popular mainstream franchises, all of them, from beginning to end. Mario, Zelda, Megaman, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Dragon's Quest, Madden, Sonic, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Donkey Kong Country, Doom, Quake, Half Life, Counterstrike, Ridge Racer, Tekken, Wipeout, Tomb Raider, Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid, Ace Combat, Armored Core, Banjo Kazooie, Super Smash Bros, Goldeneye, Pokemon, Halo, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Devil May Cry, Gears of War, Forza. Did I miss any?

They are all money leaches from real games that are a bane on creativity of any kind and gaming in general.

Nah, pretty much all of those have at least one game that really shined.

EDIT: Well... maybe not Gears of War, what a boring series.

Well, really shined, about half of these would qualify, but just as good as heralded? I don't think anything lives up to insane synergistic cult followings or mass appeal.

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Originally Posted by sheath

Well, really shined, about half of these would qualify, but just as good as heralded? I don't think anything lives up to insane synergistic cult followings or mass appeal.

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True, I think a lot of people see games in a series through the lense of the "great one", and it either shows all the other games in the series as awesome, or as crap. Funny that.

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

Phantasy Star IV
Bare Knuckle 3
Starfox
Donkey Kong Country
Super Mario World
Super Mario 64
Sonic Advance 1&2
Any Halo after 2 1

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Huh?!!!

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Originally Posted by Curryman123

I don't know what half you folks are smoking.....but I'll like some.

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^
This...

Starfox has a horrible framerate, it has those freaking annoying friends who I just want to murder, and really isn't that fun.
Donkey Kong Country is an overrated piece of crap. DKC 2 was good though, but only good, not OMG THIS IS THE GREATEST GAME EVER, just good.
Super Mario World was disappointing after SMB 3.

I'll also add Yoshi's Island. WAAA WAAAA WAAAA WAAA WAAAA WAAA WAAA WAAAA. They wasted a Super FX2 chip on this crap?

IMO:

Astal: Overhyped by many sources (Looking at you video game critic), but turned out to be sluggish and boring. Platformers without a dash attack shouldn't exist. I hate having to stop dead in my tracks in order to attack. Also short!

Panzer Dragoon shooting series: Feel asleep.....no variety in game play. One weapon and the levels are kinda boring TBH.

Zelda OOT: Didn't like it. The puzzles were too tricky IMO and I hated consulting the guide. Also the back tracking got reaaaal old. Just got bored with it.

Metroid Prime: uuugh....fuck you nintendo.

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

Starfox has a horrible framerate, it has those freaking annoying friends who I just want to murder, and really isn't that fun.
Donkey Kong Country is an overrated piece of crap. DKC 2 was good though, but only good, not OMG THIS IS THE GREATEST GAME EVER, just good.
Super Mario World was disappointing after SMB 3.

I'll also add Yoshi's Island. WAAA WAAAA WAAAA WAAA WAAAA WAAA WAAA WAAAA. They wasted a Super FX2 chip on this crap?

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What's wrong with SM 64 and Phantasy Star iv?

Collecting stars is extremely fun in M64 IMO. Maybe my favorite mario game.

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Originally Posted by Curryman123

IMO:

Astal: Overhyped by many sources (Looking at you video game critic), but turned out to be sluggish and boring. Platformers without a dash attack shouldn't exist. I hate having to stop dead in my tracks in order to attack. Also short!

Panzer Dragoon shooting series: Feel asleep.....no variety in game play. One weapon and the levels are kinda boring TBH.

Zelda OOT: Didn't like it. The puzzles were too tricky IMO and I hated consulting the guide. Also the back tracking got reaaaal old. Just got bored with it.

Metroid Prime: uuugh....fuck you nintendo.

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Panzer dragoon Zwei is awesome! i dont think its overrated at all, its much better than the first one. Episode 3 is my favorite part of the game.

Yeah I wish I could have enjoyed it......but it didn't click with me.

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Originally Posted by Curryman123

Yeah I wish I could have enjoyed it......but it didn't click with me.

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Do you like Starfox 64?

Never played it....first one is okish.

The Ecco series - I never understood the panty-gushing from all the magazines BITD over these games. I just tried it on my system 5 minutes ago to make sure it wasn't me just being 'too young' to understand the series. Nope, still a POS.

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Originally Posted by Curryman123

What's wrong with SM 64

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Ugly, suffers badly from poor controls due to the terribad N64 controller, music is much weaker than previous Marios, replaces the straightforward and fun gameplay of classic Mario games with a more complex and more boring exploratory design, artificially lengthened with the whole stars mechanic. Good, not great.

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Originally Posted by Curryman123

and Phantasy Star iv?

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Some people like to make it seem it can compete with the likes of FF 6 or CT, it can't. It's close but not quite. Although it beats both on story, cutscenes and boss music, it's weaker in all other aspects. The UI seems taken out of an 8bit game.

I agree with you on PS4.

@Lastcallhall

Agree with the first Ecco being over hyped. Own it for SCD, beat it and I will never go back to it again. It was a chore the first time. The game is Tedius and boring at times.

The second Ecco is a huge step up IMO...really great game.

I have both ecco games on Sega CD, (second one in great shape CIB!)

still haven't gotten around to playing them. I've been kind of nervous that my Sega CD could break down any minute. I'm gonna get the laser, belt, and capacitors replaced soon.

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Originally Posted by sheath

I'm going to go with all popular mainstream franchises, all of them, from beginning to end. Mario, Zelda, Megaman, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Dragon's Quest, Madden, Sonic, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Donkey Kong Country, Doom, Quake, Half Life, Counterstrike, Ridge Racer, Tekken, Wipeout, Tomb Raider, Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid, Ace Combat, Armored Core, Banjo Kazooie, Super Smash Bros, Goldeneye, Pokemon, Halo, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Devil May Cry, Gears of War, Forza. Did I miss any?

They are all money leaches from real games that are a bane on creativity of any kind and gaming in general.

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:roll:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/are...-univer,29922/

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Originally Posted by sheath

I'm going to go with all popular mainstream franchises, all of them, from beginning to end. Mario, Zelda, Megaman, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Dragon's Quest, Madden, Sonic, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Donkey Kong Country, Doom, Quake, Half Life, Counterstrike, Ridge Racer, Tekken, Wipeout, Tomb Raider, Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid, Ace Combat, Armored Core, Banjo Kazooie, Super Smash Bros, Goldeneye, Pokemon, Halo, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Devil May Cry, Gears of War, Forza. Did I miss any?

They are all money leaches from real games that are a bane on creativity of any kind and gaming in general.

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Huh? Care to elaborate? I wouldn't argue if you mean the derivatives of those games or the formulas and frameworks that they laid the groundwork for, but most of the actual franchises listed started off fairly innovative.

I think the main problem is that video games have become these giant productions that in turn have to make giant returns. That's where the real stifling of creativity comes from. People have compared the current generation of games to movies, and if you look at the film industry you can foresee the potential traps that gaming has/is falling into. Avatar's a good example. Highest grossing film of all time, yet the story was basic and played out, likely stemming from the fears of taking a risk on a project with that much money invested.

I've never had much of an issue with the N64 controller. Although I hold it like a conventional controller and not the way they recommend (ie hold the middle part and one of the sides). You have to cut Mario 64 some slack. Like the original Mario Bros. it set the groundwork for every other platformer that came after. The controls are still smooth and responsive (mechanical issues stemming from the controller aside).

As for Ecco, great series, but yeah the first game can be tough. It has to be given credit for trying something completely out of the box though. And yes Tides of Time is much more accessible than the original. They both still stand as two of the most atmospheric games ever made, I don't think it's possible to top the "intro" of the original(ie the whole, "how high can you jump" deal). Great controls/fluidity and an amazing soundtrack. Way ahead of its time. If Ecco came out today it would still be considered innovative. But yeah, at least give Tides of Time a go if you can't get into the first one.

Super Mario Sunshine definitely. It took the bad things about 64 and made them even worse.

I have to agree on the original Starfox too. Awful framerate and stiff controls just kill it for me.

Also Sonic Rush.

Tides of Time is a really amazing game, I'd say it's underrated if anything.