Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Underrated Games Among Fans of their Series

I've been playing a game lately that will appear on this list, and I've realized that there really is no reason for that game to have as many people in the fanbase for that game series to be saying some of the things that they do. So anyway, I'm going to go over a few of these games and give my reasons for why I think that the fans that say these things are either biased in some sort, or are plain flat out wrong.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

I decided to go with probably the most mild at the very start. The Uncharted series is probably my favorite series to start with the past generation. It's very simple in structure, the path is linear, and there's not a lot of extra little things in the game, but at the same time it's a ton of fun. I'm not a graphics guy, but the graphics in all three games are beautiful, with 3 having the best of the bunch. The games go to exotic locations looking for treasures that have tales in real life that are highly intriguing. Sure, they don't stay very true to those stories as the game goes along, but they tend to keep the general basis of them. The stories throughout the game are fantastic, and of course with that you get amazing cut scenes.

Uncharted 3 takes a slightly different approach on the story. Instead of following the romantic relationships of Nate, it follows something much deeper. It follows his relationship with Sully, his faithful companion. Sully has stood by Nate through thick and thin, and this documents that from the past and into the present, really showing how loyal Sully really is to him. I really can't understand the issue that so many people have with this game. Even the surprise enemy near the end was better in that there was a more realistic explanation for them, and they play a smaller role in the game (that's always been one of the things I haven't liked about the Uncharted games). In my opinion, Naughty Dog did an amazing job on this game, but it seems like a lot of fans out there just wanted a port of Uncharted 2 (on the same system) instead of something actually new. It's a shame that they won't allow themselves to enjoy this game.

God of War 3

This is my favorite God of War game. I love just about every game in the series, but to me this one is the one that I felt had the best feeling of adventure as well as the best storyline. The first thing that grabbed me was the graphics. Like I said already, I'm not a huge graphics guy, but graphics that are especially good can still get my attention. Anyway, the general gameplay is almost exactly the same as the other games, there's some new areas and such and some new mechanics with some new weapons, magic and such, but the general gameplay is very much the same. Sure, this could be one of the problems that people have with it, but it doesn't mean that on its own it's not as good of a game.

The story is where this game really differs from the rest of the series, and to be honest, I can't see how the story in this game isn't better than any other game in the series. Sure, that's really an opinion, but from the start all the way until the shocking ending, this is such a great story and a perfect way to be what looks like the chronologically last game of the series.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Many Zelda fans are tough to deal with. You get a lot of people in that fanbase that really don't seem to have any social skills and next to zero ability to be reasonable in conversation, and that shows with the criticism that this game gets. Almost every complain is one that you can look to just about every other game in the series and hear the same complaint. There are some that I will accept as being very reasonable, but as a whole, this game is every bit as good as almost every other game in the series.

The complaints that I can accept as being totally reasonable are that the intro is too long. I understand what Nintendo was trying to do there, establishing Link as the rancher teen that he was, build a connection to the kids in the game, and all of that, but I agree that they took too long. Another is the wolf sections. I personally love these sections, but I understand if people don't. However, at the same time, there's really only 4 of them (3 of the Tears of Light ones), and none of them are very long. Almost all of them can be done in half an hour, and the first couple can be done in 20 minutes or less. The last one? That one's maybe 20 minutes long too. The only one that can get close to 45 minutes is the third one, but that's because there's so much more that you do than just collecting Tears of Light in that one.

Some arguments that I find to be stupid are things like "There's too much brown". I was paying attention throughout the game and there was actually very little brown outside of where it should have been (tree trunks, paths, things like that). There's of course the argument of how you get cool items, but only use them a few times. I see where that comes from, but you can make that argument in a lot of games (of course the way they state that argument is by using massive hyperbole and saying that you never use certain items ever again after you use them in that dungeon when that's not true at all). Other arguments complain about things that are either small, or things that on the contrary also have parts to them that are done better than in any other game up to that point. For instance, people will complain that the animation is stiff for Link's running, but at the same time, at that point this was the only Zelda game where you could swing your sword while running. There are so many things that are just so much better to take these complaints seriously.

One of the things you'll hear people complain about is the empty overworld, but then go on to praise Windwaker, a game that has an overworld that is 95% empty ocean. Sure, Windwaker does have the occasional monster or treasure, but so does Twilight Princess. Sure, Twilight Princess doesn't do everything the most or the best, but it does a good job at everything. I've noticed that many of the people who complain about Twilight Princess are fans that started with Windwaker. Windwaker was a very different game in the series when it came out, and brought in a different audience that began to likely think that Windwaker was what Zelda was about. The series isn't about one single game, the series is about around 20 different games. The art style that many people didn't like with Twilight Princess is the same art style that a lot of people prefer over the more cartoonish Windwaker (where Twilight Princess has a more realistic art style (relatively speaking)). It's all a matter of personal preference, none of the games are objectively better than the other. The only reason I go this path is that a lot of the people who don't care for Twilight Princess try to make cases for how it's objectively worse than other games in the series, which is entirely impossible considering that it's a video game and is something that's is inherently opinion based. Either way, some of the things that people who are not fans of this game will try to say about it are completely nuts, and they really ruin the arguments for those who may legitimately not like the game.

DmC

Okay, here's a fanbase that is probably worse than the Zelda series as far as being unreasonable goes. If you even try to go into a Devil May Cry community and say that the newest game was better than horrible, or had anything good about it at all, you are going to have to have a box of tissues with you to hand out to everyone who will whine and complain at you until they are red in the face. However, let them whine and complain until they're red in the face, you have every right to like this game, because it actually is a good game. Sure, it's not the game of the year, but it's a very solid game. As soon as fans saw that this was going to be a bit of a reboot they just completely turned themselves off to any chance that the game would be any good. Most of those who complain about it never even played it, they just didn't like what the new Dante looked like and decided that it was the worst game ever. Sadly, I'm not even exaggerating when I say this, it's unbelievable how the people who whine about this game the most are the ones who never even gave it a chance in the first place. Even if they did play it, if I had to guess, I'd say 90% of them (people who hate it that played it) had already decided that they hated it before they'd ever put it in their system. It's not even the best game in the series, but it's still a good game.

Super Mario Sunshine

The ultimate way to figure out someone's opinion on a new thing in a game is to see if they call it a mechanic or a gimmick, that will also some reveal some bias (if they use the word gimmick), especially if it's used before the game is ever released. That was the case with Super Mario Sunshine. In reality, it was the game in the series that, in my opinion, had the best platforming. I absolutely loved this game. Galaxy was great as well, but as far as the story goes, it was more of the same where Sunshine had an all new purpose for what you were doing in it. This was something else that made the game much more enjoyable for me, I felt like there was a different purpose than in most games. Many fans missed a real good opportunity to enjoy a breath of fresh air, but too many people are afraid of change that they instead decided to rip into this game instead.

So that's that. There's more, but I have enough for another post, so I'll end this one right now. If you haven't given any of these games a chance because of a closed minded fanbase, then please consider giving them another try, you'll be doing yourself a huge favor by doing so.

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