Games/instances where you view common criticisms as positives

[Gelf]

The vast majority of back tracking complaints. I like when a game lets me revisit areas and also allows me to actually get lost sometimes.

Too gamey and most criticism about something being immersion breaking. Going too heavy on the immersion is usually a turn off for me.

I also find criticism for games not having standard controls to be largely irrelevant as I feel sometimes you should be free to attempt off-beat control schemes in order to encourage a certain type of gameplay.

 

[SurrenderDorothy]

"RDR2 is slow. All of these animations are unnecessary. The core system, weapon degradation and the rest of the immersive-sim aspects are nothing but busy work."

Only one I agree with is some of the mission design.

 

[breakYODAy]

Any game where some find the attention to detail to be 'excessive'.

RDR 2 and Shenmue are examples of this. I appreciate all the small details and feel they help boost world building.

 

[Kizuna]

"Too linear, only one way to do things, levels are glorified hallways with cutscenes, no opportunities to explore"

Well, thank God, you might've just sold me on this game. FFXIII was great.

 

[The Artisan]

Uncharted 4 was criticized for too much platforming and not enough shooting. Shooting has been the most annoying part of the Uncharted games to me and the platforming is the most fun. So I welcomed the platforming in Uc4 especially because of the gorgeous graphics and the less wave after wave of bullet sponges for Drake to shoot at

 

[SuperSonic]

Killzone 2's controls were amazing even before they patched them for filthy CoD players.

 

[Pyro]

I've never understood the complaints about the OG control scheme in Shadow of the Colossus.

As a player you have very few verbs and it's a pretty slow paced game, even in the fights.

So the idea that it mars the game or is impossible to wrap your head around just sounds like nonsense to me.

 

[Pyro]

Killzone 2's controls were amazing even before they patched them for filthy CoD players.

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I remember L2 for crouch fondly.

 

[uncelestial]

I like the weapon breaking in BOTW.

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Weapons breaking in BOTW. I love being forced to use everything at my disposal. If it were a traditional dungeon Zelda, I'd hate it but it worked with the openness of BOTW

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There was almost no point to having nice things because of that mechanic.

 

[Grettir_the_Swole]

Kotaku had a spicy complaint about RDR2s lack of a formulaic progression system that I find only strengthens the game. While you can improve your health, stamina, and Dead Eye meters, there really isn't much in store for incremental non-meta improvements. Frankly, I enjoyed leaving having most of the game's available skills immediately at my disposal while leaving room for aesthetic improvements. Arthur is already in his physical prime when the game starts and it wouldn't make much sense, plot-wise, for

Spoiler: vague spoilers

a game driven on realism and immersion to see Arthur end the story as an absolute, power-lifting unit.

 

[Htown]

I like the weapon breaking in BOTW.

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Same. Makes combat feel like a Jackie Chan fight scene, where you're picking up weapons and using them 2 or 3 times before they break, then grabbing whatever else you can get your hands on.

 

[Velocity:Design:Comfort]

There was almost no point to having nice things because of that mechanic.

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Hardly. You wouldn't care about getting those nice things without that mechanic, lol.

 

[Deleted member 10737]

weapon breaking in botw

static cutscenes in the bayonetta games

the compass taking one notch in hollow knight

being way too long in okami

 

[Phendrift]

Backtracking in Metroid

Cutscenes in MGS

Weapon breaking in BotW

 

[uncelestial]

Hardly. You wouldn't care about getting those nice things without that mechanic, lol.

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Huh? Every other game where I get nice things I get to use the nice things for more than 5 seconds and I very much enjoy that experience.

I mean, this is a lighthearted thread and I'm not gonna harp beyond this but damn I hated that mechanic.

 

[Ailanthium]

"Persona 5 is too long"... if it had been any shorter I would have been disappointed. I honestly felt like it could use an extra few scenes throughout the game, Persona 4: Golden style. Here's hoping P5R shapes into something like that.

Spoiler

Obligatory additional waifu included. It's Atlus, we all know they'll do it.

 

[Pancracio17]

Weapon breaking in BotW, its a fantastic mechanic imo. I also love the slow pace of RDR2 and the corny rhymes in Child of Light.

 

[Shelbyville Milhouse]

I think Prey would not work nearly as well if the shooting would "feel better" because the game, despite everything, is not a first person shooter

 

[Mugen X]

I actually enjoyed the climbing sections in UC4, it was a nice change of pace and felt peaceful and allowed me to take in how insanely gorgeous the game was.

 

[Deleted member 2620]

weapons breaking is, like, one of the key standout good things when it comes to BOTW combat

 

[Grettir_the_Swole]

Weapon degradation, malaria, and relentless enemies in Far Cry 2. That game was no power fantasy like the newer titles in the series, and all of those elements contributed to the survivalist-like experience that made FC2 so compelling.

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Weapon and vehicle degradation was my favorite aspect about FC2 and it still remains my favorite entry in the series. It's fine to enjoy an open world power fantasy every once in a while but FC2s reality checks created some of the most enjoyable FPS action and fluid tension of any FPS title I've played. You rarely see games add that much gravity to your actions. A single campsite shootout could be the difference between life and death.

 

[Deleted member 48813]

Skyward Sword being linear. I loved how the overworld went straight to the point with almost every place serving a purpose instead of having tons of empty space inbetween stuff. I also loved the motion controls and had no issues with them.

 

[ISOM]

Any RPG with carrying capacities or weapon degradation. These are mechanics that support actual role-playing but cause faux-RPG fans to needlessly whine.

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Yeah, I liked those mechanics in Fallout New Vegas. It made the game more challenging.

 

[Fancy Clown]

"the evil within is just Mikami doing a greatest hits of horror movie tropes and his own work"

...how is this not an insanely appealing notion??

 

[SurrenderDorothy]

"the evil within is just Mikami doing a greatest hits of horror movie tropes and his own work"

...how is this not an insanely appealing notion??

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That sentence sounds amazing, people actually viewed that as a negative?

 

[Edgar]

RDR 2 weighty controls and slow burn approach to the game. It's actually one of the main reasons I like the game. It grounds Arthur to the world, there's physicality to the world and the character due to how it feels to move and the pacing itself leads to a more deliberate, nuanced experience.
Witcher 3 potions, bombs, weapons degradation. It lends itself to a more believable world. Same for negative space and actually semi realistic topography .
Mainly all the games that don't go for fun, arcade like movement and near instant rewards. Games that usually are called slogs, unfun, boring. Games that go for some sort of realism and slow burn. Those games are usually more engaging than the ones that empower players and give em all the tools and try to make experience as frustration free as possible

 

[Radishhead]

Weapon breaking, BotW. It meant I used whatever weapon I had to hand to get through my encounters - rather than just picking up something OP near the start and sticking with it for the whole game. I used so many crazy weapons thanks to the breaking mechanic, and it definitely made my experience more memorable overall.

 

[Soap]

Sticking with Rockstar, I prefer the weighty physics in GTAIV to V's looser controls (and i hate how RDR2 feels).

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

I liked the original Pikmin's 30 day time limit that didn't make it into the sequels. A sense of danger, a reason to maybe try a day a few times to make sure you've done it well, rather than just taking every loss or taking a few days off building up numbers or whatever.

(Re BOTW's weapon degradation)

There was almost no point to having nice things because of that mechanic.

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To me the point was "Use ALL the nice things, not just the one you got attached to." They're like the random items that show up in a Smash Bros. match, they just last a bit longer.

 

[Cats_Schrodinger]

Mass effects 2 not having much off am over arching story i loved because its main focus was on the charscters

Red deads slow nature worked perfectly.

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Damn right. It was bad for the trilogy as a whole, but it did wonders to the game. ME2 dove into the established universe and had some amazing fun with it in terms of characters and small-scale stories. It had the best stories in the universe, which the main arc could never touch, in any of the games.

 

[Fancy Clown]

That sentence sounds amazing, people actually viewed that as a negative?

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Yeah because it's "unoriginal" I guess. I suppose people somehow missed all the movies and games he ripped off for his other stuff? I mean Evil Within literally whisks you along from highlight reel moment to highlight reel moment straight up like the track-list of a greatest hits album...but when that album is Shinji Mikami's brain are you really gonna complain?

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

"Okami is too long"
A game being too long in most cases is a positive for me.

 

[ActWan]

Every single thing about Deadly Premonition.

 

[AMD]

This is more of a general point, rather than relating to any specific game but anyway, 99% of the time a well crafted novel is a far, far more rewarding experience than a choose your own adventure story - which is why I can never understand why so many gamers view linearity as intrinsically negative.

 

[tenderbrew]

Breaking weapons in BOTW. I adored the mechanic and would be disappointed if it doesn't return.

 

[matimeo]

The linearity in FF13 was a big part of why I like the game so much. It forced me to play within the limits of what I was allowed to do at the time which meant I had to start understanding the systems in order to maximize within those limits.

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This. I love how linear it is.

The following common criticisms move games up on my playlist:

Too easy (exactly what I'm looking for and Bloodborne is one of my favorite games I just feel very few developers do difficulty well)

Too short (I have limited time as it is and so many games just add padding instead of meaningful content a game that knows when to end is refreshing)

Elements I hate for no reason:

timers
I'm fine with optional but it's an unneeded layer of stress that saps enjoyment for me. took enough timed tests in school so no thanks lol

Puzzles
My life is a puzzle so I don't need puzzles sporadically placed in my non puzzle focused games.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Sluggish aiming in KZ2 due to high input lag.

It gave the game such a weighty feel that I very much appreciated and very much missed when they removed it in KZ3.

 

[DaciaJC]

Sticking with Rockstar, I prefer the weighty physics in GTAIV to V's looser controls (and i hate how RDR2 feels).

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Similarly, I loved the driving physics/handling in GTA IV. You couldn't mindlessly turn corners at 80 mph like in most open-world games, you had to actually put some time into learning how to drive effectively. I was pretty disappointed when they toned that down in V, but thankfully there are some decent mods on PC to emulate IV's driving.

 

[Zacmortar]

Souls games and Bloodborne.

Too little hand holding, direction pointing and explaining. Also tutorial not being a ''real tutorial''.

All these criticisms are a big plus for me and I would not have it any other way.



Yep, more like realistic aiming, cause TLoU's aiming is exactly how aiming feels like in real life, if you moved your arm or body while aiming the entire sight picture starts to shake, making distance shots much less accurate. To achieve 100% accuracy you have to hold 100% still.

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Those havent been real majority criticisms for Soulsborne since demon's souls

 

[Servbot24]

Linear
Lack of player choice
Few options

Sign me up :)

 

[Deleted member 679]

Whenever an open world game is criticized for having nothing to do in it, I'll start paying attention to it.

 

[Anno]

No idea how common a complaint it is, but the mapping system (and compass restrictions) in Hollow Knight is what makes that game for me.

 

[DaciaJC]

Those havent been real majority criticisms for Soulsborne since demon's souls

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Yeah. Probably the most common accessibility-related complaint I've seen is the lack of a pause button, but even that rarely comes up in general discussion of the series.

 

[Gelf]

Another thread reminded me of this; obtuse puzzles in adventure games. If I'm not required to carry a giant inventory of random objects and work out how they go together to progress then I don't tend to like them as much.

 

[Kromeo]

Slow paced games are the best, the slower the better.

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[Deleted member 9035]

Skyward Sword:
Motion controls were great!
Swimming was fun!
Collecting tad tones - loved it!
Silent Realm challenges - more please!

I liked the original Pikmin's 30 day time limit that didn't make it into the sequels. A sense of danger, a reason to maybe try a day a few times to make sure you've done it well, rather than just taking every loss or taking a few days off building up numbers or whatever.

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This is a good one too!

 

[Starlatine]

The linearity in FF13 was a big part of why I like the game so much. It forced me to play within the limits of what I was allowed to do at the time which meant I had to start understanding the systems in order to maximize within those limits..

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You don't even unlock the full battle system and party till you're where, 80% of the game done?

Praise FFXIII for being linear if you must, but for "making you fully use its systems", sorry but this is BS

 

[nekkid]

The Library in Halo CE is one of the best levels, especially on Legendary, because it tests your tactical ability not just your skill.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

"Why would you care about Eevee if it cant even evolve"

 

[Deleted member 49770]

Getting Jiggies in Banjo Tooie is often a much more convoluted, multi step process compared to its predecessor, but this is why I hold it above Banjo Kazooie and part of why it's my absolute favorite game. Having to do things in one world to affect another made the entire game feel like one big world and it made getting 100% feel like an accomplishment.