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Games with a strong start, but fall off later.
- Thread starter Graven
- Start date
Fahrenheit (indigo prophecy) is seriously one of the coolest opening hours in a game, but it completely shits the bed after.
David Cage has never equaled those opening moments
David Cage has never equaled those opening moments
Agreed, they definitely earned the sentimental moments with his friends at the end, but the attention given with their relationship to everyone else, particularly Luna was pretty bad. Speaks to the time constraints they were under. I guess I'm Glad they at least prioritized making some relationships as developed as they could.
I have never seen a game fall off so dramatically. Part of it is that the diner section doesn't have to worry about cashing in the cheque but nothing later approaches the density of variability even if most of it is an illusion.
For me it's definitely Mafia 3. I remember starting it and playing for about 5 hours and thinking that it wasn't nearly as bad as everyone claimed, even found it quite enjoyable. Got to like 15 hours in and I was bored as fuck, which is unfortunate because I was still very interested in the story.
Damn if I can get 70 hours of solid game from a jrpg (or really any game) then sign me up. That doesn't seem very common. Maybe dragon quest?
I have been speedrunning the Claire A scenario for the last two months and boy, the sewer part is easily the worst part of the game. Luckily it doesn't last long, but it's such a slog before things pick up in the lab.
With all the people saying Civilization, maybe we need an "Ancient Civilization" spinoff that focuses on recreating the magic of the early game across a entire playthrough. That could be interesting if it was successful. IV and V both got spinoffs so maybe we will see one for Civ VI as well.
This one takes a big shit on most of the answers here. I remember playing and being like "Wow! Why was this recieved so poorly, it's great!" and then it just ends. The run up to the end isn't even that great. Still like the game but I've never been enjoying a game so much only to have it take a giant dump on my enjoyment.
Virtually every Sonic game, but especially 1, 2, Generations, and Mania. Sonic 1 only has one stage worth caring about and the other three lose the plot at some point late in the game. (Metropolis and its shitty hitboxes in 2, Planet Wisp and the final two bosses in Generations, nearly the entire second half of Mania.)
Sonic 3 and Knuckles is probably the only one that has both a good start and a good end, and that's because most of the mediocre bits are stuffed into the second half of the Sonic 3 stages instead.
Sonic 3 and Knuckles is probably the only one that has both a good start and a good end, and that's because most of the mediocre bits are stuffed into the second half of the Sonic 3 stages instead.
I was hooked early by this game and was filled with wonder at the potential of this new, rich universe.
the further you progress the more the magic wears off. The later worlds are flat, lifeless and boring. The plot comes to a juddering halt.
it needed more time in the oven
Same. I liked the change. I enjoyed every bit of RE2 and RE3, even the sewers in RE2. And I really liked the lab sections.
Sonic Adventure 2.
City Escape is legitimately one of the finest pieces of 3D game design that Sonic Team has ever created.
It's so fun to play and the music and aesthetics are on point, but once that's over it's onto to those awful mech stages with their clunky movement and janky TPS gameplay followed by boring treasure hunting stages with the most shallow 3D collectathon gameplay ever conceived.
And, honestly, even Sonic's speedy platforming stages lose almost all of their steam very quickly; the level design starts feeling kind of generic and same-y once you hit Metal Harbor, the remaining stages simply lack the energy, gameplay variety, and stream of new ideas that City Escape offers up.
City Escape is legitimately one of the finest pieces of 3D game design that Sonic Team has ever created.
It's so fun to play and the music and aesthetics are on point, but once that's over it's onto to those awful mech stages with their clunky movement and janky TPS gameplay followed by boring treasure hunting stages with the most shallow 3D collectathon gameplay ever conceived.
And, honestly, even Sonic's speedy platforming stages lose almost all of their steam very quickly; the level design starts feeling kind of generic and same-y once you hit Metal Harbor, the remaining stages simply lack the energy, gameplay variety, and stream of new ideas that City Escape offers up.
OP
OP
I finished the game, Radiant Mode kinda fixes that, but i wanted to play the game in it's original difficulty level per say.
Hopefully, part 2 will be a little more convenient late game.
I'd agree with this. I wouldn't say the start is amazing but it was enough for me to give it a shot, then it just turns to shit.
oh damn yeah this game is the poster boy for this issue. I thought the first world was a bit interesting but then got to Monarch (?) and realised I had seen all the game had to show me. what a massive fall.
God Of War: Ascension. The opening level was amazing just like the other entries in the series.
I felt this way most recently about Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The opening couple chapters do a phenomenal job introducing a story, setting up the character of Ichiban and making the player understand who he is. The turn based combat seems novel and dynamic at first.
After maybe a dozen or two hours in and story starts to lull here and there. It picks up again in the back half of the game, but then towards the end the combat really wears out its welcome and the game sets you on a forced grind a few chapters before the ending.
I also feel this way about some weaker SRPGs/strategy games pretty often, because they often have these huge maps closer to the end of the game and the mechanics just stop being as fun to engage with. Wargroove had this problem, and I think Ghost Recon Shadow Wars did too.
After maybe a dozen or two hours in and story starts to lull here and there. It picks up again in the back half of the game, but then towards the end the combat really wears out its welcome and the game sets you on a forced grind a few chapters before the ending.
I also feel this way about some weaker SRPGs/strategy games pretty often, because they often have these huge maps closer to the end of the game and the mechanics just stop being as fun to engage with. Wargroove had this problem, and I think Ghost Recon Shadow Wars did too.
Red Dead Redemption 2, the last couple of chapters were pretty weak in my opinion. And I thought the epilogue was pretty unecessary.
The ending itself was pretty good though.
The ending itself was pretty good though.
Feels strange to be the first one writing this because I always thought Bioshock Infinite was in the conversation pretty commonly.
It starts out... wow. Like, ultra wow. The ascent into Columbia always takes my breath away. It's so beautiful, so imaginative. It's an amazing, amazing location, I daresay one of the most stunning video game environments of that year.
Then you're handed a gun and told to mow down everything you see.
Sigh.
It starts out... wow. Like, ultra wow. The ascent into Columbia always takes my breath away. It's so beautiful, so imaginative. It's an amazing, amazing location, I daresay one of the most stunning video game environments of that year.
Then you're handed a gun and told to mow down everything you see.
Sigh.
The force unleashed. In its defense, it's pretty fucking hard to top Darth Vader wiping out a wookie village.
God of War 3 is the epitome of this topic. It had one of the best introductory twenty minutes ever, only to go completely downhill after that. The first The Evil Within too. The first few chapters and then a single later one were pretty good, but the last third just went off the rails into RE5 and RE6 territory.
Every open world game. You never just stop after the story and go, "well that was good." You do the rest of the side missions, then some of less substantial content, and then you're left with the collectathon filler crap. And your last impression of the game always feels like this:
The Messenger has a pretty clear point where things... change and not for the better. Funnily enough, all achievements I got after that point were 'rare', so I think most people dropped off at that point and I can't blame them. Second half just doesn't really work.
Killzone: Shadowfall was like this for me. First few levels were really open and fun, but then it just became a standard corridor shooter
I don't wait until I've finished the main story to do the side stuff, because I know I'll not waste my time on them after the main quest/campaign has ended. What's the point? I don't care about "gamer street cred" or whatever platinums and such are supposed to provide, so there's no reason for me to make sure I mop up every last collectible, or FedEx "quest". Probably why I can't stand the majority of open-world games as it is. There's always the argument that one can "just ignore them", but then you're still saddled with the world that was designed around them.
Yeah this one starts off really strong and ends really strong, but Mexico is pretty much a huge slog for 95% until the very end when you finally find Bill and Javier. Visually gorgeous and Landon Ricketts is a cool character but to say I enjoyed Mexicowould be an exaggeration.
Good shout. I really disliked the alien levels and Elvis wasn't great either.
I was ready to disagree... But yeah,
the space dungeon was the first dungeon I put down and came back to later because it was dumb.
Final Fantasy IX
Discs 1-2 and the beginning of Disc 3 when you are defending Alexandria are absolutely fantastic.
By the end of the game it was barely recognizable to me as the adventure I started.
Discs 1-2 and the beginning of Disc 3 when you are defending Alexandria are absolutely fantastic.
By the end of the game it was barely recognizable to me as the adventure I started.
Yesss, I was so hyped for Obsidian to do something totally on their own. This game made me realize that maybe they just aren't as good as I thought they were? Halfway through the game I picked up a bog standard assault rifle that I put a bit of money into, and the DPS was consistently better than any other weapons I picked up right through the end. That gun was the literal representation of the game. Starts off as an 8 or nine, and very quickly became barely a 7 by the time I was done. I really hope Microsoft gets more involved with them so they can plan development better.
The third act is literally missing. Can't think of a better "falls off later" example than that. They just make you go back to the same areas again and again for non-story missions. Fuck, what a slog.
Jedi Fallen Order for me. The game just dragged as time goes on, and enemies because more and more tedious to deal with.
Most games but i have to disagree with Ghosts of Tsushima. I thought the 1st third was rather dull, but it picked up as time went on until the dramatic ending. I'm glad I didn't drop the game early like I wanted to.
