Board 8 > Leonhart Ranks 124 User Nominated Games

(+) Yeah! (+)

LeonhartFour posted...

Bonus Question: What is your favorite game that is generally considered to be "bad?"

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

Say what you will about it but I got about the same amount of hours out of it as I did the last Smash Bros., and it managed to get 5 guest characters in it's first entry, while it took Smash 4 entries to get 6 (half of which were paid DLC)
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DK64 might be the only Donkey Kong game that I've actually beaten (although I got to the credits of DKC once), oops. I like the game but it's definitely too big.

Favorite "bad" game: maybe Mega Man 6? It's not as good as 3 or 5, but my impression is that it's sort of a black sheep and I still liked it a lot.
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Is Mega Man 6 considered bad? It can't have a worse reputation than 7 or 8, and I like both of those!
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I think so but I don't really know why. It's super easy, but still fun.
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I like all the Mega Man games I've played, but I'm fairly easy to please. It's been a long time since I've played any MM game though. I've had the MMX and MMZ collections sitting on my shelf for a while, so I need to bust those out sometime.
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Favorite game generally considered bad: Sonic Shuffle. Yeah, the cheating AI is dumb, but it's a blast to play with friends.
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Pokecapn and friends did a round of Sonic Shuffle when they did their Mario Party LPs, and it was hilarious.

(you should watch Pokecapn's Mario Party LPs if you're a fan of LPs)
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I'd say MM6 was my second or third favorite out of the original 8 MMs. I think part of its bad reputation is due to being the sixth game in the series and still being pretty samey...?
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Probably not going to get any writeups in today due to unexpected developments. I might try to squeeze in a couple if I can but it'll be late.
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110. Vagrant Story (Mac Arrowny)


Perhaps the defining characteristic of this tier is that the games in it have some good things going for them, but they're fatally flawed in some way to the point that I ultimately didn't enjoy it as much as I feel like I should have or I dropped it entirely. Vagrant Story might be the most extreme example of this. It does a lot of things well. The game's aesthetics and atmosphere are really good. The story and the characters are enjoyable. But man, the battle system is terrible. I'm one of those weird people who can put up with bad gameplay as long as I'm enjoying the rest of the experience, particularly with RPGs, but there are always exceptions. I just couldn't get around the whole "each area has a different hitbox" and continually doing piddling damage because I didn't have the right stuff to upgrade to something better or because I got thrust into a fight with the wrong thing.

I had an unhealthy obsession with Square in the late '90s and early '00s. I played just about everything they released within that period. I often refer to it as the "Golden Era," primarily for the fact that they released five top tier FFs in five years (future list spoilers 'whoops'), nevermind the fact that Tactics wasn't originally supposed to be an FF game. As such, I wanted to like this game. I really did. I tried many times to get into it, but I just couldn't. Granted, Vagrant Story wouldn't be my least favorite game from that era. That "honor" would go to Parasite Eve 2 instead. I barely got an hour into that one before I dropped it entirely.

Bonus Question: What's your least favorite RPG battle system?
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109. Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (Dragon66116)


The original Jak & Daxter is mostly a good time. The world is vibrant, and Daxter is great. However, I don't really feel like it tried to do anything unique. It feels like just another 3-D platformer to me, which is fine. I love platformers, but it didn't do anything to separate itself from the pack for me. Also, having Jak be a silent protagonist in a world with fully voiced characters was an odd decision. But you wanna know my biggest pet peeve from this game? Jak's jump sucks, and it drives me nuts. What kind of platformer gives the player character a crappy jump? This one does.

Now the other Jak games tried to fix a lot of the problems I had with the first game. Some might say they went too far (I can't think of any series with a bigger mood whiplash from the first game to the second), but I am clearly not one of those people, considering J&D ranks the lowest of the three on this list! But they never fixed that crappy jump! They just compensated for it by shifting the gameplay so you don't have to rely on it as much. I guess that works, but I'd rather they had just given him a better one! So yeah, J&D is a good game. It's nothing special, but like I said, it doesn't feel like it actually tries to be.

Bonus Question: What's a weird pet peeve you have with a game you otherwise like?
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Bonus Question: What's your least favorite RPG battle system?

- Vagrant Story is a solid answer. I have the same problems, and its just not fun enough to keep on with it past the dungeon. I appreciate the efforts and the insane tactical strategy and customizing that goes in, but in practice it just... it feels off.

However, the one that springs most to mind is Sword of Mana for GBA. It's a kind of maybe fun action RPG in the Seiken Densetsu series, but holy cow is it punishing if you use the wrong weapon or don't level things, and grinding is a pain in the ass.
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I ended up not playing much of Vagrant Story for possibly the dumbest reason you'll ever hear.

The font.

When I was younger, I had a phobia of certain fonts. All caps, letters close together, bolded, things of that nature. Vagrant Story's font was like something out of a serial killer's ransom note. Sure, it added to the aesthetic, but I couldn't handle it.

I would probably be fine now. At worst I get mildly unsettled by certain fonts, but I'm not longer as phobic as I once was.
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LeonhartFour posted...

Bonus Question: What's a weird pet peeve you have with a game you otherwise like?

Actually with Jak II and 3 (mostly II though) I love them but the checkpoints are fucking terrible

That applies to any game I like too honestly, too much progress between checkpoints is so irritating
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Johnbobb posted...

LeonhartFour posted...

Bonus Question: What's a weird pet peeve you have with a game you otherwise like?

Actually with Jak II and 3 (mostly II though) I love them but the checkpoints are fucking terrible

That applies to any game I like too honestly, too much progress between checkpoints is so irritating

That's not a weird pet peeve it's a huge flaw that makes Jak II significantly less enjoyable. The first time I replayed it as not a kid I yelled at the system all the time.
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I can deal with rough checkpoints as long as the game doesn't give you limited lives and force you to start over. I never got very far into the first Devil May Cry because I got tired of losing tons of progress over and over and over and over again because of game overs.
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More tonight.
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LeonhartFour posted...

Bonus Question: What's your least favorite RPG battle system?

I in general am averse to action RPGs, so I'm not fond of something like Tales even if they're well made. Chrono Cross' system was also confusing as heck, at least to the 10-year-old me.
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108. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (pjbasis)


It goes without saying that I'm not a big Zelda fan. I like the ones I've played, but I can't say that I love any of them (I did really enjoy Breath of the Wild when I played it earlier this year, but no one nominated it, so whatever). Out of the five I've beaten (LttP, OoT, MM, TP, and BotW), my two least favorites are the most popular ones, at least on this site. It took me a bunch of starts and stops over the course of a decade plus to finally finish Ocarina of Time. I don't find it particularly engaging, the young Link parts of the game especially, which is why it took me so long to complete. I'd get bored before I ever made it to the Master Sword. There aren't any parts of the game where I felt like I just couldn't stop playing until I beat it. I recognize that it's a well made game, but it never clicked with me. People say they love Zelda for the sense of adventure and all that, but it's never been able to capture me that way. I don't get anything out of exploring Hyrule. The overworld is just a means to an end to me. I beat Ocarina of Time mostly just so I could say I beat it and to see what all the hype was about.

Now that's not to say it was all bad. A few of the temples are good. I liked the Forest, Light, and Shadow Temples the most. A couple of the boss fights were pretty sweet. I liked the fights against Phantom Ganon, Twinrova, and the final Ganondorf/Ganon sequence. Overall, Ocarina of Time just feels very hit or miss to me. At the same time, the low points are never that low, but the high points aren't that high to me either.

Bonus Question: What's your favorite Ocarina of Time dungeon?
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Controversial opinion there, but I get it. I'm not super into OoT either, but I do love MM as much as the more rabid fans so... eh. But I won't bite you for not caring for it. :P

Best OoT dungeon is Forest imo. love the aesthetic.
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OoT is pretty far down my Zelda rankings

Not sure about my favorite dungeon... been a while since I played it
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107. Scrabble (Raka_Putra)


Yeah, that GIF sums up my skill level at Scrabble pretty effectively. I'm bad at this game and any sort of "word scramble" type game or puzzle. I've never gotten into Words with Friends either. I don't know what it is, but I just have a hard time putting words together out of random smatterings of letters. It's a shame, too, because I generally love any sort of word/language game, but I almost always lose at Scrabble unless I'm playing against a little kid or something (and even then victory isn't guaranteed...!). I've gotta nail those double or triple word scores to even have a chance!

So yeah, don't take this low ranking as a knock against Scrabble as a game or a concept. I think it's a neat idea, and I generally do have fun when I play it. I'm just not any good at it, and as I've said before, I tend not to play stuff I'm bad at. What can I say? I like to win! People say it's about having fun, not winning or losing, but winning is a lot more fun than losing! Pride is a terrible thing, I tell ya.

Bonus Question: What is your favorite game that you would consider yourself to be "bad" at?
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more like NOcarina

Forest temple is best
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LeonhartFour posted...

Bonus Question: What is your favorite game that you would consider yourself to be "bad" at?

literally every fighting game

especially Tekken
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LeonhartFour posted...

Bonus Question: What is your favorite game that you would consider yourself to be "bad" at?

Dominions 4. Dom5 just came out and would probably be my choice here if I had played it, but I don't have the money for it. The game itself isn't hard. In fact, it's embarrassingly easy when you're only playing AI. Therefore the real fun is in multiplayer, but the game's small fanbase ensures that only the most hardcore players are into it, and they have such a high degree of technical knowledge that it's hard to compete.

That said, the game is damn fun for a fantasy war nerd like me.
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Johnbobb posted...

Bonus Question: What is your favorite game that you would consider yourself to be "bad" at?

Age of Empires 2. I have a lot of trouble even against story AI, but it's fun.
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106. Life Is Strange (Robazoid)


I have very mixed feelings about Life Is Strange. On one hand, the game has a great sense of dramatic tension and knows how to build up to a big moment or how to end an episode (except for the very last one anyway). I honestly might have enjoyed this game a bit more if I had played it as each episode was coming out and had to wait for the next one to release, spending all that time wondering what the heck I just saw meant and what was going to happen next. Life Is Strange also does a great job of making it seem like your choices matter, something a lot of games struggle to implement effectively. There are lasting repercussions to many of your choices, even the seemingly insignificant ones. I love the end of Episode 2 because it encapsulates both of those aspects really well, and because I really liked Kate.

...Which brings me to my big problem with Life Is Strange: I don't like most of the characters. A lot of them are bad people on purpose, of course, but there were precious few people here I wanted to root for over the course of the story. Thankfully, the main character Max was one of them, so that helped somewhat. I might not have been able to finish this game if I hated the main character. Unfortunately, Chloe was not among those precious few. I did not like her at all and did not want her to succeed at just about anything she plotted to do. Perhaps even more unfortunately, Kate largely disappears from the story after Episode 2. It's just so hard for me to develop strong positive feelings for a game if I have a hard time growing attached to its characters. I'm glad I played Life Is Strange because its best moments are really good, but I can't see myself ever going back to it since there won't be any shock value in those moments anymore. I judge a lot of my love for a game based on how much it makes me want to replay it, but a game like this needs compelling characters to lure me back and it just doesn't have enough of them.

Also, I would pay good money to watch user SaveEstelle play this game.

Bonus Question: What was your favorite episode of Life Is Strange?
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105. The Floor is Lava (Xeybozn)


This game has achieved memetic status over the years, and for good reason. The Floor is Lava is powered by your imagination alone, and you can easily play it by yourself or with friends. It's fun to play in public, too, so it's versatile enough to be played nearly anywhere. Plus, anyone can play it. It doesn't require any special skills or talents. You can make up your own rules and objectives, so it's pretty flexible. It can help add some spice to an otherwise mundane trip to the grocery store if you're not pushing the cart and thus have no ability to pop wheelies or hop onto the bottom of the rack after a running head start to see how far you can go before it naturally comes to a stop.

My main issue with The Floor is Lava is not with the game itself, but with the evolving sense of flooring design. When did it stop being fashionable to have two different colors of floor tiles in an alternating pattern? Maybe I'm just going to the wrong places or maybe my mind is playing tricks on me in that way that makes you think things used to be better back in the day when they really weren't, but it feels like that used to be a more common thing when I was a kid. Choosing one tile color to be lava and having to carefully hop around them as you go is the best version of the game, and it feels like my ability to play it has been severely hampered as years have gone by. Make The Floor is Lava Great Again (MTFILGA).

Bonus Question: If given the choice, would you rather play The Floor is Lava or pop wheelies and dash down aisles with the shopping cart?
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Anyway, I think that's all for tonight. More tomorrow.
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Aww, I knew Life is Strange would be ranked low but I'm sad it didn't even reach the top 100. Still, disliking the characters would indeed make it difficult to enjoy (even if Chloe is the best character in anything ever)

LeonhartFour posted...

Also, I would pay good money to watch user SaveEstelle play this game.

Hearing you say this is surprising, though! I wouldn't think you'd want to replay LiS in any capacity. Still, its always nice to hear what people think of it after playing the first time so I hope this happens on some far distant day.

LeonhartFour posted...

Bonus Question: What was your favorite episode of Life Is Strange?

Episode Four was my favorite because it really felt like they put a lot of time and effort into it. A lot of prior decisions came back into play in neat ways as well.
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Oof. That's a lot lower than expected. BUT *double checks* the first one I thought would appear by far so still least still on track there.
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LiS is an example of a game that's greater than the sum of its parts, imo. If I were to rate each individual aspect, I'd be critical of it, too. A lot of characters are terrible, a lot of choices don't matter, and the writing (especially in the beginning) is embarrassingly bad. Yet someone when you blend all the ingredients together, the overall meals comes out delicious and satisfying.

I don't have a favorite episode. They all have their ups and downs and tbh there are a lot of scenes that I don't remember when they happened, sooo... >_>
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Noooooooooo one of my favorite games is already down!
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Robazoid posted...

(even if Chloe is the best character in anything ever)

I wish so badly that Chloe had slapped a child at some point during this game

maybe she will in the prequel

Robazoid posted...

Hearing you say this is surprising, though! I wouldn't think you'd want to replay LiS in any capacity.

I'd only want to watch him play it to see him writhe and agonize.
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104. Connect Four (WhiteLens)


Scrubs is a great show, and you should watch it if you haven't (that's what the GIF is from, which you wouldn't know if you haven't watched Scrubs, so go watch it). Anyway, Connect Four is a fun game that is basically a revamped and expanded version of Tic-Tac-Toe. There's more strategy involved since the board is bigger and you can't place pieces just anywhere. You also need good situational awareness, because if you're not careful, you'll get beaten by a diagnonal four-in-a-row that you didn't realize was even forming. That's usually what happens to me whenever I lose. I also like that the board is big enough that ties are rare, although still possible. Plus, it's a pretty fast game, so it's easy to play a few games in short order.

But just playing a few games now and then is usually enough for me when it comes to Connect Four. It's not something I ever just have this insatiable urge to play, but if it's there, I don't mind playing a game or two. When I used to work at Amazon, one of the break rooms had a couple of Connect Four boards in it, and once in a while, I'd play a game or two with one of my workmates. It wasn't one of those games we wanted to play all the time or we couldn't wait for break so we could play Connect Four, but it was nice to be able to play a quick game before going back to work sometimes. That was good enough for me, and there's nothing wrong with Connect Four being that kind of game. Also, I always have to play as red, and I like going first.

Bonus Question: Do you prefer red or black in Connect Four?
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Connect Four was my go to board game.

It takes a while to realize when it's too simple to have fun with anymore.
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Isn't it a solved game?
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trdl23 posted...

Isn't it a solved game?

not sure what you mean
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optimal way to play figured out i'm assuming

I just looked it up and yeah, if both players play optimally, first player will always win Connect 4. That being said, you have to play optimally, and it's pretty complicated, so it's not like "every game is a draw" tic-tac-toe.
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Yeah, I was thinking that it couldn't be easy to play optimally, especially if one player plays erratically (although they'd probably lose if they did, so whatever).
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Not super into Ocarina, either. Took me about as long to beat it, too.

Really enjoying these!
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trdl23 posted...

Isn't it a solved game?

Yes, easily
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103. Sonic Adventure 2 (Johnbobb)


2/3 of Sonic Adventure 2 is NO GOOD. I don't enjoy the Tails/Robotnik mech levels. They're completely mindless and uninteresting. Just keep shooting endless barrages at the enemies until you find your way to the end of the level. The Knuckles/Rouge treasure hunting levels are even worse. I don't enjoy meandering around the map trying to find Emerald shards. They don't even really do anything to make the levels complex or diverse. They just drop you into this big area and good luck finding them all. At least none of those levels are hard, just boring. It makes them a little more bearable. Now the Sonic/Shadow levels are good, sometimes great, although you do find yourself wrestling against the controls and 3-D Sonic's trademark jankiness. Still, I do have fun whenever I play them. The promise of the next Sonic/Shadow level is what helps me get through all the other ones.

The story and the dialogue waver between "so bad it's good" and just plain bad, which is fairly common for 3-D Sonic in general. I did like the concept of having two separate stories to tell between Sonic's team and TEAM DARK, and watching how they overlap and intersect. I just wish the gameplay between the two sides had been more varied instead of basically playing the same levels, just with a different character who has the exact same skill set as the other. Either that, or just go the opposite extreme and don't try to mix up the Sonic formula too much! The Sonic/Shadow levels are the best ones for a reason. The music is hit-or-miss, like most Crush 40 soundtracks. "Hit-or-miss" sums up the Sonic Adventure 2 experience in a nutshell, really. There's some good stuff in there if you're willing to tread through all the muck to get to it. Oh, and I'm not saying anything about all the Chao stuff because I never messed with it. I know some people got obsessed with all of that, but I don't care about that kinda stuff.

Sonic Adventure 1 > Sonic Adventure 2

Bonus Question: What is your favorite 3-D Sonic game?
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Sonic Adventure 2
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SA2 is the only 3D Sonic game I ever really played, so yeah.

The chao stuff isn't really worth talking about anyway tbh
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Janus5k posted...

SA2 is the only 3D Sonic game I ever really played, so yeah.

man you've had a rough lot in life if DK64 is the only DK game you've beaten and SA2 is the only 3-D Sonic you've played
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102. Wii Sports (handsomeboy2012)


Wii Sports is basically a glorified tech demo, but it was actually pretty fun to pick up and play from time to time. Now I'm not a huge fan of motion controls, but I also never took Ulti's heavy-handed stance that they were the impending death of gaming either. However, the one place they felt like a natural fit was with sports games, especially since they largely mimic the motions you would do if you were playing that sport in real life, as opposed to waggling to blast off into space or swing a sword, which isn't how you would do either of those things in real life, in case you were unaware. The motion controls actually added a layer of immersion for something like Wii Sports.

Now as far as the individual games are concerned, I don't think I ever played boxing for whatever the reason. Golf was all right, but three holes always felt like too small of a number. There was no real diversity in the gameplay since it was always the same three holes and you weren't facing off against the other person directly. Bowling had some of the same issues, but it let you play more frames and it had multiple modes. Plus, a game of bowling has a wider range of possible outcomes. Baseball was fun, albeit a little hampered by the fact that there was no fielding. Still, there's inherent satisfaction in blasting a home run off of your friend or striking him out. Tennis was where it was at though. Playing that was a blast. You had direct competition against the other person, you could stage crazy rallies, and the games went on long enough that it didn't really feel like you were missing any of the experience. They got that one right.

Bonus Question: What was your favorite game in Wii Sports?

That's it for tonight. We should complete the second tier tomorrow!
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SA2 is the only Sonic game I've put significant time into, and it was when I was a kid so I sucked at the main story and mostly did the chao garden stuff
It was fun at the time and part of me wants to try to revisit it someday but I know it prob wouldn't hold up today, oh well
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Chao Garden rocks
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