unpopular retro opinions

[seed]

3 minutes ago, Maes said:

Heh you'd expect something called "on a rail" to be very linear instead.

 

Indeed, it was anything but that.

 

It had many non-important areas, but it was way too easy to end up there instead of where you had to be. It also doesn't help that the game doesn't do a very good job at telling the player they need to shoot the signs to change tracks either. I still remember getting constantly lost on OAR as a kid, it wasn't much fun...

 

It highlights some parts when it comes to important areas - how to get there, well that's a different story...

[Zero Denied]

Xen was a mistake, and the long jump module was barely useful.

[snapshot]

24 minutes ago, The Strife Commando said:

Xen was a mistake, and the long jump module was barely useful.

Hardly an unpopular opinion, everyone who's sane thinks Xen is hot garbage gameplay-wise. the remake is a hundred times better.

[Zero Denied]

By the way, Half-Life did technically have a cutscene. The part where Gordon got captured is it.

[hybridial]

20 hours ago, The Strife Commando said:

Resident Evil was always an action series.

 

I know the point of this thread but I really, really have this urge to shout bullshit at the top of my lungs at you.

 

 

Yeah you can keep that... opinion. :P

[seed]

2 minutes ago, The Strife Commando said:

By the way, Half-Life did technically have a cutscene. The part where Gordon got captured is it.

 

Technically but not really, especially not compared to how it was originally meant to be.

 

20 minutes ago, sluggard said:

Hardly an unpopular opinion, everyone who's sane thinks Xen is hot garbage gameplay-wise. the remake is a hundred times better.

 

Then it is good that I am insane, for Xen has always been my favorite part of HL. I still remember how it came as a shock to me when I first learned the community actually hates it years ago - and also that it's Gaben's biggest regret.

 

No doubt what is seen in the original is only a glimpse of what it was supposed to be though. CC said in some interviews that they had access to cut Xen content and maps, and that a large amount of content never made it through.

[ChopBlock223]

Speaking of Xen, I seriously cannot understand why some people have such incredible problems with first person platforming, and then citing Half-Life of all games as an example, a game that's really permissive with your hitbox and where you can hang it, and the section most criticized for it letting you move with lower gravity and a longjump boost.

 

It was never difficult for me, and I can't comprehend why it is for others.

[Zero Denied]

53 minutes ago, ChopBlock223 said:

Speaking of Xen, I seriously cannot understand why some people have such incredible problems with first person platforming, and then citing Half-Life of all games as an example, a game that's really permissive with your hitbox and where you can hang it, and the section most criticized for it letting you move with lower gravity and a longjump boost.

 

It was never difficult for me, and I can't comprehend why it is for others.

The platforming isn't an issue. I don't like the style of Xen, and the place is just so weird in a bad way.

[Ar_e_en]

Serious Sam 2 (not second encounter) is the best Serious Sam game and Croteam going with the more "Realistic" and "Serious" approach with Sam 3 & 4 honestly turns me off from playing those games (also I don't think my computer can run those games in the first place).

 

First Encounter is alright, Second is good, 2 is best!

[Zero Denied]

9 minutes ago, Ar_e_en said:

Serious Sam 2 (not second encounter) is the best Serious Sam game and Croteam going with the more "Realistic" and "Serious" approach with Sam 3 & 4 honestly turns me off from playing those games (also I don't think my computer can run those games in the first place).

 

First Encounter is alright, Second is good, 2 is best!

I don't get the hate towards SS2. Just because it's more colorful means it's bad? If the gameplay was not good I'd understand, but more color is why it's hated? A dumb reason. I think the game being colorful is a good thing. I guess people want their grays and browns after all.

[hybridial]

I'm honestly dumbfounded when looking at the Serious Sam series how 2 isn't considered the best. From a more outside perspective it looks the most visually engaging and the most creative in ideas and level design.

[Zero Denied]

53 minutes ago, hybridial said:

I'm honestly dumbfounded when looking at the Serious Sam series how 2 isn't considered the best. From a more outside perspective it looks the most visually engaging and the most creative in ideas and level design.

The problem is that people prefer realism over unrealistic fun. Serious Sam was never serious and realistic to begin with.

[whybmonotacrab]

Heretic >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hexen.

 

Neither Castlevania 4 or Symphony of the Night are the best of the series. Not even in the top 5. 4 is bested by both Rondo of Blood and 3, Symphony isn't as good as Aria or Dawn of Sorrow, or Order of Ecclesia. 

[Spectre01]

On 11/12/2020 at 5:12 AM, The Strife Commando said:

I don't get the hate towards SS2. Just because it's more colorful means it's bad? If the gameplay was not good I'd understand, but more color is why it's hated? A dumb reason. I think the game being colorful is a good thing. I guess people want their grays and browns after all.

There are multiple legitimate reasons as to why SS2 is disliked:

• Relentless stream of forced humour, most of which is painfully unfunny. Doing a quick youtube search shows the game having almost 1.5 hours of cutscenes, all of which are poorly animated attempts at comedy.
• Atrocious voice acting. Sam and Netricsa are the only ones with legitimate voice actors. The rest of the NPC dialogue is done by Croteam and includes what can only be described as a thick Eastern-European accent attempt at imitating Alvin and the Chipmunks with the ridiculous pitch-shifting. 
• There is no story, there is no atmosphere, and the ending reveals Sam's actions to be entirely pointless.
• You know those classic enemies established by the first 2 games? Most of them are cut and replaced with new awful designs. The Kamikaze doesn't even have his signature scream, and later on his role is replaced with, wait for it, exploding clowns on unicycles.
• Now let's talk gameplay: The level design leaves little room for creative encounters, resulting in boring fights against waves of enemies that last far too long. Also, do you like vehicle and turret gameplay? Well, there's a lot of that in SS2. The vehicle sections are even more repetitive than the on-foot combat, as you hold down Mouse 1 and spray your infinite ammo. The final nail in the gameplay coffin is Croteam deciding that enemies on Serious difficulty should have 25% more HP, something not done in any other Sam game. Rather than modifying enemy spawns with tougher monsters, the hardcore experience ends up with your weapons feeling like crap.
• Now if you think Sam is just a "dumb horde shooter where you hold M1 and walk backwards" than most of that doesn't matter. But for fans of the originals who think otherwise, SS2 was a mocking slap across the face.

[hexagonopus]

omg i thought "SS2" stood for system shock 2 and i was so upset and confused like "wtf theres no vehicle combat in ss2?????"

[Zero Denied]

No one plays Serious Sam for the story.

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

Serious Sam 2 had some poor forced humor, and the combat doesn't allow for the same creativity as the early games in the series, but it did have personality if nothing else. I'm not sure if I'd describe The First/Second encounter as having a good story or even an absorbing atmosphere. The series has always been stupid. Serious Sam 2 just embraced the stupidity. At times it reminded me of a first person Ratchet and Clank with all of its goofy characters and colorful locales. I much perfer it to 3 & 4. Serious Sam 4 was a serious disappointment, and for me it is by far the worst game in the main series.

[whybmonotacrab]

27 minutes ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

Serious Sam 4 was a serious disappointment, and for me it is by far the worst game in the main series.

Gonna have to disagree there. I quite liked it. I played it after it was patched, and while it doesn't compare to First/Second Encounter or 2, it is significantly better than 3. However, it does feel like the first third of the game is kind of tacked on the game really hits it's stride once you leave Rome.

[Zero Denied]

What's wrong with SS4?

[TakenStew22]

I've heard alot of dislike for SS4. From the looks of things it doesn't look that bad.

[Spectre01]

SS4 had a rocky release full of bugs and optimization/stability issues. It's a lot better now, but I'm still waiting for a patch to address some texture streaming problems which Croteam said they will fix.

[Roofi]

For those who played Redneck Rampage. I find the game 100x better without the music.

[june gloom]

I can understand that -- licensed psychobilly tracks probably isn't the kind of thing you wanna be hearing on loop through a 10-20 hour game. I do like the music, though.

 

I personally hate when old FPS games reuse music, which is why the switch to CD audio drove me a little crazy.

[Roofi]

I recently finished Turok 2 HD in Hard (not Hardcore) and I still prefer the n64 version, mainly for nostalgia but not only.

 

The game is fortunately much more enjoyable to play without the fog,the lame controller controls and the low framerate but I was somehow a bit disappointed because the game seemed to me much too simple from now on. 

 

I seriously think that Turok is not designed for keyboard+mouse in the sense that the enemies deal too little damage and the Charge Dart + Shotgun/Mag60 combo becomes even more overpowered.

 

Also, due to the lack of fog, all levels seemed much smaller than I remembered. Not knowing where to go was both a chore and a pleasure when I played the n64 version. Every time I managed to complete all the objectives in a level provided a real sense of accomplishment.

 

Now let's see if Hardcore mode properly holds its name. ;)

 

Edited April 14, 2022 by Roofi

[Tactical Burger (Old acc)]

I don't get the hype behind chex's quest and i don't like half life that much. I think doom is better

[thiccyosh]

In terms of level design, I think Super Mario Bros 3 sucks ass in comparison to the original Super Mario Bros on the Nes. Especially in the later levels in Bros. 3, the overall quality of its level design takes a huge nosedive and throws whatever annoying enemies and/or gimmick it has.

[Woolie Wool]

43 minutes ago, Womneare said:

I don't get the hype behind chex's quest

 

What is there to get? When the first two Chex Quest games came out, most people did not have internet access, let alone know how to use an FTP client to access /idgames (yes, it existed). Many of the people who played Chex Quest didn't have Doom, and had parents who saw to it that they could not get Doom. Chex Quest was not just one PWAD among the thousands upon thousands upon thousands available to us today at a single click. It should be understood in its historical context.

 

On 11/5/2020 at 10:03 AM, Aaron Blain said:

This is such an interesting nostalgic disconnect. The 'hard pixel' look of Shovel Knight etc. is nostalgia for playing emulated games in the late 90's/ early 00's, not actually for the originals. It's a bit like early moderns romanticizing white marble statues that were in fact colorfully painted in the classical era.

 

Low-resolution videogames are supposed to have a softened, slightly organic 'analog' look. Scanlines are one of the best and easiest ways to authentically break up those hard edges.

 

The hard-edged, clean 'retro pixel' look that's very popular right now in indie games is its own separate (and totally valid) aesthetic.

 

I'm not talking about what's better or correct, just pointing out some artistic diversity that I feel often goes unnoticed.

I think there should be more clarity here on which low-resolution video games because while this is true for console games played on an NTSC television, PC games of the era absolutely did have "hard pixels", especially if you played them on a high-quality monitor with a good VGA/SVGA card. You're still not getting the full effect on an LCD due to not having scanlines, CRT distortion, and true blacks, but the experience of playing a 320x200 VGA game is way closer to the "pixel art" retro aesthetic than an SNES or Genesis game through an RF or composite connection.

 

On that note, I am sick of the "palette" filters that appear on truecolor boomer shooters like Dusk that don't correspond to any actual in-game palette. A palette is not just color banding, it's a fixed set of colors that the entire game is designed around and form part of its aesthetic. A few games do it right by actually having palettes (Wrath, Ion Fury) but most of the time it is a gimmick and an ugly one too. And likewise I wish more retro type games with pixel scaling would do a proper low-res mode instead of just the chonky pixels slider. The magic of low res in a game like Doom is that, like the palette, it is uniform through the entire game, and the art is designed to match the resolution pixel for pixel.

Edited April 14, 2022 by Woolie Wool

[gwain]

episode 2 of doom was awesome and doom64 is not to that hard

[Woolie Wool]

On 11/7/2020 at 10:04 AM, hybridial said:

 

True, true. 

 

Oh well, it's not a retro opinion exactly but, I really dislike the Divinity Original Sin games.

 

So you could imagine my excitement as a lover of the Baldur's Gate series, to this day one of the only series' I still hold a big candle for, that those guys would be making Baldur's Gate 3. 

 

That name is a lie. And I have just had to accept that. :p 

I haven't played BG3 yet but for me the biggest problem with D:OS was the unappealing setting and sophomoric humor, and the Forgotten Realms setting looks like a corrective to both of those.

 

Pillars of Eternity was the real BG3 anyway

 

E: BG1/2 were the better games, but Icewind Dale 2 had the better systems and I'd kill to play a 3E version of Baldur's Gate.

Edited April 14, 2022 by Woolie Wool

[Maes]

Scanlines were never a thing.