I’m bored once more so I was wondering what kind of unpopular or at least less accepted ideas regarding gaming. Anything from retro to modern, console to PC, mainstream to obscure, positive and negative, contrarian or unheard of, you name it. Just as long as it makes sense somewhat and doesn’t go overboard. I’m sure the responses (if there are any) will be…interesting. I’ll start with mine:
I don’t think the Epic Games Store is completely awful, nor will it destroy PC gaming. Before you ask, I would still rather purchase my games in Steam as much as the next guy since they offer a payment method I can actually use (+sales) but aside from that at worst yeah it’s a huge pain with the exclusives, especially when they announce the game moving from Steam to Epic Games AFTER pre orders start (that Metro incident was a huge mess) and I know the free games are seen as a form of bribery, but for someone who isn’t comfortable to spend a lot of money on video games, doesn’t have a huge amount of money on me, at least not for something as expensive as video games, and want to get the games legit without going through the hoopla of piracy, it’s a great incentive. Call me an idiot all you want, given their privacy issues in the past, but aside from that would it really affect PC gaming in the long run? Sure, it sucks that a game you’ve been anticipating is moved to an inferior service with severe problems, but aside from that? You can buy your games at Steam, GOG, even Origin and UPlay might be better alternatives. I do agree that Steam is by far the better service, and the better client (seriously when EGL downloads my crummy computer chugs I hate it) but it hasn’t killed anyone’s enjoyment of gaming yet, perhaps ruin it at least somewhat
On that note, I couldn’t get into city simulators on PC, something like Cities: Skylines and Simcity. They just don’t seem that fun to me, even with the former’s recent release being more simplified I still cannot get into it all that well. I actually prefer those mobile games more because of how they are far simpler they are and lets me have a fantasy of running a city without TOO much stress while playing it.
I’m fine if you play it on any difficulty, so long as you are having fun. This is one of the more “popular” opinions I see so I don’t think it really counts. I couldn’t care much about that dude who bragged about cheating in Sekiro, but at the same time bragging about it on a professional website, where credibility is required, would make people angry and understandably criticise him for it. If he said it on his social media account instead, I don’t think it would’ve nearly gone this amount of backlash, perhaps some but not to the level seen.
Anyways, I think I have more but I don’t want to write any more because I’m tired of writing for now, and it is long enough. I’m sure if this gains traction it would be quite civil. I hope.
Alright, have a few, but nothing too outlandish. Let’s see what you guys think. I’ll try to stay out of the “like/dislike” spectrum of things.
I believe Linux Gaming has a bright future, regarless of AAA publishers and their porting decisions. I say that as someone who plays on Linux 90% of the time (my only exceptions atm are Borderlands 2 due to OS version incompatibility with a Win friend and Mutazione due to a bug).
I prefer shorter games over longer games and actually get taken aback when someone tells me “you should get this, it has HUNDREDS of hours of content!” No thanks. I’ll stick to my 2-hour long p&c indie game.
I like doing sidequests and do them over main quests any day of the week. However, I hate when I get too OP when I get back to the main story again. This happened to me while playing The Witcher 3 on “Sword and Story” or whatever difficulty. So @choujiacheng while I think having fun is the most important thing, I wish someone had insisted on me playing TW3 at least on normal difficulty. Ended up getting bored of it 1/4 of the way through and now I want to restart on higher difficulty.
I usually dislike games that are mechanically challenging. Reason why I nearly gave up on Hollow Knight and why I avoid playformers or shoot em ups like that plague. I’m a puzzle person haha
I really wouldnt call 2 and 3 particularly unpopular .
A lot of older people ( by older i mean over 20 or so or in general have to provide for themselves hence not a lot of free time for games ) prefer shorter games . But well every game needs to be as short or as long as it needs to be really to deliver the intended experience.
As someone who always had this urge to complete game 100% i too tend to focus on side quests a lot. Main story will always be there but side quests might as well just expire or you can miss out on them completely ( yes i’m looking at you Kingdom Come ) .
if by TW3 you mean The Witcher 3 only valid difficulty to play is highest one - deathmarch . And i understand that this might make me sound as some sort of elitist jerk but it is truly the only way to playthis game to get a full experience. It requires you to use all signs,potions,decotations and basically prepare for a fight with a monster ( whole point of the witcher as a profession ) . You can pretty much just go and bash anyone and anything with a stick on any other difficulty.
I’ll have you know I have the soul of the 70 year old grumpy granny. But at least I’m not 330 years old like @Vandem tho. I bet he can only play 10-minute long games.
Not sure what you meant with the sidequests on that one as I have not played it. Please explain?
I do and I agree because I played it in one of the easiest difficulties couple years ago (thought it would be too hard otherwise) and it was a snoozefest.
Platformers: I like the easy relaxing type, bright and pretty that make me smile. Sure I’d try Cuphead if I had it, as I love the art style very much, but playing really hard platformers, hm. Maybe some day if I get bored. I suspect 10 second ninja gets harder, but it makes me laugh too, heh.
Story First: I’ll play any game with mixed or even negative reviews if the story is unique, or the art. Once it isn’t utterly broken gameplay wise.
Main Characters Usually SCUK!: They do. Many times I enjoy the secondaries and villains a lot more than the MCs. A lot of that could be due to how RPG heroes are created - a bit blank so you can “make” them into the person you want. Still, gimme someone like Dante any day.
You’re not a TRUE Gamer if x and y: Heck, if you enjoy what you’re doing, even if you pick one game you like and become an expert at it, you’re some kind of gamer. Elitism on other forums, before I found Chrono, really used to bother me. No one is born with a controller in their hands after all. Games are for fun - not a rite of passage to be the head of the tribe, lol.
Here’s a spicy one: Fortnite is actually a decent game. Granted, I personally don’t like it because I’m just not a fan of Battle Royales, but you have to admit the game brought a lot of new stuff to the genre. It has a cartoony artstyle in a genre dominated by modern military shooters, it actually attempts to have story and lore, and it solves the usual “only one map” issue by having destructible environments and allowing players to build, which constantly changes the landscape.The game’s cultural impact is also something to admire, even if it’s considered “cringe” nowadays.
Wait. That means you’re not aware of the fact that you’re only a TRUE chronie if you own a Poop game, have amassed at least 365 daily coin spins, have bought at least 3 games from the coin shop, played one multiplayer game with Fraggles and have a pile of at least 20k of unspent coins?
Competitive shooter games are really un-fun, you can have your Overwatch, I’ll stick with my PVZ: BFN.
RNG including games are more fun than non RNG including games, rather it be Death Road to Canada or Cuphead, I like having variety even if it ends my run unfairly.
Art is important, if the art you draw doesn’t fit the atmosphere, the game would feel out of place and I wouldn’t have much fun, like, imagine Minecraft with Detroit Become Human graphics.
PVZ: BFN is Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville
A few of my own unpopular opinions:
Borderlands 1 is better than Borderlands 2. The character writing and worldbuilding are more fun, and while the enemies were less varied, there weren’t as many enemy types that were more annoying than fun.
Pixel art looks worse with soft lighting, whether that’s baked overlays or dynamic lighting. Controlled palettes are half the fun, adding a bunch of unnecessary colours just makes the limitations of pixel art more obvious instead of enhancing its strengths.
Related to (2), Octopath Traveler looks ugly to me. The pixel art breaks the otherwise-awesome diorama aesthetic, the various effects (most notably the DoF and perspective) make the pixel art look worse. It’s a style clash. I think the game would’ve worked better with high-res 2D graphics, or if pixel art was so important, then with just 2D pixel art graphics and some hand-drawn suggested DoF parallax and such, instead of a hybrid mess.
“Clone” games are fine when it’s just the devs earnestly wanting to make a version of a game they love but with a few of their own ideas. I’d rather see more games like that, without unnecessary changes added just to differentiate their game from its inspiration.
Realistic graphics look boring and their main value is in furthering rendering/authoring technology. For actual games, I want to see more stylied stuff that doesn’t require the newest gear to run. This extends to animation, as well! Conveying story, atmosphere, and character >>> getting things “correct”.
Authorial intent is not an excuse to make your game inaccessible to players who’ve purchased your game. Let people enjoy your game as they wish, once it’s out there, it’s out of your hands, stop being a dick.
The Witcher 1 has better side-quests and worldbuilding than the Witcher 3.
Hm, that’s often times true. For one thing, I was surprised to be more scared and on edge played the old pixel heavy version of Alone in the Dark 1. Oxenfree had me panicked as heck too. With realistic graphics, you don’t have to imagine / interpret “what the heck is that thing” as much. In that case, atmosphere, character, pacing and music has to do most of the work to get you engaged and keep you jumpy/emotional/curious - depending on the genre of the game.
@MrBonesWildRide Tbh, I feel the same way. I don’t like playing it, but I do admire the visuals for being different than the usual military shooter. I think Overwatch and even Destiny (to some extent; I don’t know if you would call it stylised but the visuals are more colourful than the competition at least) does something similar, with interesting lore and stylised graphics. I do prefer playing PUBG Mobile and COD Mobile’s BR mode, though (yeah mobile games are games too). @Danacscott I really like Rayman Origins and Celeste but I couldn’t bear to play it for a continuous amount of time before it either starts getting frustrating or bored of it. I pretty much quit Super Meat Boy altogether lol, but maybe some day I’ll come back to it. @DeathBringer didn’t know someone is playing that new PvZ game. I didn’t hear anything about it until IGN’s review is recommended on YouTube.
I think shooter games are the simplest games with little to learn. When I read complaints, its about how a weapon feels or some mechanic they don’t like. But to me all shooter games are the same. Gun pew pew. Point at baddie. Pew pew until game ends. Play one shooter game and you can play any shooter game. Low barrier to entry.
Strategy games, while being my favorite. It’s like learning how to ride a bike after forgetting. Again and again. You know it’s a bike. You know what you should do. But you still have to learn. So the time investment on learning a game to see if you like it bugs me. I think that is why strategy games so unpopular. I wish we had already streamlined the gameplay like shooter games do. But I know that can’t happen. High barrier to entry + patience.
Sports games are lazy. You have the exact same gameplay. Same rules. Same everything. The only thing developers add are the sports players’ faces on the models and wait for money to transfer into their account.
I don’t know why nobody has just made The One < Sport > Game, To Rule Them All. Literally one game per sport.
I’ll leave roleplay games alone since those are just books.
I don’t know what action games are since I think they can fit into any other category.
PS. I do play all these genres. Definitely great games will be great even in a genre I don’t like. I’m just talking about genres in general, not specific games.
Never managed to get into sandboxy, builder type games (Factorio, Terraria, Dwarf Fortress). They’re a bit too open ended for me, and I always get to a point early on where I don’t know what to do. The one exception that I’ve played is Oxygen Not Included, which throws a steady stream of issues to solve early to mid game.
I can understand where you got this notion from, and as someone who only really started playing them in earnest in April this year perhaps I’d have shared it. However, mechanically games which you might think are simple (FPS games, 1vs1 fighters) can in fact be incredibly nuanced.
If there was little to learn in FPS games we’d all be aim pro’s and esports ready…the reality is that it takes thousands and thousands of hours to train yourself to really excel, which is the opposite of being simple to learn.
Woah! Took the words right out of my mouth. I didn’t wanna say it in fear of being alone but boy does it feel great to know someone else thinks the way I do. Cheers, man!
I hate autosaves and in a way checkpoint saves as well. Especially on RPGs and other story driven games. I prefer to create my own saves whenever I want and a part of it is so I can revisit particular moments I may want to go back to somewhere down the road. And I especially like to relive a game’s ending whenever I want to.
Ironman mode in games
Closely connected with number one, my dislike for autosaves, being forced to play on a single autosave and checkpoint file really pisses me off.
Permadeath
I know it’s meant to add drama and to make the player play smarter and more carefully. But letting me name and customize my ingame toy soldiers and then forcing me to watch them die in front of my eyes because the game developer is a sadomassochistic bastard just doesn’t go well with my taste.
Over reliance on RNG Mechanics
RNG driven combat is something I can accept as that is pretty commonplace. But having RNG determine what kind, kind as in what item gets created and not the quality of said item which again is acceptable, of item gets crafted is way too annoying. I mean seriously can’t you keep a log of what kind of stuff your production facilities comes up with so you can order a specific item you want from them instead of going through random chance? HOLY MOLY! I just realized something, that mechanic IS LOOT BOXES! crap, XCOM 2 almost had them. Thank heavens for modders
BURN THE WITCH 
Thank heavens for modders 