Your most "controversial" opinion in gaming

Docjoe wrote:

I have yet to play a Nintendo game I enjoy. I viscerally dislike Mario and it’s off-shoots and Breath of the Wild is one of the 3 worst games I have ever played. I still wish I had those hours of life back....

I’m so curious ... what are the other two “worsts”?

Vargen wrote:
Arkon wrote:

...I don't want twitch combat like Dark Souls, as Dark Souls sucks and is not fun.

I'm having trouble figuring out what's "twitch" about Dark Souls combat. If I had to pick one word for it, it would be "deliberate.".

Some play styles in the games are more twitchy than others. And they are certainly more "real time" twitchy in ways that other RPGs are not. I'd say though that it's not until the later games in the series, and especially Bloodborne and Sekiro, that the games are actually super twitchy.

To keep on the subject: my opinion is that the soulsy FromSoft games are not that hard. You just have to redefine your idea of "success" to include failure.

psu_13 wrote:

To keep on the subject: my opinion is that the soulsy FromSoft games are not that hard. You just have to redefine your idea of "success" to include failure.

You should write motivational posters!

I've never finished a Souls game, despite really enjoying them on some level, because eventually the difficulty gets to me, I'm unable to motivate myself to finish. Difficulty is just friction, and sometimes I can't get enough torque going to overcome that. You can call it whatever you like, but Souls games have a lot of friction.

Redwing wrote:
psu_13 wrote:

To keep on the subject: my opinion is that the soulsy FromSoft games are not that hard. You just have to redefine your idea of "success" to include failure.

You should write motivational posters!

I've never finished a Souls game, despite really enjoying them on some level, because eventually the difficulty gets to me, I'm unable to motivate myself to finish. Difficulty is just friction, and sometimes I can't get enough torque going to overcome that. You can call it whatever you like, but Souls games have a lot of friction.

My biggest issue was that they don't respect my time. If I spend a lot time slowly and meticulously moving my way through a level to get a boss, and that boss kills me in two hits. I shouldn't have to wade through the last 30 minutes again to get back to the boss. Eventually it got to the point where I tried to speed-run back to the boss, couldn't do that, and so I just quit.

LastSurprise wrote:
Docjoe wrote:

I have yet to play a Nintendo game I enjoy. I viscerally dislike Mario and it’s off-shoots and Breath of the Wild is one of the 3 worst games I have ever played. I still wish I had those hours of life back....

I’m so curious ... what are the other two “worsts”?

Probably Bloodborne and Fallout 76. I would say those were my 3 most disappointing games that I was excited to play in recent memory. I preordered Fallout 76 and bounced off hard, bought a PS4 and Switch largely on the desire to play Bloodbourne and BOTW. I should have known Bloodbourne might not be my style, I liked but didn't love Dark Souls. But BOTW was by all description a masterpiece in gaming and I thought it was just boring and shallow and the "story" seemed ridiculous and I hated the game mechanics.

The PS4 has come out with many other great games that I've enjoyed (not to mention PSVR) so don't regret that purchase at all. The Switch on the other hand - played some Skyrim on it and haven't touched it since. Not a great purchase.

troubleshot wrote:

Video games beyond a handful of hours a week (maybe 5 or 6?) are bad for your physical and mental health.

This may be invalid as it's "on" not "in"?

I don’t understand the last sentence, but I agree with the first part. My game time has dropped considerably the last few years, because I feel I’m doing better when I’m playing less.

DSGamer wrote:
troubleshot wrote:

Video games beyond a handful of hours a week (maybe 5 or 6?) are bad for your physical and mental health.

This may be invalid as it's "on" not "in"?

I don’t understand the last sentence, but I agree with the first part. My game time has dropped considerably the last few years, because I feel I’m doing better when I’m playing less.

I would add a bit to that. Online communities (especially fandom / gaming communities) are inherently detrimental to one's physical and mental health.

Edit: which reminds me, I really need to change my avatar.

edit: you know, I shouldn't disagree here with anyone. This is supposed to be unpopular opinions, not arguments about unpopular opinions.

Malor wrote:

edit: you know, I shouldn't disagree here with anyone. This is supposed to be unpopular opinions, not arguments about unpopular opinions.

I'm trying to resist as well

Higgledy wrote:
Malor wrote:

edit: you know, I shouldn't disagree here with anyone. This is supposed to be unpopular opinions, not arguments about unpopular opinions.

I'm trying to resist as well :D

My opinion on the Soulsy games was obviously toungue-in-cheek.

I don't actually know why I like the games so much. On paper they are everything I hate. But I just got to a point with them where just *playing* was enjoyable whether I was progressing or not. That, and learning how to speedrun to the boss doors are the mental state one has to achieve to actually like them I think. I agree that not everyone can get there, and that this is more on the games than the players. Definitely play what you like, not what I like. Life is too short.

Malor wrote:
Cladmir wrote:

I got ME1 when it first came out, played it, and did not touch ME series until several years after ME3 came and went.

Keep in mind that they completely redid the ending, so whatever you saw is not what we saw.

That really piqued my interest so I had to check it out. For reference here is what I found: Original vs New Ending

I like the original ending even more! It was bold and unapologetic, and I can totally see why it irked so many people.

Higgledy wrote:
Malor wrote:

edit: you know, I shouldn't disagree here with anyone. This is supposed to be unpopular opinions, not arguments about unpopular opinions.

I'm trying to resist as well :D

I think these two win for the second-most unpopular opinion on the internet.

“Live and let live” being the first.

doubtingthomas396 wrote:
Higgledy wrote:
Malor wrote:

edit: you know, I shouldn't disagree here with anyone. This is supposed to be unpopular opinions, not arguments about unpopular opinions.

I'm trying to resist as well :D

I think these two win for the second-most unpopular opinion on the internet.

“Live and let live” being the first.

HERESY!

dejanzie wrote:

Games in general are way too long. Just include a New Game + mode for those who can't get enough of the gameplay loop, and let the rest of us enjoy a story with some sense of pacing.

^^This!

And it seems to be a particular problem with PS Vita games. Do other people really want a 40-hour experience on a handheld?

I've now taken to consulting the 'How Long To Beat' website before I break open the cellophane on old games...

My other controversial opinion is that game controls are unnecessarily complicated.

In my view, the mere fact that a controller has a particular button isn't of itself good reason for developers to assign a function to it. When I started playing Madden, it only used a D-pad and three buttons. When last I checked, Madden now assigns a function to every button on the PS4 controller.

I wouldn't call ME3 as having the best ending ever. More like I thought it was a fine idea that wasn't executed as well as it could have been, which you could basically say for all of their games. I replayed the whole trilogy recently and honestly the bad male gaze stuff and the extremely pandering Citadel DLC made me grit my teeth more than the ending.

My additions:

1) Obsidian games are borderline unplayable due to the writing. I tried a bunch - KOTOR II, Fallout: New Vegas, Alpha Protocol, NWN 2: Mask of the Betrayer. It seems everyone talks the studio up as better at world building than their peers so you excuse the lack of polish. But I always find both the plot and the characters so incredibly boring that I always bail halfway through.

2) "Walking Simulators" are the superior game genre by a wide margin. Whether I'm playing an RPG, an adventure game, an FPS, or a strategy title, the one running theme is that there is enough enjoyment out of the game to continue past the parts I don't care about. There is always pointless busy work, bad mechanics, too many cinematics or really dry expository dialogue sequences that bog me down. But titles like Gone Home, Firewatch, Virginia or What Remains of Edith Finch give me the feeling that I always imagined games would be as a kid. You are given a world to explore in a way that gives off a cinematic feeling but you always feel like you are discovering everything by choice and naturally. I'm almost always completely satisfied by the end.

3) I hate loot. I don't get the appeal at all. Give me one gun with lots of customization options. Give me one set of armor with the same. I actually play most RPG's these days with cheat codes, where I give myself enough gold to buy whatever reasonable equipment is available in the shops, and then I proceed to play the rest of the game without ever picking up a single object or opening a single chest. Nothing is less enjoyable than going into a menu trying to decide which of 2 swords I need to equip and which to drop, and I could not give a single sh*t what anything looks like.

Stengah wrote:

Retro & lo-fi graphics are crap and ruin otherwise good games.

I mostly agree with this. I have no nostalgia for pixelart, and the growing crop of games deliberately aping PS1/2 3D graphics confuses me.

Arkon wrote:

I like the combat in the Elder Scrolls series/Skyrim.

I'll take this a step further and say that Elder Scrolls and Betheda's Fallout games don't need to be modded. They're fine as is. Even the menus! They're fine.

Amoebic wrote:

"Gamer and proud of it" as a philosophy and behavior/attire in public spaces is not a great look.

*unsure if this be trolling*

*it is potentially the bestest controversial gaming opinion*

*curiosity wins*

I'm not following. The people who think that are the problem. No?

People in video game attire. People with tattoos. People with blue hair. Etc. All could be awesome people. Whilst the trending regular lemmings concerned with social acceptance (so to fit in and to see where or whom they can ridicule) could as easily not be.

I have a Splatoon t-shirt, a Mario Kart 8 t-shirt, a classic Sonic t-shirt, a Legend of Zelda hoodie, amongst others, and the public feedback is predominantly positive, a conversation starter, across the age and gender spectrum. Video games can unite. There are instances of mockery or s{racist slur}ing, because it's obviously just for nerds, or obviously just for children, and I pity such fools (usually the alpha try hard or the glam attention seeker) in their caged existence.

I love to see folks sporting pop culture, or nerd culture, or video game culture. Whatever. A Back to the Future t-shirt. A Big Bang Theory hoodie. A Nintendo backpack. A Stranger Things baseball cap. A Marvel wristband. I see such and think fun, interesting, unconcerned with nonsense.

I'm thinking we're coming from different perspectives and experiences. Video games for my wife, my sisters, myself, my friends, have been so positive. We see video game attire and we want it. We see others sporting it and we think it's cool.

I've probably missed something and shall be laughed at. Oh well!

As for a contribution. I'm not really sure I have a controversial gaming opinion. *thinks* Perhaps that a controller is better than a mouse and keyboard? Given the choice I'll always choose the former. I also don't play competitive shooters.

Multiplayer shooters have not been fun since they became purely skill-based.

So like, since Unreal Tournament where you just had to gore someone with a rail gun.

Overwatch, Fortnite, PUBG, whatever. All of them. I'd even tack Counter-Strike onto that list. Boring and sucky, yet people will keep buying them so studios will keep making them. Have we learned nothing from the annualized Call of Duty?

Crafting systems are fetch quests with different (and cheaper!) window dressing. Having replaced this blacksmith/questgiver with a magic forge or 3D printer, we don't even have to write or record dialogue any more! But you're still running around collecting ten giant ant mandibles or whatever before it rewards you with a new toy.

RnRClown wrote:
Amoebic wrote:

"Gamer and proud of it" as a philosophy and behavior/attire in public spaces is not a great look.

*unsure if this be trolling*

*it is potentially the bestest controversial gaming opinion*

*curiosity wins*

I'm not following. The people who think that are the problem. No?

People in video game attire. People with tattoos. People with blue hair. Etc. All could be awesome people. Whilst the trending regular lemmings concerned with social acceptance (so to fit in and to see where or whom they can ridicule) could as easily not be.

I have a Splatoon t-shirt, a Mario Kart 8 t-shirt, a classic Sonic t-shirt, a Legend of Zelda hoodie, amongst others, and the public feedback is predominantly positive, a conversation starter, across the age and gender spectrum. Video games can unite. There are instances of mockery or s{racist slur}ing, because it's obviously just for nerds, or obviously just for children, and I pity such fools (usually the alpha try hard or the glam attention seeker) in their caged existence.

I love to see folks sporting pop culture, or nerd culture, or video game culture. Whatever. A Back to the Future t-shirt. A Big Bang Theory hoodie. A Nintendo backpack. A Stranger Things baseball cap. A Marvel wristband. I see such and think fun, interesting, unconcerned with nonsense.

I'm thinking we're coming from different perspectives and experiences. Video games for my wife, my sisters, myself, my friends, have been so positive. We see video game attire and we want it. We see others sporting it and we think it's cool.

I've probably missed something and shall be laughed at. Oh well!

As for a contribution. I'm not really sure I have a controversial gaming opinion. *thinks* Perhaps that a controller is better than a mouse and keyboard? Given the choice I'll always choose the former. I also don't play competitive shooters.

I won’t speak for Amoebic, but I took her to mean that people who define themselves as gamers and gamers alone are potentially unbalanced.

Not unbalanced as in mentally ill, but in the sense that their lives lack balance.

I’m torn about how I feel about that. On the one hand, pretty much anyone who tries to define their entire experience as a human with four words (“I am a _____”) is likely to be somewhat inflexible or to be missing out on a big part of life.

On the other hand, as the parent of autistic children and not exactly neurotypical myself, I’m aware of what perseverance is and I don’t view it as inherently dangerous or even negative. Some people like trains and don’t like talking about anything else. Other people are the same way about sports. The only difference, as far as I can see, is that society sanctions one and chastises the other for largely arbitrary reasons.

Like humans, it’s complicated.

RnRClown wrote:
Amoebic wrote:

"Gamer and proud of it" as a philosophy and behavior/attire in public spaces is not a great look.

*unsure if this be trolling*

*it is potentially the bestest controversial gaming opinion*

*curiosity wins*

I'm not following. The people who think that are the problem. No?

People in video game attire. People with tattoos. People with blue hair. Etc. All could be awesome people. Whilst the trending regular lemmings concerned with social acceptance (so to fit in and to see where or whom they can ridicule) could as easily not be.

I have a Splatoon t-shirt, a Mario Kart 8 t-shirt, a classic Sonic t-shirt, a Legend of Zelda hoodie, amongst others, and the public feedback is predominantly positive, a conversation starter, across the age and gender spectrum. Video games can unite. There are instances of mockery or s{racist slur}ing, because it's obviously just for nerds, or obviously just for children, and I pity such fools (usually the alpha try hard or the glam attention seeker) in their caged existence.

I love to see folks sporting pop culture, or nerd culture, or video game culture. Whatever. A Back to the Future t-shirt. A Big Bang Theory hoodie. A Nintendo backpack. A Stranger Things baseball cap. A Marvel wristband. I see such and think fun, interesting, unconcerned with nonsense.

I'm thinking we're coming from different perspectives and experiences. Video games for my wife, my sisters, myself, my friends, have been so positive. We see video game attire and we want it. We see others sporting it and we think it's cool.

I've probably missed something and shall be laughed at. Oh well!

As for a contribution. I'm not really sure I have a controversial gaming opinion. *thinks* Perhaps that a controller is better than a mouse and keyboard? Given the choice I'll always choose the former. I also don't play competitive shooters.

I saw this as a direct comment about GamerGate where a lot of women were targeted with death and rape threats. Classifying as a gamer in that kind of context is a big red flag now because of all of that. Even the term 'gamer girl' has been used less because of the pejorative way it ended up being used. But having Link or Shepherd on your shirt doesn't indicate a GamerGate attitude.

Stop me if I'm wrong on this. I'd rather be corrected than sound like a dope.

DT got the gist of it and Kitty nailed it. Capital-G "Gamers," especially those possessing the adversarial defiance of "and proud of it" as an identifying characteristic has been co-opted by certain aggressive subset of the gaming community.

This is a controversial opinion, from me, because I'm part of the structure of a website with GAMERS in it.

Don't worry about your tee shirts it's not about tee shirts

EDIT: Looks like Aoe was referencing GamerGate.

I really do hope that people don't instantly correlate GamerGate to just the general crowd of "gamers" as a whole. I also don't like that those dumb f*cks don't represent all of us.

I have launcher's for 7 different store fronts/game libraries on my PC and I couldn't care less. Make it 8. Makes no difference to me.

kuddles wrote:

2) "Walking Simulators" are the superior game genre by a wide margin. Whether I'm playing an RPG, an adventure game, an FPS, or a strategy title, the one running theme is that there is enough enjoyment out of the game to continue past the parts I don't care about. There is always pointless busy work, bad mechanics, too many cinematics or really dry expository dialogue sequences that bog me down. But titles like Gone Home, Firewatch, Virginia or What Remains of Edith Finch give me the feeling that I always imagined games would be as a kid. You are given a world to explore in a way that gives off a cinematic feeling but you always feel like you are discovering everything by choice and naturally. I'm almost always completely satisfied by the end.

I also like this "controversial" opinion. I find myself both not having much time to game these days and not wanting to play something too heavy.

I could really go for a version of Breath of the Wild with no combat. Just wandering around the world solving puzzles.

I've given serious thought lately to selling my PS4 and just gaming on my Switch / 3DS and putting that money towards buying all the "Walking simulators" and non-combat games on the Switch (Gone Home, Firewatch).

Amoebic wrote:

DT got the gist of it and Kitty nailed it. Capital-G "Gamers," especially those possessing the adversarial defiance of "and proud of it" as an identifying characteristic has been co-opted by certain aggressive subset of the gaming community.

This is a controversial opinion, from me, because I'm part of the structure of a website with GAMERS in it.

I have to say that I used to be somewhat unashamed to tell people that I play video games, but ever since GamerGate I tend to just say "I play games" and start off with board games just to get a feel of the other person first.

To add another contrarian opinion: I am ok with straight white male protagonist (except when it's played as a white savior like the Last Samurai). Now I'm not against other variety of protagonists, I'm just not bothered at all if another white guy happens to play the hero (and because it is me playing he is going to experience agonizing death many many times over).

Quick claimer: I am a straight non-white male with Southeast Asian heritage, and what bothers me far more than "look, it's another white man hero" is the "Look, diversity! We've included Asians!" and what they meant is that they included fair skinned Chinese/Japanese/Koreans characters.

Agent 86 wrote:

I have launcher's for 7 different store fronts/game libraries on my PC and I couldn't care less. Make it 8. Makes no difference to me.

Whatever GOG's new launcher is might be what you are looking for - once it is released.

Vrikk wrote:
Agent 86 wrote:

I have launcher's for 7 different store fronts/game libraries on my PC and I couldn't care less. Make it 8. Makes no difference to me.

Whatever GOG's new launcher is might be what you are looking for - once it is released.

One launcher to rule them all?! No interest. Might install it just to push the total to 8 though. Although would it replace my current GOG launcher. Hmmmm, then I would still be at 7.

Nope I need someone to offer up another game store.

Why, hello there google. What is a stradia?

doubtingthomas396 wrote:

Also, Battleborne is superior to Overwatch.

Holy frijoles, I agree with DThomas on something. If they'd made more PvE campaigns and marketed it as Borderlands with like thirty main characters I think they would have sold more. A lot of the character designs were neat. Except for tiny-head-guy, no thank you.

Controversial opinion: Mice are terrible input devices for shooters.

I really like the tactical element of shooters, and the tactics of of hyper twitch are boring. Dual analog, or potentially other physical setups, slow down the game just enough to allow for interesting engagements.

Similarly, the inability to strafe or aim while moving was WHY Resident Evil 4 was so fun. The extra player limitations broaden the tactical space.

Same complaint goes for the left trigger to aim that also snaps you to the nearest target.

Its not that those games have no skills in them, but the potential skill of aiming (which is the primary mechanic of the game!) has been reduced to basically nothing.