# The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opinions



## Commonmind (Jul 19, 2008)

Having frequented this forum for some time, I've come to realize that we often have strong opinions, which we tend to express openly and often. The difference being I find there is a level of maturity and intelligence here not found on other, similarly themed message boards; during even our most heated debates, most of us tend to treat our fellow board members with respect and patience.

So, let's throw all that crap out the window!

Actually, I'm kidding. But what I would like is for everyone to share an opinion which may be slightly against the grain, or which your gaming peers may find to be an abomination (e.g., Halo sucked; Final Fantasy VII was worthless; Half-Life 2, Smash-Like Foo).

Here's one of my own, generally unacceptable opinions, and one I've not shared with many people:

I think Ocarina of Time is overrated.

There, I've said it. 

Maybe this has to do with my age, or the time in which I experienced it in my gaming life, but I much preferred "A Link to the Past." I believe there's an entire generation of gamers whose first Zelda experience was with OoT, so I can fully understand their love and affection for that iteration of the series. I simply don't find the game as appealing as its predecessor, and I find that, when discussing the subject with fellow Zelda fans -- fans who preferred OoT -- the paradox is we're using similar points from each game as the basis for our respective arguments. It's as if there's this similarity between them, some theme or element that was evocative for us across the different games, but one that we didn't share when it came to OoT (for myself) or ALttP (for them).

I felt OoT's visual presentation was too muddled and watered down; for me, it lost that charm that made LttP so engaging. It wasn't just that the graphics weren't up to speed, but the color palette, the world itself, and the way in which that world was presented.

OoT's story was decent, but predictable. I often hear it argued that the same can be said for LttP, but LttP set the precedent, as it was the first game in the series to explore an actual story. This is akin to saying M. Night's first movie had a predictable ending, but this is only because you've watched his other film's beforehand.

I had some other issues with OoT, but the point here is to give everyone a chance to voice their own politically incorrect viewpoints.

And by all means, feel free to strike up some debates; maybe you'll convince someone to give something another go-'round; maybe you'll make some enemies (which are usually the kind that become the best type of friend). At the very least you'll finally share that "something" with others that you wouldn't dare to on other gaming boards.


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## HoopyFrood (Jul 19, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

I am indeed that person whose first (and I sadly, ashamedly admit, only) experience of Zelda is The Ocarina of Time. Thus I am going to say that I bloody love it. I can play it again and again and never tire of it. The story isn't incredible (three stones, then five temples, dark, scary man intent on ruling) but I enjoyed the different elements to each of the 'stages' that meant your needing to acquire new items to complete them (ah, the joys of finally getting the Zora tunic and being able to play underwater!) It was probably also the first time I'd played a game where you could go _anywhere_ in that world (albeit a small one, seeing as you could cross Hyrule Field in about three minutes) and shun the storyline for a while in order to go fishing or similar. 

Seeing as I practically grew up on this game, I can't gush about it enough, which is probably understandable. I'm sure I don the rose-coloured glasses when referring to it, anyway! I really want to try the Wii version; things like fishing, riding and firing arrows were some of the cooler aspects of the Ocarina of Time, so to use a Wii remote to do all this is something I re-he-he-heally want to try.


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## Commonmind (Jul 19, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

I thoroughly enjoyed Twilight Princess. Dare I say I found it to be a much more substantial game than OoT. (This opinion could go down as my second, politically incorrect point of view, lol; oh, I also loved Wind Waker -- I know.)


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## HoopyFrood (Jul 19, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

I definitely want to play it; I had a brief go on a friend's copy of the game and enjoyed prancing around on the horse for a while. But part of me feels, strangely (perversely ) that the better graphics might actually put me off! After spending half my life in a patchy stretch of grass and blotchy water in Ocarina of Time, to have this rich and detailed world might be too much....! (Perhaps this could be seen as my own politically incorrect opinion, heh).


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## Cayal (Jul 19, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

I think GTA is the most over rated gaming series that is currently going on.

Looking at GTA3, Vice City, San Andreas and IV the storyline is the main character getting betrayed.
Then doing the same missions over and over. Drive here and kill someone. Drive there and do a drop.
That's it.

Same stuff different city. It's over-rated.


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## Connavar (Jul 19, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

I agree fully Cayal.  Rockstar are only hype and make money on the shallowest part of gaming.  Only hype and exterior look,fake free gameplay !


Otherwise i think Nintendo are the lamest thing in gaming currently. 

 Let Mario be left alone for one year.  Stop milking him so much.  He got old in the 80s for god sake.  Its not his era.  Its the era for serious games or platform games that bring something new and just dont recycle what worked for them in 1982 because they were the only force in consol gaming....


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## HoopyFrood (Jul 19, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

I have to agree about Mario. He's old now, he's had his time; plus he is just an incredibly annoying character.


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## Commonmind (Jul 19, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

Well, I agree, stop milking him by putting his ugly mustached mug in every damn game that comes to market, but keep putting out Mario platformers, cause Galaxy, Mario 64 and Mario World were all solid efforts.

I agree with the GTA franchise being overrated, despite enjoying GTA IV quite a bit -- though that probably has to do with the fact that I found the series overrated to begin with and didn't play every iteration until completion, so GTA IV felt somewhat fresh and new.


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## Joel007 (Jul 19, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

The Sims! Why?? A game with no objective and no way to win? Even killing them is boring! This is madness!

I don't mind all the Mario games existing. I just don't play them.


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## Lucien21 (Jul 19, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

Final Fantasy sucks.

All those grind fest random battles.


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## Commonmind (Jul 19, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

Here's a few more of mine:

I found Halo to be an average experience at best; the story, which was touted as being a genius sci-fi effort, was cut from the cliche cloth. The original stories seen in Half-Life, Deus Ex, and other first-person shooters that predated Halo by several years had done far better jobs of introducing complex narratives with unique, ambituous plots. The gameplay was done well and very polished, but beyond the shield system and getting the controls right, it did nothing exceptional. I also found that with each iteration the series became more and more verbose -- like The Matrix, they should've left good enough alone.

I thought Timesplitters was far more fun than Goldeneye.

I found FF6 to be a better game than FF7 (goes back to that age thing I guess; FF6 was the first FF I played at an age where I comprehended the themes it presented).

I think anyone that still plays Counter-Strike and regals it is only doing so because they've gotten so good at CS that they don't want to lose that sense of heroism and superiority they feel by dominating in that game -- which is hence why in every other shooter on the market I always hear, "this game sucks, I'll own you in CS. I'm done playing this crap!"

I played WoW for a long time, led one of the best raiding guilds on my respective server (and at one time, the largest and most active) and have multiple accounts and over half-a-dozen equipped high-level characters. Yet I still find the game to be rudimentary, boring and a cheapened version of other MMO's which have done each aspect of the game better -- PVP and PVE.


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## Sephiroth (Jul 20, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

LOL, great idea for a thread, CM.  

And I'm with you OoT.  My friend raves about it, and I borrowed her N64 to play it, but..._meh_.  It wasn't a bad game, but I couldn't really get into it, and I only got so far before I started to lose interest.  But truth be told, I haven't played any of the Zelda games, perhaps because I've never owned a Nintendo console.  I used to swap my megadrive for a SNES, though, so I played a lot of Nintendo games, but I never really took to the N64 as a console.  HATED the controller, for one thing.  I find it very clunky and just downright unpleasant to handle.  The only game I ever got good at was Mariokart, because we used to play four-player all the time at my friends'.  But even when I borrowed her N64, I just couldn't really get into it at all.  

I agree about GTA and Mario (but also that there have been some kickass Mario games -- Mario World is my favourite, I loved that...).  And I always loved Sim City, but have never really fancied The Sims.  


As for liking FFVI better, I completely understand.  It's a phenomenal game, and if I'd played it first, I might feel the same way.  I know a lot of FF _otaku _who do, and IMO it's far and away the second-best title after VII.  In some ways, I'd love to see _that _remade for the PS3, because I've often imagined what the FMV sequences in it would have been like.  The pivotal scene in the middle of the game, for example.  


And as for the grind-fest, well...yeah.  Totally.  But I'm obsessive compulsive about stuff like that, and I find ways to make it less tedious along the way. 

 




A game that annoyes me is ISS.  IMO, there's not been a good footy game out for any platform since Fifa '98, and I don't get the whole ISS obsession.  I find the controls clunky and not intuitive in the least, and for crying out loud, it doesn't even have the real players in it.  All my freinds love it, but I say _meh_.


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## Commonmind (Jul 20, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

Okay Seph, you can stop being creepy and discontinue stealing thoughts from my own brain. Thanks!

Seriously, despite our FF7 differences, I'm beginning to wonder if you weren't stolen from the crib next to me.


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## Sephiroth (Jul 20, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

Really?  Whoa... 

*spooky music is piped through the Chrons speakers, in place of the usual muzak*




I'm not even so sure that our FFVII differences are fundamental.  After all, we both love the game.  I'm seriously thinking about doing that post in the other thread, but if I do, I want it to be an exploration of the reasons _why _I think the story's so great, something to challenge my own view, too...rather than just writing another piece of fanboy drivel (ZOMG FF7 is teh roxxorz!!!).  In the cold light of day (eleven years is probably as cold as it's going to get...), can I still back up my assertion?  

I dunno, but if/when I can make the time, I'm interested in finding out.


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## Cayal (Jul 20, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*



Sephiroth said:


> I'm seriously thinking about doing that post in the other thread, but if I do, I want it to be an exploration of the reasons _why _I think the story's so great, something to challenge my own view, too...rather than just writing another piece of fanboy drivel (ZOMG FF7 is teh roxxorz!!!).  In the cold light of day (eleven years is probably as cold as it's going to get...), can I still back up my assertion?
> 
> I dunno, but if/when I can make the time, I'm interested in finding out.



I'd be interested in reading it.


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## Commonmind (Jul 20, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*



> I'm not even so sure that our FFVII differences are fundamenta.



They're not, in honesty. 

And I'd really like to see this thread, so here's my words of encouragement (following the witty arrow thingy) ---->


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## Cayal (Jul 20, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

As Nike would say:

Just Do It.


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## Sephiroth (Jul 20, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

No pressure then, guys?  





Heh.  Looks like it's put up or shut up time.  I'll begin to make notes over the next few days, then.  This could be fun...


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## Lith (Aug 1, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

Politically incorrect, eh?  And that's the worst you can come up with?

My turn!

I think gamers are generally stupid.  I've yet to find a decent dedicated game forum that rises above:  "OMG who's hotter Cloud or Squall?"  I love video games in a lot of ways, and see the potential of them, but I seriously doubt they will ever be anything great because of the lowest common denominator entertainment factor, and the fact that they tend downwards rather than upwards in terms of challenging people.  The task of producing a game that can teach, surprise, emotionally engage, challenge, etc. is just too large to be economical.  

Further, I think games FAR too often ignore sense and real-world knowledge in their creation.  I can handle weirdness and fantasy just fine, but at least give me street layouts in towns that look plausible!  Give me textures that aren't painted polygons!  Give me grass that lays on bricks, not bricks that lay on grass!  Use that newfound computer-rendering power, and give me levels that sprawl without being confined to a sprawling path that's little better than a side-scroller!  Open a book on urban-planning or architecture, and make me buildings and towns that make an internal sense for the world that is!

And mostly, get rid of the damned asymmetrical clothing with too many zippers, armor that covers non-vitals while leaving vitals completely exposed, and grow up those heroes past the legal drinking age!  

That's all.

For now.


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## Lenny (Aug 1, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

Squall, boviously. 

---

Halo is one of the worst games I've had the misfortune of playing. Well, 2 and 3 are - I've never played 1. They're just generic, the gameplay is mediocre at best, the levels are incredibly confusing, what story I've seen would have been better if a tabloid journalist had written it, and the game as a whole is just so boring... can anyone say "overrated much"? Though I have to admit, I do like the little spikey gun that shoots out the pink things. Other than that, though... well, if someone came up to me and started spouting Halo, one word would sum up my feelings - DILLIGAD.

I must say that I'm not much of an FFVII fan, either. I've played FFX, and that really dragged me in and kept me entertained for something like 60 hours before my friend took it back. Hell, even FFX-2 kept me entertained whilst I was watching the same friend playing it (we got through the entire thing in a day). But FFVII... meh. I won't argue that the opening couple of hours weren't bad, it's just that they weren't enough to make me want to carry on. If Rufus was the first boss in FFX and I lost the first battle against him, I'd have jumped back into the fray with thoughts on what to do differently. With FFVII, however, I just shrugged and carried on with my life.

I agree with everyone above about Mario, and I'd like to throw Sonic into the fray as another character that seems to be going down that path.


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## Lith (Aug 2, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

boviously?  I think they're both pretty bovious, myself.

While I'm at it, they also need to learn how to animate faces and light scenes properly.  Yes, FF12 DID look better than Oblivion, despite the lower polygon count.  More polygons on the 360 and PS3, but still the same old wooden characters that don't move  naturally or talk naturally and glow in weirdly in badly-lit taverns.  

And I have the pix to prove it.


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## Commonmind (Aug 2, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

I'm not sure that's a really good comparison, despite agreeing with you when it comes to the character design and strange lighting that often made them appear as if they were hanging by their toes.


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## Lenny (Aug 2, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

I know what you mean with the strange glow around characters. I often see it around objects, too. But I don't agree completely with the wooden characters that don't move naturally, particularly not when nearly every 'realistic' game coming out these days uses motion capture for the characters, and actual actors in the mo-cap suits at that.


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## Lith (Aug 2, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

Funny thing about mo-cap though is that it often doesn't look natural in the game.  Look at LOTR- they had to animate Gollum's face by hand, because the mo-capped facial movements didn't look natural.  There needs to be some exaggeration in the movement, for whatever reason, to make it carry through on screen.  (And that takes time and skill and $$.)


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## Highlander II (Aug 2, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*



Joel007 said:


> The Sims! Why?? A game with no objective and no way to win? Even killing them is boring! This is madness!



I just popped into this thread and saw this and wanted to jump up and down screaming 'YES YES YES! THAT!' - 

I got a copy of The Sims uber!cheap (otherwise, no go) and played it and while it was interesting for all of 2.5 seconds - it's just too darn much WORK!  I don't want to have to work that hard during my entertainment!  It was like babysitting a bunch of selfish adults!

Seriously, the characters in the Sims are a big bunch of whiney babies!  "Oh noez! I am so lonely!  Oh noez!  I burnt my house down b/c I can't cook!"

And what was with the rule about missing days of work?  Have the Sims not heard of WEEKENDS?

(end rant *g*)


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## Ice fyre (Oct 15, 2008)

*Re: The Politically Incorrect Diatribe Thread: Share Your Socially Unacceptable Opini*

I am sick of these first person shooters being trundled out, I played one which had a good story line but the controls....abysmal, totally abysmal, in a first person shooter you should at least be able to hit targets fairly accuratley, this one had a "fire from the hip" type of controls I was swearing furiosly by three minutes in as I couldnt hit a barn door with it. You could zoom in but as that requires patience to line up a shot, which is fine for sniping but useless in battle, the zoom shot was too fiddly by far!  

I hated it I hate the x-box controler all the games I've had the misfortune to play on it is not a help. Overly complex, overly designed, naff. I was fairly sure I was never going to get one and quite frankly this just made me even more sure I'm never touching one! 

I've played first person shooters before most notably "fire warrior" which was a challange but a do-able challenge not too easy on the PS2 but fun none the less. How the hell the x-box has made it so far is to me amazing. I tried halo once and once was enough for me.


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