Games that were seriously great in certain aspects but got overshadowed by the whole being bad?

[Revolsin]

I always feel bad when some aspects of games are great like music, or story or the like but people overlook them or over-scrutinize them because they didn't like the whole package. Like there are people that genuinely worked really hard to make those aspects as good as they possibly could, but their work now goes completely unappreciated because the greater whole is crap. We need to rectify that.

Recent example; Sonic Forces with its background design.

For stuff you'd only be looking at for a few seconds at most, dear lord did they go absolutely all out in making it look as spectacular, detailed and grand as possible. Just seriously great all around.

 

[Xenosaga]

Valkyria Revolution has some great soundtracks done by Mitsuda, but the game itself is hot garbage.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Final Fantasy IV has good music at least

 

[Dreamboum]

Mafia 3 in recent memory

 

[xenocide]

The main gimmick of being able to "hack" NPC's and objects was actually pretty well done from what I saw, but the game as a whole was just not very entertaining.

 

[werezompire]

FF13 does a lot of interesting things with combat & gameplay but it's hard to play through thanks to horrendous pacing & terrible story.

The Wii Nights sequel had a lot of potential when it lets you PLAY NIGHTS LEVELS but man is a lot of the game a slog.

 

[SnakeyHips]

I always feel bad when some aspects of games are great like music, or story or the like but people overlook them or over-scrutinize them because they didn't like the whole package. Like there are people that genuinely worked really hard to make those aspects as good as they possibly could, but their work now goes completely unappreciated because the greater whole is crap. We need to rectify that.

Recent example; Sonic Forces with its background design.

For stuff you'd only be looking at for a few seconds at most, dear lord did they go absolutely all out in making it look as spectacular, detailed and grand as possible. Just seriously great all around.

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Relating to Sonic, the world and art design for Sonic Lost World was great imo.

 

[Salmone_D_Oro]

Mafia 3 in recent memory

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So much potential wasted

 

[Zippo]

Sonic Adventure, there's some cool ideas in there and that soundtrack is incredible, but the game is still complete shit.

 

[Deleted member 2254]

I feel this is a problem in a lot of recent games given the many broken launches. The Master Chief Collection, DriveClub, Assassin's Creed: Unity, etc. all had a great game underneath the major issues, it just needed a long time to fix those problems - in part, at least.

For a more specific example, I must say Jurassic Park: Trespasser. That game, even though it was scaled back considerably, was absolutely revolutionary. Far Cry and Crysis like exploration, wildlife with its own behaviours, Half-Life 2-ish physics-based puzzles and interaction. You didn't have a gravity gun but you could move your hand freely and grab, twist, throw items at pleasure. At launch the controls were really uncomfortable, but they eventually became good. The dinosaurs had complex behaviours initially but they were patched out to have max aggressivity instead because it had glitches: patches and mods can replace the original vision. The story was somewhat interesting and the environments were insane for the time, the shooting was absolutely intense because handling the guns was really complicated too. I personally enjoyed the game (patched) but there is such a crazy unused potential in that game. Could have been Far Cry + Half-Life 2 close to a decade earlier, it's insane.

 

[Zvonimir Boban]

The traversal dungeons in Recore are some of the best 3D platforming you will find anywhere. It was a shame that the game was unfinished and finishing it required a bit of a grind, not sure how much the definitive edition addressed those problems.

 

[The Unsent]

FF XV's villain is likeable, and the music and graphics are well done.

The series still should have a 'FF IX moment' and return to its roots, instead of the lacklustre open world we got and simplistic combat that didn't feel like FF game should.

 

[Yoshi]

Sonic Forces also is great in the gameplay department though.

 

[Guipradi]

Nier is an example of this. Most people tell you Nier falls flat on combat mechanics and slugish gameplay, but everything else from the ideas presented, to the plot, music, characters, aesthetics to the design is really good

 

[Deleted member 2793]

Most Sonic games have great soundtracks. This is the one thing they almost always get right (Forces is inferior to other Sonic games, but still has some decent tracks).

I finished Drakengard 3 just because of the music too. It's simply excellent while everything else in that game is awful.

 

[RealCanadianBro]

Spec Ops: The Line. Great story and some amazing moments that make you feel, but the shooting mechanics are a chore.

 

[KushalaDaora]

Drakengard. The game is hot garbage. But the story and atmosphere are great;

 

[Richiek]

Final Fantasy IV has good music at least

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I know you didn't mean Final Fantasy 4.

 

[tonyh24613]

Xenoblade 2's music.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

I know you didn't mean Final Fantasy 4.

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You don't like the music in that game?

 

[Richiek]

You don't like the music in that game?

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In what universe is FF4 considered bad? It's one of the best RPGs on the SNES.

 

[Aztorian]

Call of Duty?

 

[Psoelberg]

The sound design and environmental design in Battlefront 2 is really great. Really gives you that Star Wars feeling.

Not saying that the whole game of Battlefront 2 is "crap". But the greater whole was definitely overshadowed by some other, pretty critical design choices....

 

[jobrro]

Superman Returns on Xbox 360 was awesome to fly around and generally feel Superman-like with access to his powers but the level design, presentation and the rest of the gameplay let it down so it was pretty mediocre/bad overall.

As a Superman fan was still fun to just mess around in the sandbox, wish we got a refined version a couple years later not bound to theatrical/home video releases of a film.

 

[ApeEscaper]

Battleborn has great gameplay and campaign (inc 2 player campaign) overshadowed by everything else

 

[spman2099]

FF13 does a lot of interesting things with combat & gameplay but it's hard to play through thanks to horrendous pacing & terrible story.

The Wii Nights sequel had a lot of potential when it lets you PLAY NIGHTS LEVELS but man is a lot of the game a slog.

Click to shrink...

I think FF13's combat system may be one of the best around, but the biggest problem is that it takes fifteen hours before you get to REALLY start to experience it. The pacing of that game is unbelievably bad. The story, unfortunately, makes it feel longer.

 

[KonradLaw]

I feel this is a problem in a lot of recent games given the many broken launches. The Master Chief Collection, DriveClub, Assassin's Creed: Unity, etc. all had a great game underneath the major issues, it just needed a long time to fix those problems - in part, at least.

For a more specific example, I must say Jurassic Park: Trespasser. That game, even though it was scaled back considerably, was absolutely revolutionary. Far Cry and Crysis like exploration, wildlife with its own behaviours, Half-Life 2-ish physics-based puzzles and interaction. You didn't have a gravity gun but you could move your hand freely and grab, twist, throw items at pleasure. At launch the controls were really uncomfortable, but they eventually became good. The dinosaurs had complex behaviours initially but they were patched out to have max aggressivity instead because it had glitches: patches and mods can replace the original vision. The story was somewhat interesting and the environments were insane for the time, the shooting was absolutely intense because handling the guns was really complicated too. I personally enjoyed the game (patched) but there is such a crazy unused potential in that game. Could have been Far Cry + Half-Life 2 close to a decade earlier, it's insane.

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Yeah. When I saw this thread's title the first game that camed to mind was Trespasser.

 

[Steezus]

For Honor.

The game has something real special and unique going on with its pvp combat, but Ubi's decision to go p2p made some modes completely unplayable and it felt like online play just got progressively worse over time. It's still one of my favorite games of last year, but I had to call it quits after about a month. I know that they eventually switched over to dedicated servers, but that was way too late to pull me back it.

 

[Deleted member 2254]

For Honor.

The game has something real special and unique going on with its pvp combat, but Ubi's decision to go p2p made some modes completely unplayable and it felt like online play just got progressively worse over time. It's still one of my favorite games of last year, but I had to call it quits after about a month. I know that they eventually switched over to dedicated servers, but that was way too late to pull me back it.

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Good call. I got it at launch after playing the betas a lot, and I thought it was amazing, but the constant issues with servers made me lose interest very quickly. I know it's not as easy as flipping a switch, but they "simply" missed out on dedicated servers - otherwise it would have been practically perfect.

 

[Manu]

Resident Evil 6.

An amazing combat system that doesn't belong in that game wrapped in an overlong mess of a campaign. Sorry, FOUR campaigns.

 

[Secretofmateria]

Superman returns flight mechanics are still top tier, too bad the rest of the game is a trainwreck. Sonic 06 had really pretty fmv's

 

[Deleted member 30569]

Remember Me has a cool concept, a potentially good lead, and some cool environments.

Too bad everything else about the game sucks.

 

[Deleted member 2254]

Remember Me has a cool concept, a potentially good lead, and some cool environments.

Too bad everything else about the game sucks.

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I enjoyed it. It was derivative and linear, sure, but I thought it was a competent third person action game. The concept definitely deserved more, that's for sure. It did put the devs on the radar for me, so when Life Is Strange released I had very high expectations that were indeed met.

 

[AerialAir]

Nier: The Thread. Also, I agree with Remember Me, I was really enjoying it before I got too frustrated with some of the dynamics.

 

[ChapterBlack]

That's the Sonic philosophy: there's always something positive that gives the fans hope the next one will be the one

 

[Fancolours]

Rule of Rose is one of the most beautiful PS2 games and has an incredible soundtrack.

It's also a very bad string of fetch quests with some janky ass combat.

 

[Toybasher]

Spy Fiction on the PS2 supposedly was pretty decent. Game in itself wasn't great, but the fact you could take pictures of people to disguise as them was pretty neat. If they were face-down from being knocked out, your disguise didn't include the face and thus wasn't as useful.

 

[GeekyDad]

Amazing story, and the way they weave the vignettes into the game was truly inspired. This game broke my heart. Such a wonderful tragedy.

Unfortunately, it was a broken mess of a game. I'd say barely playable. I got through it, but just barely.

 

[Miggle_Zebra]

For me MvCI has a lot going on with the ability to tag in and out at any time and the stone system adding a lot of fun variety that's unfortunately lost because of the small roster size. The art style definitely isn't helping either, for me to get back in it would need an overhaul of the visuals and an expanded roster to make the team combos more interesting.

 

[Kelanflyter]

I think we could add Alpha Protocol to the topic.
Many thouh the game was bad becase it had some problems (IA for exemple) and themecanics were not that great.

But the story and scalability of the narrative through your choice were a blast. it was never supassed in this regard.

 

[Future_TraX]

#DRIVECLUB
Anything was perfect, but the online problems destroyed the games reviews.

Still, it's the best raceing game since GT3 for me.
I love it and can't stop playing it.

And i still feel sorry for Rushy and the EVO-Crew :(

 

[iceblade]

Call of Duty?

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Surprising choice. Which Call of Duty and what's bad about it?

Seems like several of the games have been really really good and the campaign (can't say for the multiplayer) tends to be pretty consistently good year after year (of course with a few bad apples here and there).

 

[Phendrift]

FFXIII combat

Spoiler

I don't think it's bad but others do

 

[GamerJM]

Gravity Rush is one of those games where movement, exploration, and art style are all great, but actually trying to play through the game is a bit of a chore.

 

[Celine]

The Wii Nights sequel had a lot of potential when it lets you PLAY NIGHTS LEVELS but man is a lot of the game a slog.

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That's a good example.
Also the music is fantastic.

 

[requiem]

FFX-2 has the best combat system in the series, and the open-ended structure that allowed you to visit any location in any order was really refreshing for the series.

 

[brambles13]

In what universe is FF4 considered bad? It's one of the best RPGs on the SNES.

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Of course what follows is all just my opinion.That being said, the SNES version is hot garbage. It aged like milk compared to every other big SNES RPG.

FFV, FFVI, Chrono Trigger, Lufia 2, Secret of Mana, and SMRPG are all still excellent today on the SNES but I can't stand FFIV either. The translation is horrendous, the gameplay is way too easy and dull. The characters is boring and the storyline is meh as well. The graphics also barely look better than late NES RPGs. Squaresoft went on to make amazing 16-bit RPGs but I just can't sign on to liking FF4. It's a shame because I liked it enough as a kid but now I can't play it.

 

[BlueBadger]

I'm going to echo those who have already said FFXV in here. I thought the gameplay was so fun, and the open world was gorgeous. But it was really hard for me to get over the messy-ass story. It was easy to tell that the story had been developed and changed several times over the decade that it was being made. Lol

In what universe is FF4 considered bad? It's one of the best RPGs on the SNES.

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Some people don't consider it to be that good, and I feel like that's justifiable. I liked FF4. Music was great, game was fun. But IMO the story was absolutely ridiculous in parts.

 

[Aztorian]

Surprising choice. Which Call of Duty and what's bad about it?

Seems like several of the games have been really really good and the campaign (can't say for the multiplayer) tends to be pretty consistently good year after year (of course with a few bad apples here and there).

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I liked Call of Duty back in the day when your reflexes still determined who got the kill. Since Ghosts, I think, the bulletdamage got buffed to a level that every normal game feels like hardcore where you only need 3 bullets to kill someone. Whoever sees the other person first wins. This is bad for a fps imo.

 

[JustSomeone]

Dragon's Dogma had a good battle system, but other than that it was a boring mess.