Pretty much any First Person Shooter ... Yeah I played Doom and Quake etc back in the day but mostly because there wasn't much else out there...

I got bummer when StarSiege : Tribes overshadowed the original StarSiege as well...

Blood. Episode 1 is fun, the rest of the game is so bland and boring. The gameplay "flow" is really poor too. Shooting flares into hoards if zombies then running in circles for 10 seconds waiting for them to ignite is just not fun. Having to quick save before every door because the corners have hidden hitscanners is not fun. Voodoo Doll is fun, but you need to save it for the gargoyles, so you can't just enjoy it.... I really don't get the current love for this game.

Lots of great opinions here. I like seeing what others thing, most of what has been said I agree with.

Another for me....more of a genre as a whole but Knights of the old Republic can be the poster child.

I hate, hate , HATE turn based combat games. I can't fathom why anyone would enjoy playing them.
That game in particular could have been great. If it wasn't stupid turn based.

Jasin Natael wrote on 2022-04-21, 13:48:

Lots of great opinions here. I like seeing what others thing, most of what has been said I agree with. […]
Show full quote

Lots of great opinions here. I like seeing what others thing, most of what has been said I agree with.

Another for me....more of a genre as a whole but Knights of the old Republic can be the poster child.

I hate, hate , HATE turn based combat games. I can't fathom why anyone would enjoy playing them.
That game in particular could have been great. If it wasn't stupid turn based.

KOTOR is real-time with pause. And the pause is optional. You can play it in fully real time. You have to be quick with your commands, but it's entirely possible to beat the game that way.

//Edit: Also not a combat game, it's just a game which has combat.//

Turn based games are like the original 2 Fallout and more recently the Wasteland games.

Man, I was all about Quake 3 over Unreal Tournament back in the day. My memory of it back then was that UT just didn't feel as responsive or performant. Quake 3 just ran better on a wider variety of computers. And a lot of the kids going to LAN parties ran some real beaters back in the day. UT might have had more features and gameplay modes, but Quake 3 had better game feel by a country mile. At least going off my memory.

Also agree that Duke3D was over rated. I am especially unimpressed by it's map design, and at times even hate it.

Jasin Natael wrote on 2022-04-21, 13:48:

I hate, hate , HATE turn based combat games. I can't fathom why anyone would enjoy playing them.
That game in particular could have been great. If it wasn't stupid turn based.

I think turn-based can be fun in tactical RPGs where you have it combined with map movements.

But in general I think a lot of RPG mechanics especially RNG-based combat is pretty much some of the worst game mechanics in video games.

RandomStranger wrote on 2022-04-21, 13:58:

KOTOR is real-time with pause. And the pause is optional. You can play it in fully real time. You have to be quick with your com […]
Show full quote

Jasin Natael wrote on 2022-04-21, 13:48:

Lots of great opinions here. I like seeing what others thing, most of what has been said I agree with. […]
Show full quote

Lots of great opinions here. I like seeing what others thing, most of what has been said I agree with.

Another for me....more of a genre as a whole but Knights of the old Republic can be the poster child.

I hate, hate , HATE turn based combat games. I can't fathom why anyone would enjoy playing them.
That game in particular could have been great. If it wasn't stupid turn based.

KOTOR is real-time with pause. And the pause is optional. You can play it in fully real time. You have to be quick with your commands, but it's entirely possible to beat the game that way.

//Edit: Also not a combat game, it's just a game which has combat.//

Turn based games are like the original 2 Fallout and more recently the Wasteland games.

Interesting. I guess it is more of a hybrid then.
I haven't played it since it was new. I just remember being excited to play it....and then just blah. 🤣

Shponglefan wrote on 2022-04-21, 15:11:

Jasin Natael wrote on 2022-04-21, 13:48:

I hate, hate , HATE turn based combat games. I can't fathom why anyone would enjoy playing them.
That game in particular could have been great. If it wasn't stupid turn based.

I think turn-based can be fun in tactical RPGs where you have it combined with map movements.

But in general I think a lot of RPG mechanics especially RNG-based combat is pretty much some of the worst game mechanics in video games.

If you mean relevant skills and attributes + dice roll, that's basically the foundation of the RPG genre that's meant to simulate real life. Also the genre needs some distance between player and player character to make the character build itself relevant.

Where so called action RPG-s fail to be RPGs is that the player directly performs the combat which can only have two outcomes. The combat still goes by the RPG mechanics, but with action game controls, which makes the combat tedious and unsatisfying (you are just swinging your weapon with a lot of misses at low levels) or the game strips those mechanics to the bare minimum where skills only govern damage/damage reduction and maybe attack speed (you have 100% hit chance, but low damage at low levels). Not to mention joggling fighting styles, active and passive skills in the meanwhile. That's why most action RPGs discard them entirely and all you get is an action game with a skill tree.

I love playing turn-based games on a cold winter's day.
During nighttime, when the snow falls.. With a cup of hot chocolate..
One of my favorite games is Solar Vengeance II, an old Windows 3.1 title.
Sending out probes.. Find a way to protect my system from attacks of the opponent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG1wbPfafds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTkKnIqJLV4

There's also a more recent, real time version..
However, it's not as fun to me. Because it's stressful.
No time for clever thinking, no thrill.
- That's perhaps the part I miss the most. I love mystery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqjD_QSOWHI

Maybe that's also a generation thing, not sure.
These days, cinema is all about action, action and action. And tragedy.
No time for "thrill", atmosphere and deep story telling.
Everything must quick. Just look at the "cuts".
A new camera position almost every second. In older films, sometimes a scene was shown 2-3 seconds, even. I loved that! ^^

Jo22 wrote on 2022-04-21, 16:30:

I love playing turn-based games on a cold winter's day. During nighttime, when the snow falls.. With a cup of hot chocolate.. On […]
Show full quote

I love playing turn-based games on a cold winter's day.
During nighttime, when the snow falls.. With a cup of hot chocolate..
One of my favorite games is Solar Vengeance II, an old Windows 3.1 title.
Sending out probes.. Find a way to protect my system from attacks of the opponent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG1wbPfafds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTkKnIqJLV4

There's also a more recent, real time version..
However, it's not as fun to me. Because it's stressful.
No time for clever thinking, no thrill.
- That's perhaps the part I miss the most. I love mystery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqjD_QSOWHI

Maybe that's also a generation thing, not sure.
These days, cinema is all about action, action and action. And tragedy.
No time for "thrill", atmosphere and deep story telling.
Everything must quick. Just look at the "cuts".
A new camera position almost every second. In older films, sometimes a scene was shown 2-3 seconds, even. I loved that! ^^

Tons of people love turn based games. Nothing wrong with that. I am sure that I am in the minority with my dislike of them.
But it definitely is not because of my age. I am 40 years old, I grew playing all sorts of games on multiple platforms. Although PC was also my preference.

I feel a disconnect with any game that isn't real time. I guess I feel like it's a virtual board game or something. I don't know how to describe it really. But I've never liked them and very likely never will.

I do enjoy a good RTS on occasion but it isn't my favorite genre either.
Nothing wrong with a good RPG, but I'm not diehard. Most of the ones I enjoyed the most are kind of hybrid, Zelda games for instance always seem to strike a nice balance. But also games like Fable.
Most people probably wouldn't even consider those RPG's I guess. But they work for me.

Also on the main topic: I hate platformers in general and yes I include most, if not all Mario games.

JRPGs.

The whole Ubisoft open world bullshit.

The whole GTA open world game loop.

The whole Battlefield/COD series (only Bad Company 2 clicked with me..)

MMORPGs because they dont scratch my roleplaying itch at all.

The whole MOBA genre.

Mobile games.

Tekken style 3D fighting games.

Planescape Torment. I've missed it when it was a hit but on the other hand I had Arcanum and I love it.

I didn't care for The Elder Scrolls series ever. Although I have Oblivion from Amazon Prime. I doubt if I will play it.

world of warcraft I don't play because its subscription like EVE Online and just plain expensive. I do think about WoW it evolves eve hasn't done much 🤣

Bruno128 wrote on 2022-04-21, 18:04:

Planescape Torment. I've missed it when it was a hit but on the other hand I had Arcanum and I love it.

Is it "popular" though? It had a small rave following, but it was not a widespread hit IIRC. I note a number of games in this thread are just examples of "games I don't like" not "popular games...".

kolderman wrote on 2022-04-21, 19:43:

Is it "popular" though? It had a small rave following, but it was not a widespread hit IIRC. I note a number of games in this thread are just examples of "games I don't like" not "popular games...".

Seems a bit more of a cult hit. It was a bit overshadowed by the Baldur's Gate games, but in the long run it's generally regarded as the best of that era of D&D games.

Well...to answer some other posts, turn-based combat is one of my favorite ways to relax, with the zen-like-monotony broken up with various sidequests as well.

On the subject of FPSes and being overrated, TBH, I never was a big FPS guy. It seems to me the thrill was mostly, at the time, that you could have gorey violence and in the case of Duke Nukem 3D, gratuitous nudity. Joe Lieberman really triggered a nasty backlash in the 90's with those games + GTA and Postal. That has now evolved into "It's realistic combat dudeness" stuff. Some people it seems truly think they are preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse by training with Call of Duty or Halo when to me, if I was going to want to go to that level of minutiae in a video game, I'd just join the Military myself, or fire up something like Police Quest which bugged me for the same reason (though the later games to me were better). To me, it'd be like if I created a game called I.T. quest and you spent the whole game reading a giant book on the 7 layers of the OSI Model, A+ Certification skillset, the business you are supporting's Policies and Code of Conduct + dress code, and then punish you every time you walk inside not in business casual, fail to reserve an IP Address for a static IP printer, or take over the SLA for a ticket by killing your character. (Ooops, you really screwed up this time, now the office will be down for 100 years, Save, Restore, Continue). There just comes a point where the immersion becomes too tedious. I have the same problem with Hard Drvin' for the arcade too - I can drive stick, I drive one every day, but an Atari arcade game is not going to translate the same "feedback" a real vehicle will, so it makes the whole experience tedious without me feeling the potholes when "feeling" anything requires hitting a cow or veering off into the grass. I'd rather just get in my Explorer and go drive around the forests in it.

Another genre I don't really get into much is the "fighting" genre, ie Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, or Tekken (and similar). These games just bore me and goes either one of two ways: either I kick everyone's patoot while bashing buttons randomly like a maniac, or I lose because I don't have the foggiest idea what I'm doing, and I'm not interested in investing the same mount of motor skills and muscle memory to six buttons aa joystick that I would to six strings and 22-24 frets.

Some game series have worn out on me because they are not the same as they once were. For example, Five Nights at Freddy's, I liked the original, simple concept when it was "six hours a night in one place keeping animatronics out of your bedroom/office" vs. a lore filled family friendly vaporwave wannabe. I liked the idea more that you were "you" sitting in that "hot seat" fending off Animatronics that were a bit TOO animated for inexplicable reasons. It was like a modern day version of the "Atari Principle" - Easy to Learn, hard to Master.

Dragon Quest I still like but I wish it was all in 8-bit NES/Famicom versions. I just like that whole aesthetic better, sort of that fuzzy 8-bit Anime thing. that was pretty consistant from one game to another - making it truly feel like a continuation on all levels and not just the story. Every time I bring i t up most people want to talk about the SNES/Gameboy/mobile remakes, and I just dont' get the same feeling - probably because my exposure to DQ was through the original NES localized releases (Dragon Warrior I-IV).

On that note though, I don't quite get into Final Fantasy so much, always felt just a little more "flaky" in execution to me.

I don't really have one "platform" I cling to......just depends on what I want...what I'm nostalgic for, and what relaxes me most.

creepingnet wrote on 2022-04-21, 20:08:

Well...to answer some other posts, turn-based combat is one of my favorite ways to relax, with the zen-like-monotony broken up w […]
Show full quote

Well...to answer some other posts, turn-based combat is one of my favorite ways to relax, with the zen-like-monotony broken up with various sidequests as well.

On the subject of FPSes and being overrated, TBH, I never was a big FPS guy. It seems to me the thrill was mostly, at the time, that you could have gorey violence and in the case of Duke Nukem 3D, gratuitous nudity. Joe Lieberman really triggered a nasty backlash in the 90's with those games + GTA and Postal. That has now evolved into "It's realistic combat dudeness" stuff. Some people it seems truly think they are preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse by training with Call of Duty or Halo when to me, if I was going to want to go to that level of minutiae in a video game, I'd just join the Military myself, or fire up something like Police Quest which bugged me for the same reason (though the later games to me were better). To me, it'd be like if I created a game called I.T. quest and you spent the whole game reading a giant book on the 7 layers of the OSI Model, A+ Certification skillset, the business you are supporting's Policies and Code of Conduct + dress code, and then punish you every time you walk inside not in business casual, fail to reserve an IP Address for a static IP printer, or take over the SLA for a ticket by killing your character. (Ooops, you really screwed up this time, now the office will be down for 100 years, Save, Restore, Continue). There just comes a point where the immersion becomes too tedious. I have the same problem with Hard Drvin' for the arcade too - I can drive stick, I drive one every day, but an Atari arcade game is not going to translate the same "feedback" a real vehicle will, so it makes the whole experience tedious without me feeling the potholes when "feeling" anything requires hitting a cow or veering off into the grass. I'd rather just get in my Explorer and go drive around the forests in it.

Another genre I don't really get into much is the "fighting" genre, ie Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, or Tekken (and similar). These games just bore me and goes either one of two ways: either I kick everyone's patoot while bashing buttons randomly like a maniac, or I lose because I don't have the foggiest idea what I'm doing, and I'm not interested in investing the same mount of motor skills and muscle memory to six buttons aa joystick that I would to six strings and 22-24 frets.

Some game series have worn out on me because they are not the same as they once were. For example, Five Nights at Freddy's, I liked the original, simple concept when it was "six hours a night in one place keeping animatronics out of your bedroom/office" vs. a lore filled family friendly vaporwave wannabe. I liked the idea more that you were "you" sitting in that "hot seat" fending off Animatronics that were a bit TOO animated for inexplicable reasons. It was like a modern day version of the "Atari Principle" - Easy to Learn, hard to Master.

Dragon Quest I still like but I wish it was all in 8-bit NES/Famicom versions. I just like that whole aesthetic better, sort of that fuzzy 8-bit Anime thing. that was pretty consistant from one game to another - making it truly feel like a continuation on all levels and not just the story. Every time I bring i t up most people want to talk about the SNES/Gameboy/mobile remakes, and I just dont' get the same feeling - probably because my exposure to DQ was through the original NES localized releases (Dragon Warrior I-IV).

On that note though, I don't quite get into Final Fantasy so much, always felt just a little more "flaky" in execution to me.

I don't really have one "platform" I cling to......just depends on what I want...what I'm nostalgic for, and what relaxes me most.

Ok,

I literally laughed out loud from the "failed to reserve an IP address for a static printer"

It is refreshing to hear about other opinions. I actually quite enjoyed most of the Mortal Kombat style fighting games. I also used to be a big FPS guy (at least in the 90s)
I totally agree about the Halo and CoD craze as being overrated and largely boring.
Different strokes, makes the world go round.

Jasin Natael wrote on 2022-04-21, 21:03:

Different strokes, makes the world go round.

Totally. Also, what we read here, is a snapshot of a mainly PC-centric subset of gamers. If this same thread existed at a forum mainly crewed by Arcade people, or by Console people, there'd be a totally different set of equally-valid answers and rationale.

Like many, my peak nostalgia is centered in my teens (= ~the 90's), and PC's. But tbh, I've never had so much fun gaming as now in my 40's. One key being that [advancing technology allowed me to] stop seeing platform as a barrier, and now I can move freely through the awesome games of all kinds of systems equally. In the process, learning to understand and share others' enjoyment of styles and genres which I didn't previously appreciate.

The counterpart to this thread - to perhaps discuss another time - might be something like "Tell us how you overcame a prior dislike for a game/style, and came to love it instead".

creepingnet wrote on 2022-04-21, 20:08:

Police Quest which bugged me for the same reason

While I personally liked the P.Q. for introducing somewhat trivial actions into the genre I'd agree this is a very good point you are making. Many combat games trying to lead the player to believe they are getting better at something over the course of the gameplay. One somewhat popular example that comes to my mind is Cyberpunk 2077. While it has many RPG traits like skill tree I'd argue there is no gradual character buildup similar to Diablo for instance. What I'm trying to say here is despite the leveling process the player won't get a better mastering of the character over the leveling curve even when evidently supported by storyline. The invisible accessibility boundaries are gripping your hands too tight. Most boss encounters introduce unexpected mid-fight cutscenes radically altering the power balance and at the same time instantly handing out the new tactics to you and it's not like you can reject the offer because it's sometimes scripted. There is no point in preparation because the right approach would be spelled out to you. Instead of giving you the "tools" to create a strategy it turns the whole gameplay into a "press this btn right now or quickload" challenge.