The Hot Topic Returns

[DANGERMAN]

Arkham Shite on the pc. Literally unplayable, constantly hitching and largely got fixed because people eventually bought better harddrives

 

There's probably a more egregious example of a game just straight up not working, but nothing is coming to mind

[one-armed dwarf]

Cyberpunk was more frustrating than disappointing for me cause it had so many systems but none of them actually did anything interesting. But you wouldn't know that until you pour 30 hours into it trying to see if it's actually systemic or all a bunch of smoke and mirrors (it was the latter). Like, it had more items than a Deus Ex game, but way less things to do with any of it. Your hacking skills were just magic spells and the AI barely reacted to the weird stuff you could do outside of very pre-canned things like them not being able to see. A vent to break into a room would be right next to the panel you could hack to get in, it either missed the point completely about choice driven gameplay or they didn't have enough time to actually do much with it.

 

That will become the interesting thing to observe if they ever fix the game on consoles. Because people don't seem to talk much about this aspect, they talk about the game running like crap on consoles. But it isn't even that good when it runs well, imo.

 

It also did some cool stuff too with how it weaves sidestories within the main story and doesn't make it feel too contrived, but it wasn't enough.

[Nag]

I'm still bitter to this day about how shit Aliens: Colonial Marines turned out... I didn't actually think it would look like those initial bullshots we got but what did actually turn up was an absolute travesty of a game.

[spatular]

oddly i really liked cyberpunk and project cars 3, i didn't read all the hype around cyberpunk though, and didn't think previous project cars games were all that, so those things helped. i always mention this but anyway e4 (every extend extra extreme?) was imo rubbish, completely different type of game to e3 which was ace. same situation to project cars, but for me in reverse.

[Sly Reflex]

Pick a Battlefield. All of them have had shite releases dating right back to Battlefield 2.

[HandsomeDead]

I think just Fallout 4 comes to mind but it may not even be the game's fault all that much, it may have just been me having a change of taste between F3 and F4.  You could probably have similar criticisms of both games but those things just bothered me more by the time F4 came out.  New Vegas coming out between those would be a factor too but I'm not the biggest fan of that game either but I recognise it as being considerably better.

[DisturbedSwan]

22 hours ago, Nag said:

I'm still bitter to this day about how shit Aliens: Colonial Marines turned out... I didn't actually think it would look like those initial bullshots we got but what did actually turn up was an absolute travesty of a game.

 

Yeah, this is a great shout, cancelled my pre-order only days before it came out and then the reviews dropped and I saw was a mess the game was and how Randy the Magician/USB stick porn guy lied out of his arse about it and never touched it. Dodged a bullet there for sure. 

 

23 hours ago, DANGERMAN said:

Arkham Shite on the pc. Literally unplayable, constantly hitching and largely got fixed because people eventually bought better harddrives

 

There's probably a more egregious example of a game just straight up not working, but nothing is coming to mind

 

Yeah, I got utterly fucked on this one. Pre-purchased a code from CDKeys a couple months before as it was so cheap then it dropped and I started playing it, and yeah, what an unoptimised mess. They promised to fix it and just gave up after awhile too, fuck Iron Galaxy. 

[Nag]

 

Quote

Readers discuss successful video game franchises that they don’t see the appeal of, from Halo to Pokémon.

 

The subject for this week’s Hot Topic was suggested by reader Focus, who asked what game’s success do you struggle to understand the most and is there anything it could do to change, to get you interested in it?

 

A lot of sacred cows were mentioned, with Call Of Duty, Pokémon, and FIFA being the most common, with each of them being criticised for their too frequent sequels.

 

I'll say now that I honestly don't get Pokémon...

[Maf]

I don’t get Animal Crossing. Animal Crossing is the video game equivalent of doing daily housework. 

[mfnick]

There’s a few, Halo & FIFA are up there. Especially FIFA but more specifically UT. The actual foitball part I understand the popularity. But how they get people to willingly put so much money into the card game add on only to make them to start again from scratch the following year blows my mind. 
 

Assassins Creed I just don’t get at all either. They’re so samey, mindless, repetitive and boring. 1 or 2 I’d get but how they’re so popular year after year is madness. 

Animal Crossing is probably the biggest though, definitely. It’s like a job, how it’s so popular completely baffles me. Tried my partners copy on the switch & just do not get it at all. 

 

 

[DANGERMAN]

yeah, add me to the Animal Crossing list. It's not that I don't see the appeal at all, but after an afternoon I don't get what more you'd want from it, so the people who play it solidly for months are beyond me. But, they do it so there must be something there

 

I don't really see the appeal of GTA games for similar reasons, I get very bored of them very quickly and just don't see what other people do when they play them for weeks, or just turn it on with cheats on. The missions are boring, the combat dull, Saints Row and Sleeping Dogs showed how to do the genre I think

 

Pokemon I do get, it's an rpg, nothing complicated. I suppose the only issue is that there's been a lot of them and it's only recently there's been much of a change in them, and even then arguably not for the better. I don't need a pokemon game as often as they come out, but there's nothing wrong with them

[OCH]

I'd second Animal Crossing and GTA. It's weird with the former because in the past, I loved Sim City. Which is kind of the same thing, I think? Much like how I can't get into MMO's too. I preferred games as structured things with a distinct end point.

 

When it comes to GTA, it is a setting thing. (A) I'm not into the gangster/real life crime genre anyway, and (B) Open World games are a lot more fun to me the less "real life" they make them. I've had more fun in five minutes of Batman Arkham City, Destroy All Humans and Hulk Ultimate Destruction. Than I ever did in playing GTA3-4.

[bellow]

Another hard question for me. Everyone is different so I can sort of always understand why a particular game that doesn't interest me has a following.

 

If I had to choose something it would be those arcade games from the days of yore - which players totally dedicated themselves to in order to beat records. I can't even imagine spending months and years perfecting a run on donkey Kong or pac man.

[OCH]

You've brought up at good point. With a slight variation on the question, for me: Arcade controls. Maybe it is because most of my gaming experience came from consoles. But arcade sticks for Fighters etc Are just completely unintuitive to me. I spent many hours learning all the combos and moves playing Tekken 2, for example. When I played a Tekken in arcades, some time later. Couldn't do any of them...

[HandsomeDead]

With Animal Crossing on the DS I was into it for a solid six months but I've not been driven that much to play it since so I do get it even though I've not played it since.

 

It's not hard to find out find out why games are popular with people what with people liking to put their opinions out there on the internet and I find it amusingly ironic having this question from I site that weekly asks questions to provoke discussion but still incredulous about the games people like.  Do they just say their piece and leave or something?

 

Like with something like Call of Duty, I don't enjoy playing it a lot but I understand it's a fast paced, high stakes shooter that is presented with a lot of technical confidence and while it's a bit too mechanically simple and full of western exceptionalism for my tastes I also like enough simple shit to not be too up my own arse about it (these days at least).

Getting someone in the dish does feel pretty good in those games.

 

So I don't really have an answer since if I don't understand why something is popular it's just because I haven't bothered looking into it.

[one-armed dwarf]

I will say I know some people for whom the interior decoration aspect of FFXIV is the thing they've poured the most time into. Not raids, or levelling or the main story. Decorating. I guess this is similar to the Animal Crossing thing a bit. The person I'm thinking of does do the hardcore content in the game as well though. Plays it far too much , probably. 

 

I've no idea where these hot topic questions come from btw, I assume there's a cabal of shadowy individuals that Nag is in cahoots with to produce these every Sunday. 

 

Anyway right now I'm questioning what it is people like about a game I'm playing called 'Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners'. Either I will make a 'fobbed it off post' about why I think it sucks or I will make a thread lauding its greatness. Leaning towards the former right now.

[Nag]

5 minutes ago, one-armed dwarf said:

I've no idea where these hot topic questions come from btw, I assume there's a cabal of shadowy individuals that Nag is in cahoots with to produce these every Sunday. 

 

https://metro.co.uk/tag/hot-topic/

 

Used to be Game Central... this was originally @Sly Reflex baby.

[Maf]

I’ve heard podcasts and read tweets and seen videos about why people like Animal Crossing. I just don’t understand why they like what they like about Animal Crossing. Which is the question, right, what is popular that you don’t see the appeal of. Animal Crossing. I get people love the organisational aspect, or the persistence or the characters and all of that. But none of it works for me. 
 

The one I played was on the 3DS and I went in to it full well knowing what to expect and try to find the same fun it other people have, but I played it for 2 days and didn’t get it. It immediately brung to mind daily chores like washing up or taking the bins out. Which some people enjoy cleaning their house. But not for me.

[one-armed dwarf]

Man, there's a feature on that page shitting on REVIII that I'm just sitting here nodding to lol. That's my nomination to this question

 

But on the animal crossing thing I bring up again FFXIV cause that's a daily chore game, and I'd also say there's an overlap on this spectrum with Assassin's Creed which is a game about doing chores basically (and there's some sort of story in it about taking down a conspiracy to end the world, yawn who cares). It's carrot and stick mechanics. Games that track your progress and present tangible results, like a better glamour (gear) for your Dark Knight or more parkour options for your assassin, or a more glamourous looking town in Animal Crossing.

 

The difference between real life and a game is it's always upwards with a game, your avatar or town is in a state of constant growth and improvement. We do not see similar rewards in real life sometimes, sometimes you work hard and don't get the same benefits. 1000s of hours in an MMO has drilled this into me a bit, I think I just see Animal Crossing as an offline MMO

 

Damn it just occurred to me now also that the person I mentioned who loves decorating in FFXIV has 100s of hours in Animal Crossing 😂

[Maf]

I think that’s a bit of a reach. At least Assassin’s has gameplay. Has old and tired as it is, stabbing people is still fun. In Animal Crossing it was just running around picking up oranges all day. Like it’s really different.