I'm not talking about media you don't understand the message of necessarily, or media that has a confusing story, but just things that everyone else seems to love while you personally... don't. I'm also not talking about media that other people like that you despise, otherwise I'd be making a huge thread about why Genshin Impact can blow my balls, just things that you don't like as much as everyone else seems to, even if you may still like the thing yourself.

For me, it's Cave Story.

Don't get me wrong, it's a good game, and especially impressive considering it was made by one guy at the time it came out when indie games weren't exactly a huge prospect for the majority of aspiring developers, and I think it's really tragic as to what happened with Pixel's IP being stolen from him and milked by Nicalis, but I just don't get it. I don't understand why the game has so much love in the gaming scene even to this day, beyond being an OoT situation where people call it the best because it was the "first" of its kind.

Full disclosure, I've never beaten the Hell levels and have no intention of doing so, because they are batshit insane in terms of difficulty compared to the rest of thing, but the game is like, a pretty bog standard 2D platformer on the whole. It has some charming characters and decent level design, but I don't think it's anything incredible by today's standards, and I don't think it's a "must play" or "the best indie game ever" like I've heard people say.

Anyway, how about you guys? Try not to get too asshurt over other people dissing your favorite thing, because the topic isn't for flaming or arguing, but discussion is allowed.

This post was last modified: Oct 16, 2022 at 7:33 PM by Yrrzy.

i dont think cave storys the best ever or whatever i just think its good and comfy

As for the thread tho, it's hard for me to think of anything noteworthy or interesting to write about out of the tons of media people love that I'm indifferent to, I started writing a post and then realised i was just listing off shows/games i dont like

Gravity Falls? Everyone said it was great and then I watched it and it was just a Disney kids cartoon and I couldnt bear to keep watching after a few episodes

Undertale is boring.

This post was last modified: Oct 16, 2022 at 7:43 PM by Turb.

Probably Celeste. I will fully admit that I dropped it very early on before it gets balls to the wall hard, but the gameplay doesn't engage me and I don't want to force myself to experience it. I recognize it's an objectively good game, but the massive fanbase is sort of lost on me; I liked some of the creator's previous stuff, at least. OST is good from what I've heard too.

I think I would say I have a shitty arbitrary mental block where I can't enjoy a normal platformer when it feels like the mechanics would work well for a Metroidvania, but in retrospect, stuff like Shovel Knight was pretty okay and I don't actually know if a different format would make me like Celeste's core gameplay any more. Admittedly I also haven't finished SK after 6 years, but I wouldn't say it falls under the criteria for this thread or anything, I just don't feel like playing the other half of the game

Undertale is boring.

undertale is decent at best, deltarune is legitimately fantastic though. basically takes the good ideas from undertale and develops them into a MUCH better game, especially in the second chapter. the first game goes "teehee" and makes playing violently fun whereas being pacifist is boring and a slog so that you get "rewarded" for it, in deltarune both are different valid and enjoyable playstyles and there's a lot less heavyhandedness about the whole thing. i can be glad undertale exists just because deltarune was that much better for it.

on cave story: it's a good ass game. i don't like the convoluted nature of the secret endings/weapons and hell is either very hard or not that bad entirely depending on which primary weapon you wound up with, but it feels stupidly solid to play, has a really satisfying weapon roster with a novel level system that rewards not getting hit despite having a healthbar (or in the case of the nemesis, rewards you for avoiding the level up system entirely, which itself is super cool), good level and enemy/boss design, and a wonderful soundtrack i still listen to today. indie games, especially solo projects, generally wind up not impressing me much or making me just wish they had an actual team to fulfill the game they were trying to make rather than the jankfest hey wound up with, but cave story feels better made than tons of games made by actual backed teams. i could pick it up right now and finish it all over again within the week while having a blast, i can NOT say that for very many games.

it's just one of those experiences where i feel like i'm on the same wavelength as what the dev wanted out of a video game and it's very personal since the dude did it by himself. it took until little witch nobeta, which was itself virtually made by one dude, to get that sort of experience again where i was 100% on board for nearly everything the dev wanted to do with the game's design and feel and could get in his head as for how he wound up with everything he did in the game.

also i will say the one positive to pixel getting hyper fucked over by nicalis was coop cave story. that was insanely fun. screw them, but they did one thing right at least

This post was last modified: Oct 17, 2022 at 2:01 AM by Reeb.

Destiny 2.

I don't see people touting its excellence over here, but one of the other places I frequent talks about and plays it almost nonstop. A quarter of the server participates in it and I just don't understand. At best, I'd call it bland, at worst I'd call it Halo Without a Soul, which I could also use to describe everything 343 's put out.

cave story is just the only good indie game

Probably Celeste. I will fully admit that I dropped it very early on before it gets balls to the wall hard, but the gameplay doesn't engage me and I don't want to force myself to experience it. I recognize it's an objectively good game, but the massive fanbase is sort of lost on me; I liked some of the creator's previous stuff, at least. OST is good from what I've heard too.

I think I would say I have a shitty arbitrary mental block where I can't enjoy a normal platformer when it feels like the mechanics would work well for a Metroidvania, but in retrospect, stuff like Shovel Knight was pretty okay and I don't actually know if a different format would make me like Celeste's core gameplay any more. Admittedly I also haven't finished SK after 6 years, but I wouldn't say it falls under the criteria for this thread or anything, I just don't feel like playing the other half of the game

I played through the main story of Celeste, and I honestly agree. The the general vibe of the game peaks hard in the second level with the snowy abandoned city, with the rest either being less interesting to look at or really annoying in terms of gimmicks, and while the soundtrack is great, the type of game that Celeste is, the sort with pixel perfect 2d platforming and instant death spike spam, just isn't my thing at all.

I think the game is probably good, but I don't see anything that other people see in it, especially in the story, which I think is about the most generic depression/self image story ever made.

Also Undertale is boring and basically a glorified music album but Deltarune is an insanely good RPG

FLCL. The original, I haven't seen the newer stuff. That kind of wacky shit is usually right up my alley, but I thought it was just...good? Like it was fun, I understood the puberty allegory, and The Pillows rock, but I didn't get why it's a 10/10 for so many people. A while after I watched it for the first time, I gave it another shot thinking I just missed something. It was still just alright.

Destiny 2.

I don't see people touting its excellence over here, but one of the other places I frequent talks about and plays it almost nonstop. A quarter of the server participates in it and I just don't understand. At best, I'd call it bland, at worst I'd call it Halo Without a Soul, which I could also use to describe everything 343 's put out.

oh hey that reminds me of one

Halo

man i played the first one a while back and i was just like, the Thrilling Last Levels is just going back through the levels you already went through but backwards
the guns all sucked ass except for the needler and energy sword which is NOT a gun

it's just, bland? it's literally like saying "I enjoy Carbonated Drink and I recommend it to everyone" i mean who the hell actually goes out and says "i recommend coca cola!"

halo's got a soul but it's the soul of a 9-to-5 middle manager who has worked at the same job for decades and will die a middle manager

literally everything because people aren't allowed to claim they enjoy or like something while only having middling engagement or interest in it

This post was last modified: Oct 17, 2022 at 6:12 AM by Reeb.

Destiny 2.

I don't see people touting its excellence over here, but one of the other places I frequent talks about and plays it almost nonstop. A quarter of the server participates in it and I just don't understand. At best, I'd call it bland, at worst I'd call it Halo Without a Soul, which I could also use to describe everything 343 's put out.

oh hey that reminds me of one

Halo

man i played the first one a while back and i was just like, the Thrilling Last Levels is just going back through the levels you already went through but backwards
the guns all sucked ass except for the needler and energy sword which is NOT a gun

it's just, bland? it's literally like saying "I enjoy Carbonated Drink and I recommend it to everyone" i mean who the hell actually goes out and says "i recommend coca cola!"

halo's got a soul but it's the soul of a 9-to-5 middle manager who has worked at the same job for decades and will die a middle manager

Combat Evolved was definitely not the height of Halo. I replayed it on the Master Chief Collection fairly recently and had about the same conclusions (I was pissed as hell throughout the final levels because the enemies were largely a pain to deal with, seemingly endless at points, and the warthog run being SO DAMN LONG). The warthog run in the first one is abysmal and the one in 3 is better, but still not great since you're relying on a lot of RNG not going awry.

If you don't like the rest that's fair. I probably have some nostalgia goggles because I played through 2 anad 3 with friends as one of the only co-op games I could play, and my re-runs were done with different buddies. It was more of a social activity placed behind a game.

in fairness I think almost everyone agrees that halo 2 and 3 are way better than combat evolved, which is a boring hallway shooter

porn

FLCL. The original, I haven't seen the newer stuff. That kind of wacky shit is usually right up my alley, but I thought it was just...good? Like it was fun, I understood the puberty allegory, and The Pillows rock, but I didn't get why it's a 10/10 for so many people. A while after I watched it for the first time, I gave it another shot thinking I just missed something. It was still just alright.

it's very much the timing and age of those who saw it when it was new to western audiences. the puberty deal mattered a lot because those who got attached to it were at the right age to appreciate it for that exact reason. so, wacky silly over the top anime (in an era where that was not entirely common for westerners to see) to draw one in and then that to sell them. and the mysteries of the lore behind it will keep one invested afterwards since they'll want to look into all that too.

having rewatched it somewhat recently it's pretty mediocre other than the animation and soundtrack honestly, but it spoke to the right group at the right time to get a big following.

on halo, i have the hot take that halo 2 is by far the best one and that 3 is just ok and the first is decent. the first game went through like two different development reboots and multiple hand changes leading to having to suddenly become a launch title for the xbox, the campaign was pretty obviously the best they could do given the circumstances and deadline. the enemy AI and design is great for the time period and why it stood out despite that, 2 amped up pretty much everything and is stupidly ambitious to the point where they couldn't finish the game that time either. but what's there is a hell of a campaign anyhow, they may not have playtested it at all but fuck me if legendary isn't a blast with a bud anyways. there's so much shit going on in each level including really cool gameplay-based storytelling and virtually no level reuse. even the forerunner ruins tend to be more varied than in the other two games.

then 3, which everyone praises, shat the bed on the story front and simplified it all immensely while going back to "play the level backwards" multiple times to pad it except they do it RIGHT AFTER YOU JUST DID THE LEVEL IN QUESTION. cortana wont shut the fuck up, scarabs are lame now (not that i dont get why they did that -- the idea of scarabs roaming levels naturally and boarding multiple of them was mindblowingly cool to me when the game came out and i then realized why that idea sucked after destroying a couple of them), and that shit has some real fucking stinkers in its level lineup. the second goddamn stage of the campaign is running back and forth around a small cramped military hallway outpost repeatedly. the big climactic showdown with the covenant features the same area copypasted twice (thank god they realized that was stupid and just had the third tower taken out by npcs). i think a lot of why people remember the campaign so fondly is that the final level is indeed pretty fucking awesome and a great throwback. so it ends on a really high note. and of course the multiplayer was awesome but that's not really what we're talking about.

Cortana and the Gravemind slowing down the action every now and then was bad enough the first time around, let alone the twentieth. I'd kind of forgotten it by now but that was probably why my buddies and I replayed the big outdoor levels more than anything else because it had little to no breaks in the action.

on halo, i have the hot take that halo 2 is by far the best one and that 3 is just ok and the first is decent.

i dont think this is a hot take at all

ill just make a list
1. league of legends
2. steak
3. most metal music (i admit this could just be a skill issue and i have vibed with some metal music before)
4. shonen
5. rts games
6. the m1a rifle in back 4 blood
7. professional mixed martial arts
8. the DCEU
9. bridesmaids the film
10. eating shredded cheese directly out of the bag

This post was last modified: Oct 17, 2022 at 1:22 PM by Draku.

on halo, i have the hot take that halo 2 is by far the best one and that 3 is just ok and the first is decent.

i dont think this is a hot take at all

i have seen "3 is the best and 2 is mediocre" and "1 is the best by far, 3 is decent, and 2 is mediocre" a million times online and little love for 2 in general, but this is also from peeking into the contrarian den that is /v/ and /vr/