15 "Classic" Video Games That Are Actually TERRIBLE

[Afino]

and yea a lot of the rest of these aren't "classics." twilight princess? Are we gonna dunk on skyward sword next?

ss >>>>>>>>> tp

really did amazing things with the lore

the three biggest problems with SS:

1) lack of stuff to do in the sky
2) revisiting the limited areas on the surface
3) Fi's handholding

but I can look past all of those because it's simply a better game

 

[Blitzkrug]

Better story though in TP imo.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

I disagree with some, but also agree with some.

What's the big deal here?? It's an opinion article, relax. We're all entitled to one.

Always thought Halo was incredibly over hyped. I know many agree. Nothing special about that game .

-Established the modern FPS control scheme for pretty much every FPS that followed it (Halo:CE).
-Clever artificial intelligence, making the game an actual challenge.
-Set the bar for online gaming on consoles (Halo 2).
-Set the bar for the content in games (Halo 3 had 4 player online co-op, solid campaign, map editor, replay video editing and saving, great playlists and party system, free DLC, etc.).

If you played Halo long after it's release, I could see how you would feel that there is nothing special about it since it influenced so many games after it was released, where it no longer feels unique.

 

[Afino]

Better story though in TP imo.

ehhhhh it's close, but I'll give you that one

 

[Emperoreddy]

Anyone that doesn't appreciate FF7 (is OoT on the list too?) is either a 'hipster' or too young to fully appreciate it in an age where aesthetics and instant gratification reign supreme.

Ehhhh. It is really debatable to even call it the best Final Fantasy.

Mechanically the SNES FFs are very similar, and arguably the mechanics are better depending on what you prefer.

It is a good game, but it has issues with extremely dated graphics and an absolutely terrible English translation.

Still enjoyable and doesn't at all belong on a list like this, but that could be said for basically every game listed.

 

[Blitzkrug]

ehhhhh it's close, but I'll give you that one

It's about the only thing it has going for it.

TP's absolute biggest flaw is the pacing. It ****ing sucks.

The whole monotonous pre-dungeon -> dungeon -> repeat gets cranked up annoyingly high in that game. Oh you want to enter the mines? Hold up, here's 2 hours worth of stuff to do first!

And then this disappears entirely in the later half of the game (which actually happens to be enjoyable if you can stomach the first half, go figure)

 

[Gardner McKay]

Ehhhh. It is really debatable to even call it the best Final Fantasy.

Mechanically the SNES FFs are very similar, and arguably the mechanics are better depending on what you prefer.

It is a good game, but it has issues with extremely dated graphics and an absolutely terrible English translation.

Still enjoyable and doesn't at all belong on a list like this, but that could be said for basically every game listed.

Judging a game on its dated graphics is absolutely absurd. Were they dated at the time? No. Quite the opposite.

 

[MXD]

Skyrim was a bit too streamlined and the game really benefitted from the Expansions, especially Dawnguard, but....

WTH. And there's something definitely funny about criticism on Skyrim's stability, all the while praising Daggerfall (FFS!), in the same article.

 

[XX]

Skyrim isn't that great until you pick up a few mods to fix the various problems it has with things like the UI. And even then, it's not like the main quest is particularly great. It's just a fun sandbox. It's not a GOAT type game, for me. That said, it still doesn't belong in the 'terrible' column.

 

[KingBran]

I must have just been lucky or something. I don't remember Skyrim being this terrible buggy mess at all. I have heard stories about certain quests glitching and other things that are easily recoverable by re-loading a save but Out of the probably 15 times I have made a character (probably beat the game 7 or so times) joined every guild/club, played every expansion, over all of them I would be surprised if there was a single quest I had yet to complete and never had a game-breaking bug.

Now Morrowind on the other hand...

 

[MXD]

I must have just been lucky or something. I don't remember Skyrim being this terrible buggy mess at all. I have heard stories about certain quests glitching and other things that are easily recoverable by re-loading a save but Out of the probably 15 times I have made a character (probably beat the game 7 or so times) joined every guild/club, played every expansion, over all of them I would be surprised if there was a single quest I had yet to complete and never had a game-breaking bug.

Now Morrowind on the other hand...

Well there's that quests on murders in Windhelm that is definitely buggy (and not to mention badly integrated with a Brotherhood quest), but that's probably the worse offender (and also why I can actually remember it, since it was pretty much the only one with which I've had problems).

 

[Emperoreddy]

Judging a game on its dated graphics is absolutely absurd. Were they dated at the time? No. Quite the opposite.

They looked bad at the time too. The pre rendered backgrounds , while they looked nice, were a pain in the ass to navigate

 

[Psyfer]

Judging a game on its dated graphics is absolutely absurd. Were they dated at the time? No. Quite the opposite.

I remember the character models being criticized at the time as well and if you look at final fantasy tactics that released around the same time as ff7 and has aged quite well in comparison it lessens the argument for ff7.

 

[Xelebes]

FF7 is amongst the most tedious to listen to fanboys whinge at you for not liking it. Therefore it deserves a place on the list. It really is not that special.

I'm not a fan of RPGs and while I did not like Chrono Trigger or Earthbound (both of them had some moments to enjoy), both of those games were more enjoyable than the FF7. The biggest problem with FF7 is that it basically introduces cut-scenes to make up for the fact that it lacks stuff to do in the game. Many games have followed this path of game design and has pushed me away from many games which would otherwise be more enjoyable without.

 

[Psyfer]

FF7 is amongst the most tedious to listen to fanboys whinge at you for not liking it. Therefore it deserves a place on the list. It really is not that special.

I'm not a fan of RPGs and while I did not like Chrono Trigger or Earthbound (both of them had some moments to enjoy), both of those games were more enjoyable than the FF7. The biggest problem with FF7 is that it basically introduces cut-scenes to make up for the fact that it lacks stuff to do in the game. Many games have followed this path of game design and has pushed me away from many games which would otherwise be more enjoyable without.

I agree that ff7 is not as great as people say it is but your argument is so wrong, ff7 has lots to do and cutscenes add a lot to the narrative and in comparison I love ff6 but it's characters/story are really shallow if you compare them to more recent titles.

 

[Emperoreddy]

6's story is as good or better then 7. 4 has a better story then both of them.

A lot of 7's story was fleshed out later with the extra games and movie. The actual product we got in the west wasn't that deep, and was really confusing because of how ****** the translation was.

 

[syz]

If you think cut scenes were introduced to video games as a way of compensating for a lack of content, then you may actually know nothing about storytelling. Or, like, I dunno, most things.

 

[Gardner McKay]

I remember the character models being criticized at the time as well and if you look at final fantasy tactics that released around the same time as ff7 and has aged quite well in comparison it lessens the argument for ff7.

Comparing apples in oranges. I absolutely love FFT. I have probably beaten that game more times than any other FF game. But, the game is a fraction of the size, there are a fraction of the environments (all of which have almost zero detail)

They looked bad at the time too. The pre rendered backgrounds , while they looked nice, were a pain in the ass to navigate

I dunno. For the time, I think they were fine and that this is just absurd nitpicking.

FF7 is amongst the most tedious to listen to fanboys whinge at you for not liking it. Therefore it deserves a place on the list. It really is not that special.

I'm not a fan of RPGs and while I did not like Chrono Trigger or Earthbound (both of them had some moments to enjoy), both of those games were more enjoyable than the FF7. The biggest problem with FF7 is that it basically introduces cut-scenes to make up for the fact that it lacks stuff to do in the game. Many games have followed this path of game design and has pushed me away from many games which would otherwise be more enjoyable without.

Has nothing to do with being a fanboy of any sorts. Criticizing an older game based on graphics is a ridiculous argument.

The cut-scenes? The horrible translation? The glitches? Holes in the story? All valid reasons to criticize a game. But the author of the article started his argument with dated graphics for a 20 year old game.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

FF7 is amongst the most tedious to listen to fanboys whinge at you for not liking it. Therefore it deserves a place on the list. It really is not that special.

I'm not a fan of RPGs and while I did not like Chrono Trigger or Earthbound (both of them had some moments to enjoy), both of those games were more enjoyable than the FF7. The biggest problem with FF7 is that it basically introduces cut-scenes to make up for the fact that it lacks stuff to do in the game. Many games have followed this path of game design and has pushed me away from many games which would otherwise be more enjoyable without.

What...? You honestly think that cut scenes in video games are used to compensate for a lack of content? That's one of the most ridiculous things I've heard... Especially in an era where technology was progressing to the level where cutscenes (or FMVs) could be used effectively. RPG Games like Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger are meant to tell a story and cut scenes add another level to that.

FF7 has a ton of side content to do. Your assessment comes across like you played halfway through the first disc, decided you didn't like it, and never picked the game back up. But that's beside the point, anyway. It's more about the way you're assessing the game.

Disliking RPG's is one thing that's a perfectly fair reason for not liking the game, you could have stopped there and no one would complain. If you liked other RPG's but not FF7 that would be a decent point to start a discussion from, but I'm not sure why you're pointing out one in particular from a genre that you don't like and assessing it.

 

[Xelebes]

If you think cut scenes were introduced to video games as a way of compensating for a lack of content, then you may actually know nothing about storytelling. Or, like, I dunno, most things.

If I wanted cutscenes, I'd watch a movie. It has nothing to do with storytelling and more to do with gameplay. What exactly are you doing during the cutscene?

This is different from scripted events that games like Half-Life later used as a novel workaround.

 

[beowulf]

Terrible article.

Exactly.

 

[RandV]

If I wanted cutscenes, I'd watch a movie. It has nothing to do with storytelling and more to do with gameplay. What exactly are you doing during the cutscene?

This is different from scripted events that games like Half-Life later used as a novel workaround.

Yeah this is where it becomes more a matter of preference and not a valid opinion/criticism. While cut scenes can be poorly used their purpose is to build story/character/setting/etc. If you're standard for what's valid use of it is Half Life then you just want games that are constant interaction. That's fine but there's no actual definitive definition of a video game is supposed to be.

Going back and playing old PS1 RPG's though, starting with FFVII where it gets kind of annoying is that with the new tech allowing full battle animations they kind of overdid it to the point it can get a little annoying and artificially inflates playing time. Suikoden I and II did a much better job here.

 

[SniperHF]

You can go all the way back to Dragon's Lair (maybe further, earliest one I know of) in terms of gameplay light experiences. I'm not particularly a fan but it's definitely not new.

 

[Afino]

And then this disappears entirely in the later half of the game (which actually happens to be enjoyable if you can stomach the first half, go figure)

I can't stomach the first half

 

[aleshemsky83]

I remember the character models being criticized at the time as well and if you look at final fantasy tactics that released around the same time as ff7 and has aged quite well in comparison it lessens the argument for ff7.

Its even aged horribly relative to ff8 and ff9, whose world map models actually do benefit from higher resolutions.

I haven't played it start to finish, I was an n64 guy, but I have messed around with some of the games. The game where the art impresses me the most is a game called valkyria profile. Id be blown away if I saw that pixel art in 2017 let alone on the ps1.