This is going to be a very unpopular opinion, but Elder Scrolls peaked at Morrowind. Oblivion was a pretty big step down in quality, and Skyrim was a completely washed out shell of former Elder Scrolls games. I absolutely hated Skyrim and I don't understand why it gets such universal praise from gamers.
this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2023
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I love Skyrim as a modding platform but I really feel you. So much has been lost on quest design from even Oblivion, much less Morrowind. I think Bethesda hedged their bets on exploration being the selling point way too much and it's becoming more and more apparent this has resulted in their quest design and stories suffering. First it was Skyrim, then Fallout 4, and then 76. I am not looking forward to the writing of quests in Starfield.
I am sure that it will do well, because most people love the sandbox exploration of it but imo an rpg lives or dies by its quest and story and I honestly feel as if Bethesda just doesn't have that in them any more.
Do you hate Skyrim in general? Or as an Elders Scrolls game?
Both. It held the players hand way too much, literally quest markers leading you straight where you needed to go which I know is a modern gaming thing but I actually loved that in the older games the quest giver just kind of hinted at where you might find the quest resolution and you had to use your knowledge of the game to piece it together. The story and side-stories of Skyrim were subpar, Morrowind had a ton of side stories that were interesting. One that sticks out in my mind is that every once in awhile you'd see this Orc just racing around at super high speeds non-stop. If you managed to catch up to him, or kill him, you'd find that he has magical shoes on. If you put them on, you find out that they give you super speed, but they're cursed so that you can never stop. Just great, interesting and/or funny stuff like that that rewards your curiosity was simply non-existent in Skyrim afaik.
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I think many people that like Skyrim now like the mods, hehehe.
100% agree.
Morrowind was the peak, oblivion burned me so bad I slept on fallout 3 until after new vegas came out.
I enjoyed all 3 even though they were all very different. I will say that I spent countless hours in Morrowind, many hours in Skyrim, and less in Oblivion (but I beat that one on purpose just not to feel addicted to it).
We don't talk about that Fallout, because it never existed.
Unfortunately the franchise has a few of those. You could easily be referring to 4, 76, Tactics, or Brotherhood of Steel. Depending on how much of a Fallout purist you are, you could also extend it to 3, and there are some people who (incorrectly) insist that Fallout 2 was the first and last good game in the franchise.
Incorrectly? As if there’s some objective measurement?
You mean an open world FPS with a Fallout like theme, doesn't ring a bell.
Saying Andromeda for Mass Effect seems too easy of an answer but it's the first one that comes to mind. I didn't even mind the technical and graphical issues (most of them were fixed by the time I played it), but the whole story is just so... bland and soulless. Quests designed by a committee, one-note companions, the most predictable cliche alien species ever, boring and predictable villains (they literally recycled the story from the original franchise)...
I've played the original trilogy a plenty but I can't make myself play through Andromeda a second time for the reasons you've stated. Plus there was a severe lack of my favourite race in the game, Quarians! Boooo
Thief: Deadly Shadows. A soulless console adaptation of an OG immersive sim.
I agree it doesn't quite catch the flavor of the first two, but do you actually think it's worse than Thi4f?
No, that is worse. I actually lumped them both into one abomination in my mind.
Dragon Age 2. For some reason it gives me anime vibes and I hate anime. It didn't look, sound or feel anything like the previous game at all.
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth. There are other less then stellar games in the Civ franchise that I haven't played like Starships. Beyond Earth, though, was a day 1 purchase for me, and it wasn't -terrible-, but it left a lot to be desired.
I just never could get into BOTW/TOTK, they never felt or played like a Zelda game
I liked BOTW once I got used to it and I think TOTK improves on it a lot, but I think you're absolutely right that they don't play like a Zelda game. I'm really hoping they finally port WW/TP because as much as I'm enjoying TOTK it does make me miss the traditional style.
Halo: Infinite. Why oh why did they have to give Spartans cat ears?
Yeah that was very upsetting. I'm not a hardcore Halo fan but Infinite was a game I wanted to like, during that first holiday period I convinced nearly a dozen people to play with me...
The game was so crashy, parties didn't work half the time, the store and battle pass thing was disgusting (they were planning to make it even more money-grubbing) and I barely got to the first BP level after several days. I had some fun during those times but after a few months I stopped holding out hope and lost interest. Forge came a year too late... I don't even feel like going back to it anymore.
To me Infinite isn't the worst in the series. I preferred the campaign to Halo 4 and 5 and the multiplayer was good, just not enough content to sustain it.
I actually thought halo 4 was decent, at least for the first entry for someone taking over. But it just got worse. I really despised halo infinites campaign, it just felt so incredibly lazy.
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~~Borderlands 3. The writing just murders it, and the combat doesn't carry it for me. 1, 2, TPS, Wonderlands all have better stories, so I enjoy them more.~~
~~EDIT: aw, shit, you said favorite franchise... hm... Dragon Age: Origins then? I enjoyed DA2/DAI way more, because of the story/quests.~~
EDIT 2: you know what, Half-Life: Alyx. I actively hated that game despite playing it in best possible conditions. It's cumbersome, slow, and too much "survival-horror" instead of an FPS.
oh really? i though people really enjoyed alyx
most people do. i loved it. but OP said he doesnt like survival horror and i do.
Kinda weird because it doesn't even have any survival aspects. I love HL:A.
To me half life 2 and alyx feel more like tech demos then actual well rounded great games. They obviously aren't bad, but over rated for what they are.
I'm generally not a fan of survival or horror games. Even Outer Wilds (especially so its DLC) were too "heavy" for me; stuff like Amnesia or Resident Evil I don't touch at all. So Alyx was a very bad hit for me.
I think generally, Alyx is liked. But not a lot of people played it.
First Uncharted, because of the jet ski and nazi zombies.
Oops not PC. My bad.
The new super Mario bros games. I guess that’s technically 2 but I did not enjoy that style and in general did not really care for the level design. It was pretty underwhelming.
Are you talking about New Super Mario Bros (for the DS), New Super Mario Bros Wii, New Super Mario Bros 2 (for the 3DS with all the sparkly gold stuff) or New Super Mario Bros U (for the WiiU)?
Haha, yes.
Half-Life Alyx, because they made me wait a lifetime for another HL game and it's a VR game. I'm sure it's the best VR game money can buy, but playing it as intended would cost me a fortune and all I'd get out of it is motion-sickness-induced projectile vomiting.
So you haven’t even played it?
Lot's of people can't play VR, including me. I'm not going to force my way through feeling like shit day after day to enjoy something.
Just some food for thought. VR gets easier over time when you "train yourself" on it. Start small with not very dynamic games, gradually move yourself up, your body will adapt. Second, I believe there's a non VR modded version out there.
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I previously commented about Dragon Age and Borderlands but screw that. THIS is the answer I'm going with. Half-Life: Alyx.
I played it under best possible conditions - with a Valve Index, in a full room VR - and absolutely hated it. Cumbersome, slow, and survival horror instead of running around killing stuff feeling like a badass. It doesn't feel like a Half-Life game at all. HL1, HL1:BS, HL1:OF, HL2, HL2:E1, HL2:E2, HL2:LC, Black mesa all were same and all were fun. HL:A? Not so much.
Lots of console titles in the comments here. Easy answer there is Zelda 2.
To answer the question as posed, though, Star Control 3 was a massive disappointment after its amazing predecessor.
i have watched zelda 2 playthrough and it actually looked really fun, even if it was very different!
Fuck the haters, Zelda 2 is the only game in the entire series I’ve played to completion.
All the other ones are super boring. I gave up on Zelda completely on Ocarina of Time.
I loved Zelda 2 as a kid. I loved the lore, reading the background story over and over and imagining what it would be like to be Link, fighting to keep your blood from being back Ganon. My brother and I would cheer each other on while taking on the dungeons. Dark Link had us horrifically surprised and it was the first RPG we beat. Great memories around that one.
Do the DOS Mega Man games count?
Those were my first Mega Man games. Turned me off the franchise for years.
Football Manager 2009
It's the first 3D game and it shows.
After FM2008, my favourite, it was a bit of a disapointment.
Then FM2010 was good, improved on FM11, and FM12 is considered by some people to be the peak of the series.
Coincidentally or not, the last Championship Manager was in 2009/2010, and FIFA Manager's last was 2013/2014, and now Football Manager has been stagnating a bit (or getting worse in some places) because it has no competition in the market anymore.
Half-Life Alyx. It doesn't play anything like the older titles, and I mean that even in terms of VR games. Boneworks is more of a Half-Life game than Half-Life Alyx, while Alyx feels more like a Resident Evil game. It's slow, movement is limited, there are a grand total of 4 weapons (all one-handed, no melee), and enemy variety is incredibly downgraded from prior titles. It's not necessarily a bad title or anything, but after twelve years it's not what I wanted and I had a lot more fun playing games like HL1 or even Resident Evil 4 on my Quest 2 because the ports of these games were trying to introduce more freedom to great games instead of taking freedom away for fear of making a lesser game.
Diablo 3. I don’t think it’s a bad game or anything. The art style of the game looked completely different than the first two Diablos in my opinion. It also felt a lot more arcadey than an ARPG if that makes any sense.
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