| coolbeans said: Hmmm...I guess it depends upon the emphasis going towards degree or pure number disparity from the gaming populace. The results vary depending on that. Recent examples like The Last of Us Part II would spring to mind, but that's weird to me b/c the difference is between 'eh...enough forgivable stuff to call it good' and 'masterpiece.' I have three more flagrant examples from both critics & the community at large: -Death Stranding There's never been a safer 'love it or hate it' example propped up to gamers than Kojima's self-indulgent mess. Sure, you can talk about being disappointed or just not digging the game. But affix a score on top of those words? You'll witness the dregs of Kojima's fanbase outnumber legit conversations of its design, intention, etc. From a distance, I can understand some angles players take in adoring it. Hell, some friends I've talked to really make me wish I could've experienced what they saw. But that can only go so far after trudging through 40 hours of meandering. -Detroit: Become Human Granted, it's a bump in decision complexity over Beyond: Two Souls but I sincerely don't get how this story is so respected. The elementary metaphors are so obnoxious in their execution that I couldn't help but laugh. Gaming's collective respectability would go up a notch if David Cage retired from script writing tomorrow. This coming from someone who would still happily indulge in Heavy Rain's melodrama on occassion. -Life Is Strange: Before The Storm What currently puts ^this at number one is the raw numbers disparity between me and... almost everyone else apparently. Slightly less respected compared to original LiS by critics while being absolutely adored by users, Before The Storm seemed like it'd be up my alley too. I didn't love LiS, but appreciated its heart. This is - bar none - one of the worst prequels though. I don't even understand what there is to grasp onto that makes it so compelling for everyone. It's less mechanically rewarding and it's such a rushed story. To me, this feels like the quintessential example of saps calling a story 'emotional' & 'deep' just by having some nice indie music playing in the background during critical story beats. |
Regarding death stranding, that's your loss. I've played every AAA game this gen and i'd have to put it up there in the top3. Or maybe the game needs a class of it's own, since it feels more like a out of world journey than a game. There is a lot more to it than just "meandering". I've seen the harshest critics and youtubers who were vocal and shitting on the game and labelling " walking simulator" , only to play the game for a few hours, push on, and end up loving the game.
