I don’t remember Virtua Fighter letting you transform your character and shoot lasers out of your eyes. Mechanically I know you’re right, but Tekken had so much character variety that when I saw it in the arcades I was instantly hooked. Virtua Fighter never did that for me. Which, of course, is why I’m part of the market that made that happen. Haha. 

Uncharted and The Last of Us. I tried getting into those series, but I just couldn't. This compares to other recent PS games like God of War 2018 and Ragnarok, which I loved and couldn't put down.

Did you ever play and/or enjoy the Jak and Daxter series? I really wish they had continued down that path. Not necessarily with those same characters, but in that fantasy, fun, zany world. I felt like they were just getting started and I can’t imagine where they’d be if they kept on that path with the technological advances along the way. 

I haven't tried those games out. I don't think they've released on PC yet, unless I use an emulator? It would be cool if Sony released older titles on PC. 

Nah, they're clunky as hell lol. Production value = amazing! Gameplay, all the resources were left in the production value that they forgot to add fun gameplay lol. Production value doesn't make a game fun. I play video games to have fun.

I still play their games, but I don't enjoy them that much. As far as grounded gameplay goes from Sony studios, Sucker Punch does a MUCH better job at gameplay than ND does.

I played the first two Jak games a few years ago when they came to PS+.  I enjoyed and beat the first game, but I couldn't get into the 2nd game.

Yes that is my issue with them as well. That is why I prefer the other 1st-party PS games like God of War, Spider-Man, Ghost, Ratchet,  etc. 

Games that I felt were much more deserving of success are Tempest Rising and Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess

In Tempest's case, the game is clearly a love letter to Command & Conquer in the best ways possible and felt like a proper modernization of that kind of Action RTS. Epic soundtrack, loading screens that take up the entire screen displaying analog lines like C&C, sound effects and bass heavy explosions are awesome with headphones on, distinct factions with unique units that are fun to experiment with, and a surprisingly deeper story than expected. Was probably a good decision to use CGI commanders rather than live action lol. SteamDB estimates the games sales around 250K and it's deserving of so much more.

In Path of the Goddess's case, this is Capcom at some of their most creative. Very PS2 era feeling game. An Action Strategy hybrid that has hack n slash combat but then being able to assign combat roles to all your villagers that constantly keeps you engaged, all set in a fascinating Japanese mythology setting. Seeing the behind the scenes videos showing the miniatures Capcom devs created and the practical effects showed how much this game was pet project that they really wanted to make, and they nailed it! No sales figures, but Capcom confirmed the game didn't meet sales expectations.

Both games are my GOTY's for 2025 (so far) and 2024, and deserved so much more than they received!

If I list the popular games that I find to be very mid or just plain suck it'd be a very long list, so ill just limit it to 2 franchises: Pokemon and GTA. Both franchises that have last very long and sell like crazy. I was a fan of both some years ago and now I just cant touch them cause they bore to oblivion, they got stale, uninteresting and lacking the spark they once had. its much more noticeable in pokemon imo, where id argue the franchise actually downgraded and any sort of challenge got completely erased.

Seconded, the series has sold less than 2 million I believe across 5 mainline entries, one spinoff, and several remasters, which is a damn shame given how great they are. I'd go so far as to say they're some of the best horror games out there in terms of atmosphere and scares. 

Also hoping the upcoming remake of Crimson Butterfly gives the series more exposure.