Favourites that have waned

[duskvstweak]

So, I thought the first Freedom Force was fantastic. And, being so new to comics when I first played it, it was exciting to see all these homages to the heroes I was just getting into. But, then I played the recently and found it to be a chore, with weird racist moments that I think were trying to emulate the times, but made it awkward to play.

Was Freedom Force that strategy RPG type game with like comic cut scenes and made up superhero characters? And a sequel in which you battled Nazi's or something? Like a Baldurs Gate style top down view? If so I remember really enjoying that back in the day, although yeah probably not the best to go back to now!

The whole thing looked like a Jack Kirby comic. And yeah, you could pause the game with the space bar just like Baldur's Gate. I still cherish my time playing the first game, but the second game reminded you can't always go home again.

[HaloFandango]

I really love talking about design choices that have resulted in games that stand the test of time. Games like Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night are games that were released 20+ years ago, and yet I would have no problem recommending any them to someone today, because they still look, sound and feel great.

But the inverse of this, is we inevitably have favourites, that start to look lesser and lesser as time goes on. These aren't necessurily games we've stopped loving, but may have held in the absolute highest regard, only for them to slip out of the "Top Ten" or "Epic Shelf."

I'm curious to know, for whatever reason, what favourites or formative experiences of yours have waned upon revisiting and re-evaluating. But just so this doesn't become to much of a depressing thread, feel free to throw in some games that you appreciate more and more upon each revisit too.

These two games I'm going to mention are very formative. The imagery and music is still a shortcut to my heart, but I think they have been bettered (IMO) since or ...previously?!

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - Again, to reiterate, I still love this game, but Breath of the Wild and the more recent Hitman games do such a great job of capturing much of what I love about MGS3, that it becomes harder to forgive the excess attached to it. Kojima pushed storytelling in games forward, but as writing in games gets better, Kojima's lack of brevity and subtly gets more and more annoying. There are some great ideas here and Kojima is a more gifted Director than he is a writer, but man he loves to condescendingly explain everything. Plus, unlike Resident Evil 4, whose controls have aged but feel great once you've adjusted, MGS3's controls are just awkward. Level design and bosses are so great, that you can push through this, but I'd love a version of this with MGS5's controls.

Final Fantasy VII - I think the Materia System is great, Midgar is amazing and the soundtrack is just unbelievably great. But I find it wildly visually inconsistent, the english localisation is pretty terrible and the rest of the game isn't nearly as well paced as the midgar section at the beginning. Also, Chrono Trigger exists and Jesus Christ, has that game aged like fine wine! I'm revisiting it now and it's exceptional...and it was released 2 years before FFVII! The reason why I bring up Chrono Trigger specifically, is because in terms of story, mechanics, art direction, eveything!, it feels like the perfect Final Fantasy game to me. FFVII may be more important to me in terms establishing my tastes, but if someone asks me which classic JRPG they should play, it's Chrono Trigger.

The storyline in MGS3 was bananas, but for me it is an amazing spy thriller that has aged like fine wine. I could happily go back to any of the MGS games, including the first one. Even if sometimes the controls or gameplay don't quite hold up, the characters and storyline are the things that always pull me in.

I'm actually playing Final Fantasy 7 in English (PAL - goodness me it is so slow compared to the NTSC-J version) and Japanese (for study/reading practice) at the moment and I can't help but be sucked into the storyline. Time hasn't been kind to the graphics on the actual character models, but a few of the CG cutscenes still look pretty cool.

In terms of favorites that have waned somewhat, I would say the original LittleBigPlanet on PS3. At the time, being able to create anything in this cutesy world and share it online was revolutionary, plus the design of the characters themselves was great with an interesting singleplayer story to boot. However, now whenever I go back to it, the horrible floaty mechanics and momentum just puts me off straight away.

[HaloFandango]

In terms of games that do stand the test of time and I appreciate even more now is Roller Coaster Tycoon. I still think it’s the pinnacle of the genre in terms of depth and accessibility for seasoned sim fans and newcomers to the genre

Soooo goooood! The amount of hours spent making death rides or people zoos when I was a kid was unreal.

[HaloFandango]

Interesting topic to think about. I shall ponder my own.

Surely at least one person here reassessed their feelings for Shenmue after playing the remasters and sequel...

I remember playing Shenmue on my friend's Dreamcast at secondary school and it was just mind-blowing. I have both Shenmue 1 and 2 on Dreamcast, but just waiting for my actual Dreamcast to be shipped from the UK. I'm kinda dubious now, since apparently Leon says they have aged like fine steak.

[Mr Ixolite]

Final Fantasy VII - I think the Materia System is great, Midgar is amazing and the soundtrack is just unbelievably great. But I find it wildly visually inconsistent, the english localisation is pretty terrible and the rest of the game isn't nearly as well paced as the midgar section at the beginning. Also, Chrono Trigger exists and Jesus Christ, has that game aged like fine wine! I'm revisiting it now and it's exceptional...and it was released 2 years before FFVII! The reason why I bring up Chrono Trigger specifically, is because in terms of story, mechanics, art direction, eveything!, it feels like the perfect Final Fantasy game to me. FFVII may be more important to me in terms establishing my tastes, but if someone asks me which classic JRPG they should play, it's Chrono Trigger.

Heh, its funny, to me FFVII still holds up, blocky LEGO characters and all, whereas when I finally got around to playing Chrono Trigger a few years back it left me very underwhelmed. A side effect of the massive expectations I had going in perhaps, as the same thing happened with FF VI, but I guess this topic is an offshoot of the thread concept in that its less waning favourites, as it was not living up to the hype when you arive late to the party (which for me also includes Mario 64, or indeed SoTN).

Agree on the localization of FF VII though, which is a damn shame. As a teen I never noticed it, but theres a lot of straight up nonsense in there.

Anyway, to answer your actual question, I'm currently replaying Grandia, and while still fun, the battles are a bit more ho-hum than I remember - but in general I've lost a lot of patience for turn based JRPG battles. More jarring are some of the ...decidedly japanese story elements; stuff like Justin grabbing Feenas butt and getting called a pervert, finding her panties, and a general uncomfortableness of "wait, how old are these kids again?" The guy who tried forcing Feena into marriage clearly infers he wanted to have sex with her, which clashes with Justin - who is clearly pitched as of similar age to Feena- and his childish enthusiasm for being an adventurer.

Many of my beloved sony 3D platformers have also yeilded diminishing returns upon revisits; theres a general tendency towards franchises phasing out actual platforming in favor of more gimmicky and shallow gameplay. Revisiting Spyro 2 or Ape Escape 2 for instance, I can't help but wish they'd retained some more challenging level design, as opposed to putting MORE THINGS into the levels.

[Combine Hunter]

Hey folks, just because a few of you have quoted me and said "I still think FFVII/MGS3 are great!" I do to! All I'm saying is they used to be absolute top of the pops level for me. They'd still feature in a top 100 list, if I ever fancied inflicting that pain on myself again, but their flaws just stand out more and more as time goes on. That's all I was saying. If they don't for you, that's fine! Not intended as an attack on anyone's love of these games.

[ReprobateGamer]

Crash Team Racing (the original)

For a couple of years, this was a staple with friends (even one or two who are not gamers).

Then several years of moving house and dealing with children (and the lost of the original PS3)

Picked up the digital copy cheaply to serve as a replacement and was sorely disappointed with the game at that point - the graphics did not scale well and the controls felt clumbersome.

In part, I'm sure this is the change in hardware - this is a PS1 game of course and designed with CRT screens in mind - and i'm sure the remake deals with many of the issues.

I suspect that other games I hold in high esteem (for whatever reason) would more likely be ruined by that reason above others