The hype dies down. Personally I started disliking the game when the gameplay started crumbling on the highest difficulty.(artificial difficulty etc). Lazy gameplay designs that could have easily been fixed surfaced and the general hand-holding of the player was a bit too much for my own tastes. I guess Levine and his team went so much over budget with the story, visuals and art direction that they(or most likely the publisher) didn't want to risk selling fewer copies because the learning curve would be too high for the average consumer.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great game, just not the holy grail it was hyped up to be in the reviews.

Hype blinding them to criticism until they are weeks/months removed from the launch. Hype has died down by then and the experience can then be evaluated on its own.

Happens with anything, not just games.

I liked Infinite enough to get all the achievements for it shortly after its release, but I don't know if it's GoTY material for me. Well, it is, but I'm not sure if it'll make it onto my Top Ten List.

Exactly. At the end of the year all the games are weighed up equally, but until then what are we supposed to do? Still sit around and wait for a new BioShock Infinite trailer? I mean I love the shit out of The Wire, but are we supposed to talk about it all the time?

If you were talking about individuals who love a game to begin with and then do a 180 and decry said game as poor in retrospect, then this might be a thread.

If you're just railing against some guys who don't like the things you like, you should ignore them and go on liking the things you like.

To some extent it's just the result of hype dying down and seeing flaws that weren't immediately apparent. Listen, Bioshock is definitely going to make its way onto my GOTY list, but there are parts of that game that are straight up bad, something made even more apparent when I attempted a 1999 mode playthrough. I'd imagine there are some pretty good dissertations picking apart the weirdness of the plot too.

To another extent though... I think it fair to say that people on the internet tend to speak in extremes and there is a certain desire to distinguish oneself by being a bit contrarian.

Isn't it just that the negative people are always the loudest?

Because the way game reviews work right now sucks and should go away.

In all seriousness in a more long form answer: Honestly, the more prevalent problem, to me, is how some games will get critical acclaim and just be straight-up forgotten later on. Remember LA Noire? How Brad and Ryan basically creamed their pants over that game? And then it quietly limped its way to the ass-end of the site GOTY list? And does anyone remember DmC? Or have any doubt that that same thing will happen there, as well? The Forgotten Five Star is a way worse issue than the It Gets Four Stars But I Hate Almost Everything About It.

Hype and crowd mentality.

You loved the previous iteration or game by that developer. Now they're making a new one. Everything about it sounds great from previews (which is of course deliberate on the part of the publisher and gaming sites). Everyone is talking about it. You finally get it. Its all you can imagine and more. You discuss how awesome it is with your friends. You finish it with a warm feeling inside you. You come back some months/years later to the game and realise that X element wasn't as good as you though. Y element is actually really annoying. Then you realise the game isn't as good as you once thought.

The opposite can happen as well of course, everybody is hating a game and magnify its flaws. You stop appreciating the good and only see the bad. You then prounence it shit as well.

I never got such an experience with Bioshock. I played it, thought it was alright and continue to think its alright. The last time this happened to me was Skyrim, though I think this is the 'MMO effect'. I played it through throughly for over 50 hours. For the first 20 hours I couldn't put it down. By 30 hours I was seeing all the flaws. At a 2nd playthrough I couldn't even play 10 hours before I put it down.

Honeymoon phase with the top notch presentation is done. Critical analysis of actual gameplay involved takes over. With this particular game, it's a pretty barebones shooter and does not have much interactivity beyond that. Thus.

This doesn't always work towards a souring of opinion over time. Some games actually look better than they initially seemed to be around launch because the depth of their gameplay or even sometimes story was not immediately apparent to reviewers blowing through it to meet deadline or players doing first playthrough. A game like Trials HD fits that description for me. Kinda game where the more you dig in to it, the deeper the mechanics turn out to be. The Souls games too. You might think that those games get most traction from the mystery and obfuscation, but no. Even now that everything has been figured out, those games still hold up really well. Dark Souls has a strong competitive speedrunning following, of all things.

1. These are not necessarily the same people. The "internet" is not some singular organism with one opinion.
2. You can criticize the flaws in something and still like it or even love it.
3. We mull over and chip away at the flaws of something we like (or don't) over time, it's natural.
4. Like others have mentioned the emotional high of a good thing, that obscures the flaws in something, wears off.

Public demands that you hate it now to be cool.
Peer pressure.
Band Wagons.

Then in rare occasions it is someone able to think for him/herself and actually find out that "No, you know what, that game I liked was actually shit"

I never had differing opinions on any games I have ever played. I have never liked a game then months later felt the need to degrade it on the internet. Perhaps the guy on reddit had that opinion of Bioshock since the release date?
Anyway I bought Bioshock infinite when it came out, it was the first Bioshock game I ever played (I gave into the hype lol). The shooting is kind of weird (machine gun sounds like high-pitched clapping) but the vigors are satisfying, the world is fun to explore and the atmosphere is great. Though, the game will always have a place in my heart because of that ending. A video game had never before really punched me in the chest like that.

I recently bought the first 2 bioshocks and minerva's den during that 2k games weekend sale on steam. I will also eventually buy that infinite season pass.

i think it is easier to dwell on and pick apart the negatives of things than it is to reminisce on the positives. saying "yo, wasn't x awesome?" doesn't necessarily open itself up to the same conversation that "hey, let's talk about why x was garbage" does.

maybe that's a pessimistic point of view, but i have been making a very conscious effort to stay away from places where the theme seems inherently negative and, in doing so, i have dramatically reduced the amount of forum threads i visit. it's not that i don't want to hear criticism of anything, it's just very easy to fall down a "everything is terrible and here are three hundred bullet-points why i have never had fun with this well loved franchise" hole and that's where those discussions seem to always end up.

Thought it was complete irredeemable garbage from day one.

excitement for something new.

Right now I'm running the game on a somewhat medium range pc, but Elizabeth's animation is all over the place. Most of the time she's ice skating from point to point setting herself up for animation markets and then often teleporting behind me. It's just not as sophisticated as I imagined it could be, but I can see where her AI routines come from from her path finding.

I'm late, I knew the big spoiler but I'm enjoying it. I feel better paying cheaper and knowing exactly what the upcoming DLC is before buying it new.

I think not knowing the spoiler really adds a lot to these games. Personally I'm not a fan of the combat in Bioshock games which has remained largely unchanged since the first venture in Rapture. The ending for Bioshock 1 got spoiled for me and without the mystery of unraveling the plot myself the game definitely took a turn for the worse - for me anyway. I think if I had known how Infinite ends I would still be interested in the journey to that point, but wouldn't be nearly as floored as I was. I remember watching the ending unfold, and slowly the pieces coming together and then it completely went in a direction I never thought possible. That alone is what makes me think the game was good - I still think large swathes of gameplay in between major story points weren't the greatest and shootouts sometimes dragged out too much, but the ending really cemented my opinion of the game as a whole.

Why do you seem to think they're the same people?

I thought Bioshock Infinite was pretty mediocre when it cane out. I also thought the first Bioshock was mediocre too. I guess I'm not allowed an opinion if it goes against the initial hype?

I'm not sure how to prove it, but I believe this statement is extremely false.

Because the further away from something you are, the easier it is to look at it objectively. It's hard to think in critical, objective terms when you're in the middle of playing a game, especially one with as an engrossing world as BioShock Infinite's. But given a few months after you finished the game, you have plenty of time to think on a lot of what happened and to start picking apart the smaller things you may have glazed over when you were super hype playing the game, because "ooh, shiny."

Hype wears off it is undeserved. It is that simple. People see what they want to see at first; they when they look, think and consider their feelings they find their opinion has changed.

Our world today, people complaining about people complaining. Now I'm complaining about people who complain about people complaining.

Also at the time you're awed by it, then after some room you can step back and think critically about a thing, that's how thought works, you don't actively criticise everything as its happening (or if you do you're a sad person and I feel sorry for you).

I don't see any hate for it. It is still probably my game of the year for sure. I might not remember it like it was yesterday, but I do definitely remember a lot of it. And that says a lot.

There's also cases of initial adoration for the game followed by hate for it several months after launch

I think you're confusing the masses of the internet with individual people.

For example I was never crazy for Infinite, but I also wasn't expressing my dissapointment by shouting on the rooftops or posting about it every chance I could. Those who liked the game a lot were obviously much more enthusiastic about it.

I didn't hate the game, but didn't love it either so my middle-reaction is probably something that's been drowned out by all the hype and excitement and now we can be heard, even if we've been around this whole time.

It's hard for a balanced opinion to be heard on the internet. Everything is either the best thing ever, or the worst thing ever, the in-between seems to get lost in the fold.

This happens all the time and I think it's pretty annoying too but opinions do change...

I think it's easy to see all the good qualities during the initial play through but it's normal for enthusiasts like us to sorta critique the shit outta these brilliant games and as time passes, the negative stuff kinda buries the positive stuff in our memory.

I loved Bioshock Infinite and still do.

It's called the recency effect and hindsight.

Usually, people tend to be easily amused by the presentation of a game, especially one we've waited for a long while. Days/weeks/months afterwards, the excitement usually dilutes, leaving only a clear view of the good and bad things about it. Now, it's up to you to decide which hold more weight. In Bio Infinite's case, do you think of everything it does right, or everything it does wrong?

That's why, months later, I can safely say that I loved MGRising, DmC and Ni No Kuni, while I thought Infinite to be just okay.

I loved every second I had with Infinite and can't wait to play Burial at Sea.

Let's sound like a broken record again. People realized the game was bad after they played it for a while.

Me included.

FWIW, I loved Bioshock Infinite when it came out and I still love it now.

I think the negativity is constant while positive impressions dissipate over time. This happens with everything people like from cheeseburgers to Santa Clause.

As someone who didn't particularly enjoy BioShock Infinite at release, and still doesn't today, I suppose I'm more consistent than the unnamed masses you are referring to.

I should rephrase that because you are correct. I meant few would look back on it as one of the greatest films of all time. For example the AFI lists it at number 100 on their list of Best American Films. Meanwhile, voters on the IMDB have it ranked as number 177. The score and some of the technical and camera work were very innovative and influential while the marketing blitz used to sell the film was the most aggressive and expensive for the time. I think my point was more that while many at the time claimed it was among the greatest films ever made, quite a few films that many fewer looked up to ended up being both more influential and more acclaimed in the intervening years.

All right, I'll accept that. You're right that I've never heard it called the greatest movie ever made, but from a perspective of scale and special effects, its was basically the Star Wars of its time.

I don't know if i can speak for why people do a 180 on these games as i don't think i ever flip on a game like that. But what i will say is sometimes games don't hold up and when comparing other games it can have an expedited effect on that. Most times these games will do something really cool that might offset flaws in a game until retrospect.

I believe GTA4 was a clear example in that it was a technical achievement on many levels but at the end of the day it was not as fun as past GTA games to some. I also feel there is an element of some people who never liked the game feel its their time to shine and blast the game while everyone else is done talking about how good it is.

@veektarius: I think that is actually the key facet. Films or games that are acclaimed for their technical merits will eventually be superseded by films with superior tech. Meanwhile a good story, good acting, and in a game's case, good gameplay, are things that can stand the test of time. It's why I'm sure Uncharted 2 and 3 will not be remembered as the great games they are currently considered simply because their strongest merits are their spectacle not their gameplay. Meanwhile something like Bioshock or Infinite I think will hold up better because while the technical aspects are certainly important, the art direction will hold up regardless of technical improvements, and the story and gameplay are great and will be great in 10 years.

That's easy to answer, the reason this phenomenon happens is that most people are fucking unintelligent and tend to criticize things they don't understand. Which of course draws the crowd of even more stupid people who don't even have a real opinion. So in order to compensate they tend to gravitate towards negative the criticisms because it makes them feel relevant. Its especially ironic that in this particular game, one of the pervading themes is cognitive dissonance.

I think to some degree it is people seeking to justify their $60 purchase by focusing on the positive aspects of the game they just bought. Later on, when the $60 is a sunk cost that doesn't matter anymore, it becomes easier to look at a games faults. Of course, the internet loves to jump onto bandwagons when their popular, whether its taking a huge shit on the Xbox One or universally praising a game.

If it makes you feel better I thought Infinite was lame from the start.

Because I want to love the game that I purchased day 1 for a full 60 dollars. But as everyone said, the hype dies down.

I don't.

I love the games (and other things) I love and hate the things I hate. From day one. It doesn't change because someone makes points; good or otherwise.

I'm not people though.

New stuff gets old, yo.

I just think the people that hate stuff on the web are louder than the others that love it. Just look at the COD games and how every gaming site community will hate on it yet it still sells like hot cakes but you will always see the majority of people say it sucks. That's just that the people that hate it really go out of their way to hate it oh and fanboys will feel threaten to trash stuff that looms over their game lol.

Honestly, I hadn't seen any of that. It was as it always has been, people that love it, and people that don't.

There's always a hater, a tower and the internet.

Because when someone points out the flaws of something you like and you notice those flaws too, you have a decision to make. You can either love the thing in its entirety, flaws and all, or you can become embarrassed that you missed those flaws in the first place and then become resentful of that thing for making you look foolish.

This is why I love that the side effect of waiting for sales entails playing games long after it's had time to settle in for the reviewers and people who bought it at launch; I can more or less enjoy it on my own terms. And relative to me there's that effect of looking back which is slightly different than in-the-moment feelings but at some point which is right? That you actually enjoyed it from start to finish or some small thing left a bad taste in your mouth after the fact? I loved ME2 until the ending and my fleshy emotion brain thinks less fondly of it as a result despite being an absolutely engrossing and amazing experience up until then. At this point I have to remind myself of both when I'm in one point of time or another and it's been a useful exercise over the years.

Most of the times where I've switched my opinion, I never felt like I betrayed my original feelings because they probably were contrary due to very specific reasons. Sonic Adventure was fun for a hot minute because that's when I was still putting up with a lot of shitty games as a kid and I didn't really care nearly as much as I do now. After a while my habits and taste caught up with each other and that more or less went away fast. Nowadays it's mostly coming around to this feeling I couldn't quite pin which once put in the right mental category makes sense of how the game really was in retrospect. It's maybe coming up with arbitrary things like "this game is between 3 and 4 stars" but it works for me.

As for everyone else, it's hard to generalize considering that the residual effect of the discourse can fluctuate and is so vulnerable to building upon itself incredibly fast and coming to a given release with so many assumptions. Once all that is done, that's not necessarily to mean that the collective impression of a game in retrospect is law. Even that stuff can go up and down, where people see some element of a collective dismissal and years later spearhead an effort to defend it aka it was always that good. Since it's all so negotiated over time with some weighing trends, it's always best to judge that to the best of your ability for yourself.