Games stopping you finishing it due to too much padding?

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m16mojo2

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I was just wondering what the most egregious examples of game padding you guys have experienced, that have just flat out stopped you from wanting to finish the game.

The obvious examples (at least to me), would be most, if not all Ubisoft titles. Exceptions being, Splinter Cell: Conviction, and Hitman.

Padding can be anything from, "drive, and or walk to point A - B". To extremely meaningless tasks that don't really move the story along. I would have to argue that Bioshock: Infinite had a TON of padding in regards to the many, many shooting arenas. If I wasn't so interested in what was going to happen next, I would have stopped a long time ago. In fact, I never finished the 2nd DLC because of this very reason.

What are your experiences, and thought's on what could be improved on these issues? I realise after writing this, that I am actually targeting story heavy games somwhat. However, I would still like your guys' input.

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ghost_cat

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Just about any J-RPG.

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VierasTalo

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I have tried to complete GTA IV so many times and quit so many times due to the absurd amount of mandatory extraneous missions. I've heard a lot of people say this about Red Dead Redemption's Mexico-stuff too.

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m16mojo2

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Sadly, I never had the chance to get into J-RPG's. I did have a nes, and snes growing up but, I wasn't much of a reader. By the time I did get my first taste of an RPG(western), the PC had gotten it's claws in me, and there weren't any J-RPG's out, at least none that I found.

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JJBSterling

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Not sure if it counts but last week I thought I had beaten MGS: Peace Walker until during the credits it tells me there's a fifth chapter.

Once I look up how I need to actually go about unlocking and then completing the final chapter I decided to just watch it the "real" ending on youtube and move onto Ground Zeroes because, my god, it sounds tedious as hell.

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Oldirtybearon

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You know, Half-Life 2 is probably it.

The first time I played it back in 2004, I was blown away by all of it, but having replayed it several times since then I can't help but wonder why why why why all of those vehicle sections exist. I think, with no hyperbole, a third of Half-Life 2 is vehicle driving. It's not particularly fun, it's not particularly engaging, and the levels themselves are nowhere near open enough to provide some kind of dynamic, emergent gameplay like you would see in a Halo game. They're just kinda there.

And all of the physics stuff blows. It blew then and it blows now. I don't care how realistic it is. I should not have to create a see-saw in order to jump over a chain link fence in a videogame about shooting dudes.

Still waiting for Half-Life 3.

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SomberOwl

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The driving missions in GTA V were ridiculously long.

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cornbredx

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Any open world game. Always too much padding- since the beginning of time.

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Corevi

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1. Hitman isn't Ubisoft and never has been

2. Bravely Default, fuck that game.

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ViciousBearMauling

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I cannot finish Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

The gameplay is a simple yet tedious chore and the plot stops too often for pointless padding bullshit.

"We need to get in this door, but we have to start a windmill to open it."
"You can use my aircraft, but it needs 3 parts replaced and I know exactly where they are! You just have to get them!"
"We're almost at the crashed ship, but we need to stop and get that energy thingy!"

OH MY GOD LET IT END ALREADY

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Wampa1

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Pretty much this, some missions were 70% getting to the location 20% combat then 10% driving away, just a little faster. It's a gorgeous huge world but it felt like a chore at times.

The driving missions in GTA V were ridiculously long.

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m16mojo2

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1. Hitman isn't Ubisoft and never has been

2. Bravely Default, fuck that game.

Crap, I knew I got one of those wrong.

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The_Nubster

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Alan Wake's American Nightmare lost me the moment it looped around on the first environment. I know it isn't a very long game, but doing those same areas two more times was not at all what I wanted from that game.

Remember Me was also a struggle to finish. The introduction of enemies who drained your health every time you hit them almost made me stop playing. The combat had become so easy that they had to bring in enemies who were designed to make you swap out your power moves for weaker moves and it really made combat slow to a crawl.

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m16mojo2

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#14  Edited By m16mojo2
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49th

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Okami, that game ended about 3 times and then I just gave up.

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Oscar__Explosion

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I really liked Bravely Default despite it having the most padding I've ever experience in a game ever (honestly the entire second half save for the ending section is the definition of repetition) but I would not blame anyone for putting in a vote for it.

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LiquidSaiyan3

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#17  Edited By LiquidSaiyan3

@49th said:

Okami, that game ended about 3 times and then I just gave up.

This. The completely illogical pacing killed it for me.

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frymillstrum

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#18  Edited By frymillstrum

GTA Vice City stands out as a particularly bad example of this, once you opened up the second island the game constantly had you going from the top of the map pretty much all the way to the bottom for every mission. I'd say GTA 4 was worse but I happen to think that that's not a very good game so technically it's all padding. MGS1 definitely has blatant padding including going back over areas to get the sniper rifle and going back through TWO long uneventful elevator rides to get to the lava area for the PAL Card.

PID dragged on too long for me too, to the point that I didn't bother finishing it.

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seveword

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Most RPGs, honestly. Japanese or otherwise, the minute by minute progression means that most of the game is a slog for the progression from being a wuss to being a god.

Specifically, I put 55 hours into Bravely Default, got super-duper bored, looked up a guide, and mailed it back to Gamefly. Suggested alternate title for the game: Groundhog Day: That Fairy's an Asshole

Also, I haven't played GTA V because IV was fucking boring as hell and V doesn't look like it eased the tedium one bit.

Come to think of it, most games are padded all to hell because people don't understand that one good system or mechanic is not always good no matter how many times you do it. I see it a lot in music too, with 50 or 60 minute albums that could benefit from some trimming down to a solid 30 to 40. Quantity does not beat quality, any day of the week.

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natetodamax

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I never finished Persona 3 because the last month of the game was a huge grind fest. It's part of why I haven't chosen to replay the game, even though I liked it quite a bit.

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PandaBear

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You know, Half-Life 2 is probably it.

The first time I played it back in 2004, I was blown away by all of it, but having replayed it several times since then I can't help but wonder why why why why all of those vehicle sections exist. I think, with no hyperbole, a third of Half-Life 2 is vehicle driving. It's not particularly fun, it's not particularly engaging, and the levels themselves are nowhere near open enough to provide some kind of dynamic, emergent gameplay like you would see in a Halo game. They're just kinda there.

And all of the physics stuff blows. It blew then and it blows now. I don't care how realistic it is. I should not have to create a see-saw in order to jump over a chain link fence in a videogame about shooting dudes.

Still waiting for Half-Life 3.

I think part of the issue is the game hasn't aged well in some areas. The physics puzzles were mind-blowing to me at the time (I didn't even care about the total lack of friction). The open vehicle areas looked amazing and always felt dangerous... but I do see your point.

That game is greater than the sum of it's parts and areas like the prison with the ants and Nova Prospekt more than make up for it... oh and those final moments with the gravity gun... but yeah, that game needed someone to come in halve the vehicles sections... at least the hovercraft section!

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I struggled with Final Fantasy XIII, but then again who didn't? Dead Space 2's last hour where it became a straight up action game was fucking awful (great game overall).

BUT my the worst case of filler in my mind is Twilight Princess. I wanted to love that game ... I got my Wii on day one and knew this game would be awesome. Then, 40 hours in, I was told to go on a huge fetch quest and by that point I was fucking out. The world was ugly, I can't think of a memorable area, the characters were mostly dull (save for that bird near the lake and Midna was ok), overworld had zero personality.... I dunno that whole game felt like filler to me. After YEARS of not playing I went back before the release of Skyward Sword and tried again, but four hours later I was out. I love nearly all the Zelda games, but fuck Twilight Princess feels like the most by-the-numbers action-adventure game I have ever played. Uninspired filler from start to end (well where I gave up).

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rollingzeppelin

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Alan Wake's American Nightmare lost me the moment it looped around on the first environment. I know it isn't a very long game, but doing those same areas two more times was not at all what I wanted from that game.

Yeah, I stopped playing that like 15 mins into it. It seemed like they stripped out almost all of the charm from the game, plus I was tired using the same 4 weapons, I thought the DLC would have added something new and was disappointed.

Assassins Creed 4 started dragging near the end. After getting all the ship upgrades the game just seemed kinda pointless. Also, it ended on such a weak note that it left a bitter taste in my mouth.

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yakov456

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#23  Edited By yakov456

The first Bioshock really stood out in my mind for this. It just felt like it would never end plus being in that confined environment. Just wore me down to the point of saying screw this.

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BabyChooChoo

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Catherine. I consider the puzzles to be the filler in that game. They were actually really fun at first...then they stopped being fun. Having to do more and more each night wasn't helping matters. I eventually threw in the towel and opted to watch the story play out on Youtube.

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ShadyPingu

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#25  Edited By ShadyPingu

Plenty of games I don't finish, but the most recent example of padding putting me off a game is Bravely Default. Lovely game marred by an abysmal home stretch.

@49th said:

Okami, that game ended about 3 times and then I just gave up.

God yes. That game's ending was gated behind a fucking boss rush. I could not believe that they wanted me to beat that nine-tailed fox boss for a third time.
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Giantstalker

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Divinity: Original Sin.

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Ozzie

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Wind Waker and Skyward Sword. Wind Waker I loved every minute and then hit that stupid triforce shard part where I had to grind money and pay to find the stuff, just kept replaying the game up to that point.

Skyward Sword I didn't really love, then I got to the part where you had to swim around and find notes or something and there were like 40 of them. So I said fuck that.

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Tabloidfootprints

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When I looked on the map in Far Cry 3 and saw the next cluster of radio towers I would need to climb and outposts I would need to fight so I could get to the next boring story point I decided it probably wasn't worth it.

Besides, I got to the mission where Skrillex plays, so I'm pretty sure I saw the best part of that game.

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Patman99

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I felt like the new South Park game had a lot of padding. I mean, it was really well written but I got really bogged down in some of the side stuff that I slowly lost interest with the main story. It's still a fun game, though.

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impartialgecko

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Divinity: Original Sin.

Kind of this. The pacing plus the pedantic menus and the time it takes to get to where you want to go killed that game for me.

I would like to submit: The Legend of Zelda: The Twighlight Princess and Skyward Sword. Also Dead Rising 1/2 because of having to restart those bloody games multiple times to have any chance of beating them.

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Brendan

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I actually got very tired of Zelda: Skyward Sword by the end. I don't know if you could say that the game was "padded" but I felt done with it before the end.

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deactivated-60dda8699e35a

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@natetodamax said:

I never finished Persona 3 because the last month of the game was a huge grind fest. It's part of why I haven't chosen to replay the game, even though I liked it quite a bit.

The last two months in Persona 3 are definitely fucking boring as hell.

I'd also like to nominate Tales of Graces F, despite the fact that I beat the game. There's a point late into the game where you find a space ship (don't ask), and I swear to God, everything after that just feels like a boring ass grind. Seriously, you learn about the final boss, and then the story just STOPS so it can have two long and boring final dungeons.

I know this will be an unpopular choice, but Radiant Historia I also lost interest in due to how much padding the game has. I never beat it, but I keep meaning to get back to it, but god damn! As good as the battle system in the game is, the amount of fights just gets TEDIOUS after a while.

Never got around to beating Phantasy Star Online 1&2 for Gamecube either. Again, I was really digging the game, but the quests make you go through the same levels over and over and over... Ugh.

Edit: So yeah, just a bunch of JRPGs really.

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VeggiesBro

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Open world games such as Watch Dogs, or GTA suffer from padding in my opinion. I really struggle to play through them. Same holds true to most RPG's. Though some are worse than others... Bravely Default being a prime example.

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SMTDante89

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#34  Edited By SMTDante89

I guess I have to say Okami as well. I love what I've played of that game, but after the first moment when you think the game is over, that's usually when I stop for some reason or another. Either something else comes along and steals my attention or real life stuff gets in the way. I really need to finish this game at some point because after all these years I have not spoiled the story for myself (or had someone else tell me how it ends) so I must still have enough interest to see that game through to the end myself.

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Slag

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Padding/Side Quests isn't the worst thing in the world, but when there's too much of it and especially if it's all back loaded, that's pretty grating.

I've yet to get really deep in Kingdoms of Amalur, but I've heard it suffer from it greatly.

But really Padding is only Padding if it's dull content right? (poor mission design, bland environments, lack of variety & repetitive mechanics,lack of story elements, inadequate rewards etc) )E.g. Saints Row 2 is full of pointless side missions, but I didn't mind dropping dozens of hours into them because they were mechanically a blast to play.

There certainly is a quantity component (you cna have too much of a great thing), but really I think the quality of the experience is what makes filler a chore.

never been a fan of MMORPGs much, but I felt Phantasy Star Online was the most mind numbingly dull single player game I ever played. It was just all incredibly bland environments that required grinding and near endless backtracking for really dull fetch quests. To be fair it was not optimized for a single player experience at all .Playing by myself was obviously a very bad choice it probably is tolerable with other folks.

I tried Warframe last fall, that thing seems like dull shooting grinding padding the game to me. I need a least a little story and variety with my feedback loop. Maybe I didn't give enough of a chance, but I was just bored to tears.

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edsone

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@babychoochoo: funny thing. I'd be fine with the puzzles alone. Something like pushmo/crashmo.

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liquiddragon

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i'm playing doki doki universe atm and I love the spirit of that game but man...mad tedious, mad padding

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ArbitraryWater

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I'd say Bravely Default, but I dragged myself through the repetitive slog that is the last 4 chapters of that game. Plot justification be damned, it's the definition of lazy padding.

Another good example (and a game I actually didn't finish) is Kingdoms of Amalur. It's a pity too, because that game has a lot of great ideas in-between all of the generic mediocre MMO-lite quest design.

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Oldirtybearon

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@lydian_sel said:

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning instantly springs to mind!

I really wanted to finish that game, but to do so meant just barrelling through the main quest, skipping all the dialogue, running past huge groups of enemies without engaging them, and ignoring damn near every side quest (of which there are maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaany).

I eventually finished it by way of 3 lengthy marathon sessions on consecutive nights. My overall playtime clocked in at just under 30 hours, I can't even fathom what that number would be if I hadn't taken the critical path. I would really like to revisit the game at some point, but I don't know when I'll have such a breadth of free time available as to give the game it's due.

my final playtime was over 85 hours.

I did not skip anything.

What I'm saying is, really, you made the right choice.

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jedicro

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Red Dead Redemption.

I know everyone loves this game, but I picked it up a few weeks ago and couldn't stand the GTA style mission structure. Meet up with someone. Watch cheesy cutscene. Ride with them across the map. Kill 10-15 dudes. Watch cheesy cutscene. Go find next story person.
Repeat.

I'm in Mexico now and I'm having a real hard time drumming up the desire to finish it.

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BeachThunder

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@random45 said:

I know this will be an unpopular choice, but Radiant Historia I also lost interest in due to how much padding the game has. I never beat it, but I keep meaning to get back to it, but god damn! As good as the battle system in the game is, the amount of fights just gets TEDIOUS after a while.

Yep, same :( I've been thinking of continuing on with a walkthrough next to me. I just can't be bothered meandering around, going through unskippable dialogue that I've already seen, frequently getting into battles, etc...

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csl316

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ACIV: Black Flag is the last one I remember. It's been a while since I was just overwhelmed but side bullshit.

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SSully

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I have tried to complete GTA IV so many times and quit so many times due to the absurd amount of mandatory extraneous missions. I've heard a lot of people say this about Red Dead Redemption's Mexico-stuff too.

Yup, big time. I never bear GTA IV, despite being close TWICE, because it just became so fucking tedious. Red Dead had plenty of padding as well, but I finished it because I thought it was better then GTA IV in every way. The gameplay was fun, the story was engaging, and there was interesting side content.

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Jeust

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Fragile Dreams with all the backtracking has lost its magic on me. I have to return to the abandoned mall one more time, after the two of them that I went through already...

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BackupPanic

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#46  Edited By BackupPanic

I tend to quit games right when I get to the end these days, Remember Me and Lost Odyssey being two prime examples, but the only game I can honestly say I quit 'cause of stuff that felt like filler materiel was Dead Space. It certainly didn't help that it completely squandered it's setting to chase after scares and thrills that had already been done to death in games either.

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ShaggE

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#47  Edited By ShaggE

Dead Space 3. I adored DS2, and eventually came around on DS1, but no matter how hard I try, I cannot stay interested in 3. For a turn towards "fast paced action", everything feels painfully slow and needlessly drawn out. The "optional missions" aren't very optional if you, like me, are in any way an item/upgrade fiend, which draws everything out even more. Even the fun of shooting Necromorphs is diminished by having them go into rage mode every single time right off the bat. So it's just pure "Good god, let this be done already" tedium.

It's a damn shame, too, as the game isn't actually "bad". In fact, numerous parts are quite good. I just wish they could have kept the pace of the second game and not completely ditched the pretense of horror. It was never an especially scary franchise, but the atmosphere was fantastic. I keep coming back, though, in hopes of one day finishing it. I simply must fight a moon firsthand.

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chumley_marchbanks

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theacidskull

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Kingdoms of Amalure: Reckoning.

The game itself tackles some great concepts and ideas but it never really fully utilizes them. IN a universe where everyones fate and destiny has been written, you, the player, have the power to change not only your fate, but the also the fate of thous around you.And yet, So far as I've seen, THE GAME HAS zero consequences. Why is that? When I'm playing an RPG, one of the main attractions for me is the lore and how the universe you are inhabiting is designed around it. Literally nothing urged me to learn more about the lore. Some of the names the characters were blurting out made no sense whatsoever because the game doesn't bother and provide you with the information necessary to understand what the hell these side characters are telling you.

The gameplay was cool, but it's not enough to keep you interested. Took me 2 years to finally reach the end of the game.

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WightnNerdy

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I will say Kingdoms of Amalur, too. I think that game was way too long and had way too many side quests.