Things you REALLY want to like/love, but you can't accept it

I'm certain a lot of people know what I'm talking about right away, but I'll elaborate. Is there something that you've watched/played lately, whether it's a movie, video game, book, TV show, or anything else, that you wish could have been good but in reality you know it's bad?

I'll go ahead and list mine (and to be honest I'm probably going to lose a lot of credibility on these topics but whatever)

The Big Bang Theory - I only see nerds on television as token characters in most sitcoms or dramas, like Steve Urkel in Family Matters, but I never really saw a show that encompassed the truth behind being a nerd and being funny. I then saw previews for this show, and I thought it could turn out alright. If Chuck Lorre and his band of co-writers do their research and manage to avoid the schlock we've been used to seeing up until now, it could be funny. But dammit, I was wrong.

Instead, I get a show about a Playa disguised as a nerd with glasses, a genius jerk (who happens to be the funniest character, according to everyone who watches the show), a jewish momma's boy who often undermines himself and the token Indian. Oh, and some hot chick. Of course. Every sitcom has to have a hot chick.

A couple of moments of the Big Bang Theory are somewhat funny, but most of it repeats the same pattern: "Sheldon undermines the rest of the cast, says something scientific which confuses Penny and someone makes a joke about a colonoscopy." Sure, other things can go on in the show, but most if it is boring clutter and the nerd stereotypes presented aren't humorous. For people who don't play video games that enjoy the "OH MY GOODNESS HE'S PLAYING A NES HAHAHAHA" humor, it's right up their alley, but it bores the hell out of me, and evidently my parents always drag me downstairs to watch it. Hell, someone even took out the laugh track on one of the scenes and, as it turns out, none of the dialogue is that funny. Way to dash my hopes, Chuck Lorre.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts - I loved the first two Banjo games with all of my heart, and to be honest, the third one isn't even that bad, but I can't call it a Banjo game, no matter how hard I try. The vehicle creation is really detailed and fun, but I can't imagine Banjo driving around in a vehicle when he didn't even spend any time in vehicles in the first game, and very little in the second. If Rare called this game Bumper: Nuts and Bolts (after the badger from Diddy Kong Racing), I would have liked it a lot more, but it wasn't at all what I thought of when I thought of Banjo-Kazooie.

Saints Row The Third - Here I go again, dumping my gaming credibility out the window.

Anyways, Saints Row had plenty of wacky and hilarious fun to go around, and the sequel has even more stuff to do. The third sequel was pretty great, but in my humble opinion, didn't capture the same essence that I got when I picked up Saints Row 2. You start the game gunning down guards in a bank robbery, but now that you're famous, even some of the guards ask for your autograph. You eventually get dumped into prison, where you meet the Syndicate, a gang of villains who demand tribute from the Saints. Of course, the Saints tell them to fuck off, only to be captured and held hostage high above Steelport, the game's new location. Sadly, while you're completing the intense mission, Johnny Gat gets killed offscreen, and you have to skydive into Steelport.

But why am I so distasteful towards this game? It seems to have started off pretty well. Well, for one, the story is incredibly short compared to the first two. (that might have something to do with how Respect now levels your character up instead of unlocking missions) In the first two games, it took me about 16 hours of playtime to finish the story, and I didn't even complete the game one hundred percent. As you can probably tell, I fully completed all of Saints Row The Third's missions in about six hours less of playtime.

I feel like THQ tried a little too hard when trying to make Saints Row The Third a wacky and engrossing game. It's kind of like Portal 2 to me; it's a game I don't play as much of, but enjoy more of it than most games on the market. It might also have something to do with the fact that I really didn't want to buy a DLC pack, but in any case, I don't think Saints Row The Third lived up to the hype of its predecessors.

I'm certain a lot of people know what I'm talking about right away, but I'll elaborate. Is there something that you've watched/played lately, whether it's a movie, video game, book, TV show, or anything else, that you wish could have been good but in reality you know it's bad?

I'll go ahead and list mine (and to be honest I'm probably going to lose a lot of credibility on these topics but whatever)

The Big Bang Theory - I only see nerds on television as token characters in most sitcoms or dramas, like Steve Urkel in Family Matters, but I never really saw a show that encompassed the truth behind being a nerd and being funny. I then saw previews for this show, and I thought it could turn out alright. If Chuck Lorre and his band of co-writers do their research and manage to avoid the schlock we've been used to seeing up until now, it could be funny. But dammit, I was wrong.

Instead, I get a show about a Playa disguised as a nerd with glasses, a genius jerk (who happens to be the funniest character, according to everyone who watches the show), a jewish momma's boy who often undermines himself and the token Indian. Oh, and some hot chick. Of course. Every sitcom has to have a hot chick.

A couple of moments of the Big Bang Theory are somewhat funny, but most of it repeats the same pattern: "Sheldon undermines the rest of the cast, says something scientific which confuses Penny and someone makes a joke about a colonoscopy." Sure, other things can go on in the show, but most if it is boring clutter and the nerd stereotypes presented aren't humorous. For people who don't play video games that enjoy the "OH MY GOODNESS HE'S PLAYING A NES HAHAHAHA" humor, it's right up their alley, but it bores the hell out of me, and evidently my parents always drag me downstairs to watch it. Hell, someone even took out the laugh track on one of the scenes and, as it turns out, none of the dialogue is that funny. Way to dash my hopes, Chuck Lorre.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts - I loved the first two Banjo games with all of my heart, and to be honest, the third one isn't even that bad, but I can't call it a Banjo game, no matter how hard I try. The vehicle creation is really detailed and fun, but I can't imagine Banjo driving around in a vehicle when he didn't even spend any time in vehicles in the first game, and very little in the second. If Rare called this game Bumper: Nuts and Bolts (after the badger from Diddy Kong Racing), I would have liked it a lot more, but it wasn't at all what I thought of when I thought of Banjo-Kazooie.

Saints Row The Third - Here I go again, dumping my gaming credibility out the window.

Anyways, Saints Row had plenty of wacky and hilarious fun to go around, and the sequel has even more stuff to do. The third sequel was pretty great, but in my humble opinion, didn't capture the same essence that I got when I picked up Saints Row 2. You start the game gunning down guards in a bank robbery, but now that you're famous, even some of the guards ask for your autograph. You eventually get dumped into prison, where you meet the Syndicate, a gang of villains who demand tribute from the Saints. Of course, the Saints tell them to fuck off, only to be captured and held hostage high above Steelport, the game's new location. Sadly, while you're completing the intense mission, Johnny Gat gets killed offscreen, and you have to skydive into Steelport.

But why am I so distasteful towards this game? It seems to have started off pretty well. Well, for one, the story is incredibly short compared to the first two. (that might have something to do with how Respect now levels your character up instead of unlocking missions) In the first two games, it took me about 16 hours of playtime to finish the story, and I didn't even complete the game one hundred percent. As you can probably tell, I fully completed all of Saints Row The Third's missions in about six hours less of playtime.

I feel like THQ tried a little too hard when trying to make Saints Row The Third a wacky and engrossing game. It's kind of like Portal 2 to me; it's a game I don't play as much of, but enjoy more of it than most games on the market. It might also have something to do with the fact that I really didn't want to buy a DLC pack, but in any case, I don't think Saints Row The Third lived up to the hype of its predecessors.

I fucking hate Big Bang Theory, it's so terrible.

A third vote for Big Bang Theory.

There's almost too much to mention, so I'm just going to say: Everything that has a great concept but fails to execute on it!

Saints Row The Third's issue is that its wackiness hits a very high peak, very early on, and the game never, ever gets any higher than that peak. There are parts of it that I felt were mundane when in most any other game they would have been high points. It doesn't help that none of the weapons were really fun to use and some of the game's supposedly wackier moments, like the one where you're drugged and naked and struggling to shoot your way through a building, really aren't fun. I was particularly let down by the fucking horrible virtual reality level, which definitely should have been the game's high point. Now, whenever I put the game into my Xbox to try and get back into it, I just sigh after five minutes and take it out. It's disappointingly lame instead of raucously fun.

Other things I want to like that I don't? I can't seem to get into Fallout New Vegas either. I didn't spend even forty hours in FO3 yet, but I've had plenty of fun there. I can't get into New Vegas at all for some reason.

For something that isn't video games, Ergo Proxy. A dystopian cyberpunk city surrounded by a post-apocalyptic wasteland? Cool! But after the ninth or tenth episode, the show completely runs out of great ideas and tries to ride the rest of the episodes out on weird, abstract, and extremely slow-paced philosophical ideas with characters who deliver monologues like I wake up in the morning - slowly and groggy. It says something about your show when the only character I can care about is a little girl robot who's surrounded by in an incompetent amnesiac god and a complete self-centered bitch.

If anything, not liking Big Bang Theory heightens your credibility in all fields of everything. That show is abysmal.

For me though, it's Assassin's Creed. I really like everything about that franchise in theory, but every time I've tried to play the single player I found myself really bored.

Toddlers and tiaras, my girlfriend loves that show but if I watch it more than 5 minutes I'm afraid that the cops will bash my door open and cuff me.

@believer258: Funny that, I have the exact opposite problem. I can't seem to finish Fallout 3. (it's made even harder by me letting my friend borrow it and not asking for it back for a long time)

First and third person shooters.  
 
It kind of sucks that more than half the games made every year is not fun for me on a fundamental level.

@SmilingPig said:

Toddlers and tiaras, my girlfriend loves that show but if I watch it more than 5 minutes I'm afraid that the cops will bash my door open and cuff me.

That looks, er, worrisome, to say the least, and for several different reasons.

@MisterBananaFoam

Big Bang Theory:

I agree, My dad loves it and he works for NASA as clean room technician. So i know not all "nerds" feel this way. But I only saw a part where the super nerdy guy was Emulating Super Mario on his lap top because some one was having sex in his apartment or something. It wasn't really funny, but it was kinda cool that they knew what an emulator was.

Banjo Kazooie:

I dont under stand this part, You would have liked it more if they named it something else? Why was the name of the product so important?

Saints Row the Third:

Personally I liked SRtT, I think it opened too strong for its own good. And I think it needed more stuff to do around town. But I hated SR2, I quit half way through because i didn't want to do another poop throwing thing. I'm glad they took it out.

One's credibility hinges on liking a sitcom? Next we'll be saying you're not a gamer unless you read reviews and watch Spike VGA's.

Toddlers and tiaras, my girlfriend loves that show but if I watch it more than 5 minutes I'm afraid that the cops will bash my door open and cuff me.

I don't think anyone on this website will knock your credibility for not liking Big Bang Theory.

Not liking Nuts and Bolts and Saints Row the Third, however... GTFO! Just leave your shit and go! Now!

I'm kidding of course. Different strokes, and what not...

I want to like Devil May Cry. That first game just seemed sooo cool. To bad I don't like actually playing it. That's all I can think of at this moment.

Fez was a game that I really wanted to get into but I was too stupid and/or lazy to get a lot of out of it.

witcher 2

I dunno. The first Shin Megami Tensei, I guess? I love some raw-ass RPGness, but just trying to get around was pretty off putting.

Demon's Souls/Dark Souls. I just couldn't get past the initial hump. I think I was just about too, but then I didn't play it for a long time, and when I went back to it I was constantly angry at it.

All Mario games. I tried really hard to like Mario Galaxy, but I found it boring. Most Nintendo games actually, but this may be because I've only ever owned a Gameboy Colour, and that was just the Pokemon machine.

Bastion.

I just think the combat is goddamn terrible.edit; Okay, its allright, its just so boring after a while. I cant bring myself to finish it.

Red Vs Blue

I bloody love RoosterTeeth, I love their comedy shorts, I love Immersion, and I consume everything from achievement hunter.

Several times I have tried to catch up and once made it to the fifth season, however I only find it amusing but don't feel any reason to keep watching. I think some of the comedy is funny but the Sci-fi plots are generally just fucking ridiculous and ripped straight from crappy b-movies, especially the whole AI crap. All my friends absolutely love the show but I can't get into it. On paper I should love this show but I simply don't

Most things Joss Wheadon has done other than Firefly

This should probably be shortened to just Buffy, Angel and Dollhouse as I haven't seen the Avengers or Dr Horrible yet and so can't comment on those. To be honest my biggest problem with these shows is that they have created what are perceived to be strong, cool female characters that I simply disagree with. I don't consider myself to be sexist and I think he got Kaylee and Zoe perfect in Firefly but in his other shows he has created this character archetype which is one of my most hated things in media. I have no idea what to call it but it's "Baddass" women who look really fucking awkward doing anything! Buffy is a prime example of this as she looks ridiculous when fighting compared to Firefly's Zoe who simply gets the job done. No fucking around with flips or spinning roundhouses, she'll shoot you in the face before you can move an inch. He even put one of these shit characters in Firefly with River but there luckily wasn't much focus on her in the first season.

Unfortunatly it's also ruined other media products for me because I see this type of character everywhere such as in Sanctuary. I'm most likely on my own with this but it's got to the point that if I see a character like this 50% of the time I instantly stop watching.

Anyway I know I'm in the minority with this but hey ho we're all different for a reason.

Tron Legacy.

I guess I'd have to go with Bastion. I love the art, the overall style, the sound, and the narration... but i don't enjoy actually playing the game at all. I find the leveling system to be largely unsatisfying, and the action to be simultaneously dull and frustrating. This game has received enormous praise from most critics, but i just can't get into it, even after 4 separate attempts.

The Avengers. Its just a typical summer action film and nothing more. It was entertaining but decent at best.

Yeah I said it. COME AT ME!

Mass Effect 2. I really expected to like it because I love Dragon Age Origins, and it got game of the year after all. I just couldn't get behind Shepard because he was too boring to get invested with, and too realized to project myself onto him. The whole Renegade/Paragon system only managed to make me feel locked into my choices rather than making me feel more free. The rpg mechanics were so shallow they might as well have not been in the game, and the shooting mechanics were sub B-grade action game. Maybe I would enjoy it more if I played the 1st one but I couldn't stand that ones gameplay.

@SmilingPig said:

Toddlers and tiaras, my girlfriend loves that show but if I watch it more than 5 minutes I'm afraid that the cops will bash my door open and cuff me.

Dump her...it's not gonna work out, I'm sorry.

I'd like to enjoy board games or those card games like magic the gathering. As for gaming, deep games like 4X space sims (or even EVE) are something I'd like to get into but I just can't. Anything that requires any serious time investment is a no go for me. Not because I don't want to, but because I have other things taking up my time.

My favorite movie in the entire world is The Dark Knight. I have zero care for Inception.

@Hunter5024 said:

Mass Effect 2. I really expected to like it because I love Dragon Age Origins, and it got game of the year after all. I just couldn't get behind Shepard because he was too boring to get invested with, and too realized to project myself onto him. The whole Renegade/Paragon system only managed to make me feel locked into my choices rather than making me feel more free. The rpg mechanics were so shallow they might as well have not been in the game, and the shooting mechanics were sub B-grade action game. Maybe I would enjoy it more if I played the 1st one but I couldn't stand that ones gameplay.

...nope, that pretty much sums up Mass Effect. I like the games, but I can't fathom why anyone would think of them as "the greatest games of this generation", much less of all time. There's just too many issues to point out.

Techno/Dubstep/Electro

Mainstream music

King Of Thrones

@AhmadMetallic said:

witcher 2

same here, I was really excited to play it when it came to consoles, but man.....that game....

Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. I really like the design philosophy behind those games, but hate the way they control.

@believer258 said:

...nope, that pretty much sums up Mass Effect. I like the games, but I can't fathom why anyone would think of them as "the greatest games of this generation", much less of all time. There's just too many issues to point out.

I suppose I should just kill my slim hope of Mass Effect 3 redeeming my opinion? I've been waiting for the dlc to play that game.

@tallTuck94 said:

This should probably be shortened to just Buffy, Angel and Dollhouse as I haven't seen the Avengers or Dr Horrible yet and so can't comment on those. To be honest my biggest problem with these shows is that they have created what are perceived to be strong, cool female characters that I simply disagree with. I don't consider myself to be sexist and I think he got Kaylee and Zoe perfect in Firefly but in his other shows he has created this character archetype which is one of my most hated things in media. I have no idea what to call it but it's "Baddass" women who look really fucking awkward doing anything! Buffy is a prime example of this as she looks ridiculous when fighting compared to Firefly's Zoe who simply gets the job done. No fucking around with flips or spinning roundhouses, she'll shoot you in the face before you can move an inch. He even put one of these shit characters in Firefly with River but there luckily wasn't much focus on her in the first season.

Yup.

"I'm A Strong Female Character!" *Does awkward high kick in tight leather pants/skimpy tank top*. And then he gets praised for writing strong female characters.

@believer258 said:

@Hunter5024 said:

Mass Effect 2. I really expected to like it because I love Dragon Age Origins, and it got game of the year after all. I just couldn't get behind Shepard because he was too boring to get invested with, and too realized to project myself onto him. The whole Renegade/Paragon system only managed to make me feel locked into my choices rather than making me feel more free. The rpg mechanics were so shallow they might as well have not been in the game, and the shooting mechanics were sub B-grade action game. Maybe I would enjoy it more if I played the 1st one but I couldn't stand that ones gameplay.

...nope, that pretty much sums up Mass Effect. I like the games, but I can't fathom why anyone would think of them as "the greatest games of this generation", much less of all time. There's just too many issues to point out.

I enjoy Mass Effect, but I don't think you can really describe those games as objectively 'good'. Awkward gameplay is fine when you're a story-driven RPG, but when your story is kind of shit, you don't really have any excuses anymore. However, Mass Effect is basically the only game in town in regards to what it's trying to be. It's the kind of game that interests me, which is why I play them, but it's also the reason it gets as much hype as it does. Nobody has anything better to compare it to.

@Hunter5024 said:

@believer258 said:

...nope, that pretty much sums up Mass Effect. I like the games, but I can't fathom why anyone would think of them as "the greatest games of this generation", much less of all time. There's just too many issues to point out.

I suppose I should just kill my slim hope of Mass Effect 3 redeeming my opinion? I've been waiting for the dlc to play that game.

As far as gameplay goes? It's better, but not by a huge amount. In short, if you didn't like ME2 then chances are very good that the others won't blow your skirt up either.

@MarkWahlberg said:

@tallTuck94 said:

This should probably be shortened to just Buffy, Angel and Dollhouse as I haven't seen the Avengers or Dr Horrible yet and so can't comment on those. To be honest my biggest problem with these shows is that they have created what are perceived to be strong, cool female characters that I simply disagree with. I don't consider myself to be sexist and I think he got Kaylee and Zoe perfect in Firefly but in his other shows he has created this character archetype which is one of my most hated things in media. I have no idea what to call it but it's "Baddass" women who look really fucking awkward doing anything! Buffy is a prime example of this as she looks ridiculous when fighting compared to Firefly's Zoe who simply gets the job done. No fucking around with flips or spinning roundhouses, she'll shoot you in the face before you can move an inch. He even put one of these shit characters in Firefly with River but there luckily wasn't much focus on her in the first season.

Yup.

"I'm A Strong Female Character!" *Does awkward high kick in tight leather pants/skimpy tank top*. And then he gets praised for writing strong female characters.

@believer258 said:

@Hunter5024 said:

Mass Effect 2. I really expected to like it because I love Dragon Age Origins, and it got game of the year after all. I just couldn't get behind Shepard because he was too boring to get invested with, and too realized to project myself onto him. The whole Renegade/Paragon system only managed to make me feel locked into my choices rather than making me feel more free. The rpg mechanics were so shallow they might as well have not been in the game, and the shooting mechanics were sub B-grade action game. Maybe I would enjoy it more if I played the 1st one but I couldn't stand that ones gameplay.

...nope, that pretty much sums up Mass Effect. I like the games, but I can't fathom why anyone would think of them as "the greatest games of this generation", much less of all time. There's just too many issues to point out.

I enjoy Mass Effect, but I don't think you can really describe those games as objectively 'good'. Awkward gameplay is fine when you're a story-driven RPG, but when your story is kind of shit, you don't really have any excuses anymore. However, Mass Effect is basically the only game in town in regards to what it's trying to be. It's the kind of game that interests me, which is why I play them, but it's also the reason it gets as much hype as it does. Nobody has anything better to compare it to.

All of this negative talk toward Mass Effect has me feeling bad now. I can't really pinpoint why I liked it either, other than the fact that there aren't many other third person shooters like it. If only someone would combine the storytelling prowess of Valve with the levels of Gears of War 2 and the color of Halo...

Dragon Age II for obvious reasons. Also, Starcraft II, only because I finally admitted that I'll never be any good at the multiplayer.

Masocore

I might catch some flak for this, but I abhor Avatar (the James Cameron movie, not the TV series). I think that film is a pile of dogshit covered with blue spray paint. As far as I'm concerned, the only reason it got any attention whatsoever was because it had nice visuals. Literally everything else about that movie, from the acting to the writing to the world building, was hackneyed, trite and terrible. Plus, the vehicle designs were the most boringly generic gunmetal-grey military designs this side of Halo.

@BaneFireLord said:

I might catch some flak for this, but I abhor Avatar (the James Cameron movie, not the TV series). I think that film is a pile of dogshit covered with blue spray paint. As far as I'm concerned, the only reason it got any attention whatsoever was because it had nice visuals. Literally everything else about that movie, from the acting to the writing to the world building, was hackneyed, trite and terrible. Plus, the vehicle designs were the most boringly generic gunmetal-grey military designs this side of Halo.

/highfive

Dances With Smurfs. But I can't use that since I never "wanted" to like it. Always thought it was a shit movie. Personally speaking, the possibility that I may have another human gestate inside of my body for nine months and then violently expulse it into this world ranks pretty high up there.

I really WANT to like it, but it just doesn't sound like it's that much fun... at all. Go figure.

Currently that perfectly describes "A feast for crows" for me. I adored the first three books and they just kept getting better, "A storm of swords" is probably one of my favorite books ever. But Feast is just so slow in comparison to the others mostly because it deals with the aftermath of conflict (as the title would suggest) and the build up to later conflicts. I hope its just because of the jarring change after the action packed storm of swords and once I have more time hopefully I can get into it and really enjoy it because i adore this series of books.

In terms of games I had this problem with Fallout 3 in a huge way I bought that in August 2 years ago I played it a lot for about a week and for whatever reason ended up in the anchorage DLC i stopped playing it, I just could not get into it in anyway what so ever but I really wanted to because that series always interested me and I really wanted to get into it. I came back around may next year and absolutely adored it I did everything in that game and then rolled on to New Vegas which i loved even more and now I'm playing through the original fallout. I guess I just wasn't in the right frame of mind for fallout at the time and I was really trying to rush it that first time if i remember.

That is all I can think of off the top of my head but I'm sure there is quite a few more.

Virtua Fighter. I love the characters, the arenas, the animations, the customization... But i hate fighting in that fucking game.

@BaneFireLord said:

I might catch some flak for this, but I abhor Avatar (the James Cameron movie, not the TV series). I think that film is a pile of dogshit covered with blue spray paint. As far as I'm concerned, the only reason it got any attention whatsoever was because it had nice visuals. Literally everything else about that movie, from the acting to the writing to the world building, was hackneyed, trite and terrible. Plus, the vehicle designs were the most boringly generic gunmetal-grey military designs this side of Halo.

Gotta agree. I tried really fucking hard to like it myself, but I just don't see the appeal in it. It was boring crap.

Video games

@zombiebigfoot said:

@BaneFireLord said:

I might catch some flak for this, but I abhor Avatar (the James Cameron movie, not the TV series). I think that film is a pile of dogshit covered with blue spray paint. As far as I'm concerned, the only reason it got any attention whatsoever was because it had nice visuals. Literally everything else about that movie, from the acting to the writing to the world building, was hackneyed, trite and terrible. Plus, the vehicle designs were the most boringly generic gunmetal-grey military designs this side of Halo.

Gotta agree. I tried really fucking hard to like it myself, but I just don't see the appeal in it. It was boring crap.

That movie was boring as fuck. In my opinion the only good James Cameron films are Terminator and Terminator 2.

I really want to like Skyrim. I love the Elder Scrolls games up to Oblivion, but Skyrim just couldn't click with me. I think part of that has to to with the Fallout 3 style perk/leveling system.

The N64 control

Also, Inception. I wanted to like it because it was a Nolan film.. but god damn was it bad. It was overall boring, confusing as hell, and the characters were so two-dimensional that I couldn't give a rat's ass about what happened to them.

I wish I could like MGS4, but sorry, Octocamo is fucking stupid.

The 8-4 play podcast next to the bombcast its garbage.

Bioshock, everybody says its one of the best games of all time, all I see is a boring, dated FPS.

Anybody wanna say "those Sonic_Hedgehog duplicate accounts posting threads about anime"?