What are the most divisive games of all time?

If you want a spectrum where people are absolutely seperated on with never bing a middle ground... Kingdom Hearts series. THAT series is the epitome of divisive. If you want to understand the divisiveness without being swayed by not knowing the story, start with the first game. It still holds up to the people that love it, plus there is the HD Final Mix version for PS3.

@tobbrobb: Lol, those are some good picks! I'd totally be down for hearing how you feel about them, as long as it you know, doesn't violate forum rules and all that, hehe. A lot of these games, I don't know why they're divisive.

I never liked sailing around the ocean, I thought it took too long, didn't like having to stop to change wind directions and only ever found it either boring or, worse, annoying. I was disappointed when the third pearl was simply handed over to you and didn't have a dungeon (it's understandable that this issue couldn't be addressed in the HD release). I didn't like the stealth in the Forsaken Fortress (this seems to be easier in HD). I loathed the Triforce piece fetch-quest, partly due to my dislike of sailing around the world and also because it was an obvious lengthening of a game that at the time felt disappointingly short of content. I didn't hate Wind Waker, mostly because when I was actually in the dungeons I still loved the typical Zelda design and gameplay but I did consider it a disappointment. Love Wind Waker HD and all of its smart changes.

Also, if you want a divisive FF game, I'd say X is a great one. XII was kind of divided but I feel like it wasn't evenly split, receiving decidedly more hate than love.

Some divisive games:

• Deadly Premonition: the king of divisiveness, scored between 100% and 20% on metacritic, where fans either loved the game as a parody or hated it as the gameplay isn't fun;
• Nier;
• Alpha Protocol;
• Parasite Eve 2;
• Silent Hill 4;
• Silent Hill Homecoming;
• Silent Hill Downpour;
• Resident Evil 5;
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed;
• Alan Wake;
• Heavy Rain;
• Starcraft 2;
• Diablo 3.

Lightning Returns is pretty divisive and in an interesting way: people either seem to REALLY like it (like myself) or REALLY hate it. Haven't seen anyone say, "Eh, it's okay."

As for some older PC games, I remember Quake 2 and Warcraft 3 being kind of divisive. Both were sequels to games that had, arguably, reached cult status so the expectations were tense. They made some huge changes to the beloved formulas and people either hated it or embraced it. Quake 2 being a more slow single-player focused sci-fi experience with a different feel than the first one, and Warcraft 3 with the hero units etc.

I disliked them both at start but grew to like Warcraft 3. I still hate Quake 2 but I know people who still play through it every now and then.

Bioforge.

• I really liked Ratchet: Deadlocked (the NA title) when it came out but I tried playing it again 2 years ago and I really didn't.
• Mafia 2 is pretty great but has no reason to be open world and that's where most of the scorn comes from.
• I love Prince of Persia 08. I understand where people come from with the complaints but it's just such a stunning game aesthetically that I can overlook those faults.
• That's the first time I've ever heard anyone say that Arkham City is a bad game.
• Splinter Cell Conviction was fantastic. It's not as deep mechanically as the previous games in the series but it makes up for it by being much more fun to play and making it easier to do exactly what you want.
• Alan Wake is one of my favourite games of the generation and I absolutely adore it.

@wemibelec90 Well let me be the first to say, it's okay. It's far better than the previous 13 games but it's still not good.

Monopoly.

I've known few divisive games that can tear apart families and friends quite like Monopoly.

@corevi: Yeah in hindsight, Batman probably wasn't very divisive online. I just happen to be in and know the minority that dislikes it. Could probably scratch that off the list.

I'd argue that Conviction is far from fantastic, but yeah I dunno it was ok. I don't hate it. It just doesn't feel like Splinter Cell.

I agree with you as far as the rest goes, except that Alan Wake is more under "like" rather than "adore".

I'm probably in the minority here but i'd say GTA4. I hate GTA4 with the fiery passion for a thousand suns, and the only other people I know who don't completely love it, are the same as me. Or maybe I only just notice the ones who hate it too because that's what i'm looking for - meh

Here are a few:

• Fallout 3 and/or Fallout New Vegas: For being fps versions of a previously isometric RPG. Additionally, people often fervently support one but decry the other (but which one they'll defend varies from person to person).
• Resident Evil 4: For being an action game in what was previously a survival-horror series
• Elder Scrolls Oblivion and/or Skyrim
• Braid: Brilliant/pretentious platformer depending on who you ask.
• Deus Ex (the original): Sometimes regarded as one of the greatest games ever, but there is a notoriously scathing review by Tom Chick.

As others have said, Heavy Rain definitely earns a place here too.

Mass Effect 1 comes to mind. A lot of people believe it is the best in the series while a lot of other people hate many elements of game including the shooting, the Mako, the inventory system and the cookie cutter settlements. "Skip the first one and start with ME2," they say. I prefer ME1 myself because the role-playing is much stronger. It's a deeply flawed game, but the best parts elevate it above the others.

I seem to recall some very divided opinions about Telltales' The Walking Dead when it came out in 2012. Lots of people thought it was Game of the Year and slightly less seemed to despise it. I don't remember a great deal of lukewarm opinions somewhere in between.

Final Fantasy... which one? All of them.

Each time a new game is released, it is either a return to form for SquareEnix, or the final nail in the coffin that proves they are gone for good.

Actually, I'd say Chrono Cross is an outstanding game, but a bad sequel to Chrono Trigger. Not being able to get past the fact that it isn't Chrono Trigger 2 is one of the main reasons so many people dislike it.

Probably the only negative take on it I've heard so divisive is a big stretch. All time classic game.

At some point it seems that basically every game is divisive.

It was Ratchet Deadlocked. How is RAGE broken? Boring, but it's not broken. I liked RAGE enough to finish it twice and get halfway through it a third time on PC.

Most of what I could say has already been said. Honestly, the only reasons for being divisive that have ever bugged me were the ones over Bioshock Infinite. It seemed like it got a whole lot of hate for reasons that often had solid counterpoints in the game itself. And some just expected it to be a mind-blowing example of artistic excellence when it was really just the gaming equivalent of a smart Hollywood blockbuster. That's kinda what the original Bioshock was as well, to be honest.

Mario Party

That's a really good shout. I love Far Cry 2, despite it's flaws, and in some ways prefer the more disparate approach to Far Cry 3. But there are days where that viewpoint feels like a very lonely place to be...

@believer258: I personally disliked Infinite for the gameplay, I just didn't find it engagin at all. Bulletspongy enemies with dull vigors and slow movement. Though I accept that is a taste thing rather than a quality thing.

Rage was totally broken, whether you actually had issues or not is a different matter. I had almost zero issues with New Vegas, but that doesn't make it less broken. Rage was almost unplayable for me from a technical standpoint.

I think the Souls games are pretty Marmite.

I second FF. Some people think they are the most amazing games whilst others can't get through the first two hours of them. Its excessive to play them all and some of the visuals are horrid by today's standards and I can't imagine a non-nostalgic player going through them. I'd say you should play FF9, the graphics are still okay and its one of the four classic ones(6,7,8,9)

I'd say Destiny but Bungie still hasn't finished it.

I laughed too hard at both of these posts. Well played, sirs.

Star Wars: Force Unleashed? I thought that game was good fun and I heard a lot of positivity about it when the game came out, but then it seems that people's opinions about it dipped overtime. I'm not even gonna touch the sequel. No divisiveness there...

People seem to get pretty pissed off about Gone Home.

@gamefreak9 said:

I guess the long playtime is an issue with every RPG. If people don't have the time to invest into them, they are better served with other genres.

But my point was more about every single Final Fantasy title being very divisive (not the entire franchise). Among fans, every game (from 6 on...) are either the best (and last good) game in the franchise or the point when it became clear the series has jumped the shark. There is a case to be made about every one of them being good games, but the community will never decide which one is...

Earth Defense Force 2025 is in my top 5 games this year

Gone Home and Deadly Premonition are the only ones I've seen in this thread. Some games are underrated and turn out to be good, that's not divisive. Some games were really great and some people only thought they were good, that is also not divisive.

Demon's Souls has become divisive post release since people keep inventing new ways to make it better in some dreamland; it was just a good game with some problems when it came out; but if it wasn't divisive on release I don't really buy it.

Destiny is sort of divisive I suppose, just depends on how you look at it. Almost everyone admits the flaws that the game has, some people just keep playing it while others don't for no particular reason.

Resident Evil 6 is a really good example of a divisive game; some people like it others hate it and they both have reasons that aren't sheer nonsense.

Everyone liked Chrono Cross until 7 or 8 years later when it became a thing to bitch about every video game ever. There was virtually no negative response at the time, it was merely "I liked Chrono Trigger better."

Deadly Premonition for sure

Zelda 2 Adventure of Link, a couple of reasons. One, the chip shortage of 1989, I had a few friends frustrated the game was impossible to find that they lost all interest and would rather play Battle of Olympus, Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest and Faxanadu. The game was easier to find by summer of 1989 when it was released in Fall of 1988. Two, Overhead zelda games eventually changed the direction of the series. Gone was the RPG mechanics and the new game plus the Zelda series idea of RPG became something rather silly especially by the SNES and GB era of gaming. When you would read about RPG games Zelda would come off like a Fisher Price, Zelda 2 wasn't Dark Souls but it did have some themes like Sleeping Beauty and every single time you died the shadow of Ganon rised.

Final Fantasy XIII comes to mind. It's hard to be ambivalent about that game after playing it. I'd say Dragon Age 2, but opinions on that game are divided between hateful disappointment and accepting disappointment.

My vote is for Prince of Persia 2008.

I know a lot of people who cried how that game was for babies, but I really enjoyed the games focus on exploration and not punishing you for exploring. For example, lets just say I had an idea for a shortcut that involves wall-running, then double-jumping onto a ledge that seems just out of reach. Normally I would not have attempted the shortcut because failing would mean that I had to go back to the last checkpoint and waste my time trying to traverse back to the point of death. In Prince of Persia, I just attempted the shortcut and if I failed I was placed back where I started without punishment.

Fighting off the urge to argue with so many people here.

Like, I'm ripping my hair out as we speak.

@radleyduder: I think the fact that you completely dismiss Minecraft makes it a perfect example of Divisive. I've played it a few times but I do know a few people who are deep into the game who could be considered "Hardcore Gamers" (ugh... such a dumb term).

@arbitrarywater: I was all ready to throw down for DA2 but the only thing I could think to say was "IT WASNT THAT BAD!", so yeah, you're probably right about the accepting disappointment.

These are great, thank you guys! I'm at work right now, but I'll get a list put up on my first post when I get home. I want to reply to so many of you, but its gonna have to wait a few hours.

One thing I'd like to ask for is that people explain why their choices are divisive. The best part of this discussion for me and I'm sure others here is reading the various opinions on particular games. As long as we don't devolve into swearfests :P

Agreed. Chrono Cross is a masterpiece to some and an incoherent, aimless disaster to others.

Also agreed with nearly every FF game since VII. I would cite the entire Halo franchise rather than any individual installment.

We certainly cannot leave out Resident Evil in this discussion. We'll all be bitching about Resident Evil from now until the end of the franchise using RE4 as the example of when it supposedly all went to hell.

Some very interesting games brought up in this thread that I'd forgotten about. Majora's Mask and FFVIII are two games that I got on launch, played for a good number of hours and gave up on. Those both seem to have a dedicated fanbase these days that I never encountered earlier. I'm planning to go back to both those games soon but those are pretty divisive for me since they followed such popular games in their franchises.

Space Giraffe. Look at the metacritic - two 100's on one end, a 20 on the other.

Mario Kart For the sole purpose of what version is best.

(Psst. N64....)

Right, which is why I'd like to re-emphasize that by divisive, I'm looking for games that seem to have a passionate fanbase and a faction of haters at the same time, and quite a noticeable amount of each. Not just games that some people like, some people dislike. I sometimes forget that as I'm looking through all this text and just adding it to the list.

Also, updated my list. Thanks for your help, you guys! :D

@spraynardtatum: Hehe, I can't count Destiny. Everyone pretty much agrees that it has flaws and it's unfinished, but no one's saying the game is like one of the best games of the year, and no one's saying it's one of the worst. It's just kinda in the middle, falling short of its lofty expectations.

@nmarebfly: Oh...I must look into this...

@cbyrne: Lol, sorry, not the kind of divisiveness I'm looking for. And I refuse to get into that (wait I lied Mario Kart 8 is the best :3)

How is Batman: Arkham City divisive?

If this thread is to be believed, literally every game ever made.

@radleyduder: So Kingdom Hearts (I'll just pick one of them... the first one) is divisive because for people that aren't into it they say the story is convuluted and bizzare and the mix of FF characters and Disney just doesn't work, and it's for kids, and so many tropes... while the people that are into the story praise it for... well... basically the same reason. They say the Kingdom Hearts story is so great in the way that it blends the characters together into one storyline and how the Kameos are even fit into the story. They love the combat because it was an amazing real time action game with RPG elements. It was kind of like playing a final fantasy game in real-time-action format for the first time. They loved that it was Disney because they could play through so much nostalgia of Disney movies in video game form and interact with the characters.

The people that liked Kingdom Hearts LOVED it, and still do. If you find someone that likes it they'll probably tell you it's one of their favorite series'. The people that didn't like it will tell you it's one of the biggest abominations of a video game that is unbelievably stupid and childish. I have never, never heard of a middle-of-the-road opinion on the game; there is no middle ground.

@hurricaneivan29: I could see that, both sides certainly found familiar. I know I've heard dissenting opinions from the GB staff, and there's a well known fanbase.

@bluefish: It's somewhere back on the last page somewhere, I'm watching the Mario Party Party 2 video right now. You know, priorities. It's honestly low on my priority list, I may not get to it if I can't find enough evidence of being very divisive.

It's just that reviews were top notch across the board. I also work at an EB in Canada and it's one of the most universally liked games out there. People have opinions of course, not all will agree on everything (I personally think the tone of Asylum was more mature and interesting) but I would never consider it divisive because people have thought one way or another about it at some point.

Exactly. I think we need to tighten the reins on what is considered 'divisive.'

'Manhunt' Divisive

the 'Arkham' games: not Divisive

'Far Cry 2' Divisive

'Far Cry 3' not Divisive

Now sure, some people give FC3 a hard time because the cast is slightly 'dudebro' but generally speaking that game is universally recognized as pretty great and people like it.