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Game you couldn't play... because you compared to a better one

justiceiro

Marlboro: Other M
So, after you played enough games, you start to see how little innovation there is in new games. So, even when you don't want, you start comparing games.


That's how I felt when I played Mario kart world. Since they added the open world aspect, I couldn't help but notice that Forza horizon 5 did almost everything better. Better challenges, better secrets, better variety.

The game is not bad, but it made me wonder why I was playing that instead of Forza horizon.

How about you guys? Ever gone through the same feeling?
 
Mine would also be Mario Kart World, but compared to Mario Kart 8. I'd rather just play 8 lol.

The openworld gameplay is garbage but that wouldn't stop be from playing, you can just ignore it.
 
Pretty much any open world game post BOTW and Elden Ring.

MMOs after Vanilla WoW/BC - including the WoW expansions.

Diablo games after Diablo II.
 
FFXVI

FFXV is just too good and the sequel didn't compare. To this day, Square have not made a game better than the masterpiece known as FFXV.
 
every God of War clone. some of them weren't even that bad, but if you copy a game so closely, you better do it well, or you'll instantly feel awful to pla due to the direct comparison I have
 
I feel this pretty acutely with most Metroidvanias. There are plenty of good ones, but I can't help but feel like even better ones like Guacamelee, Blasphemous, etc. pale in comparison to the games that inspired them. Silksong would be the lone exception where I think it's absolutely on the level of the classics.
 
FFXVI

FFXV is just too good and the sequel didn't compare. To this day, Square have not made a game better than the masterpiece known as FFXV.
I remember you. D.Final wasn't it?

FFXV is the worst FF game. An absolute embarrassment for the franchise.
 
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oh boy, here I go.

- Pretty much ever sequel of Far Cry and Assassin's Creed has improved on the previous one (kinda obvious), in general every Ubisoft game has industry leading world design, art and accessibility.
- Forza Horizon 5 definitely has set my expectations of an open world arcade-y racing games
- RE4R kinda perfected action survival horror for me, Evil Within 2 has done it for open world horror
- Grounded, Enshrouded, V Rising, Forest/Sons of Forest and Ark Ascended (kinda) have kinda made many survival open world crafting mediocre.
- Witchfire, Borderlands 3/4, Deadlink, CoDs & Battlefields, Escape from Duckov, Stalker 2, Metal Eden, >= FC3, D2 have incredibly satisfying gunplay, hit sounds. So catharthic, I immediately feel this when you start playing sub-standard FPS games.
- Destiny 2 has amazing gameplay and movement paired with visuals and OST, a bar very high that hardly any FPS MMO has ever touched. The weapons feel really really good as it has a clever, very generous hit box and aim assist to get you those headshots.
- GTA5, RDR2 and KCD2 for their meticulously crafted simulated world and immersion
- Elden Ring, Zelda BOTW/TOTK for exploration and freedom and agency
- Persona 5 R and Metaphor Refantazio for snappy and ultra stylish combat, banger soundtracks and art
- Octopath 1 & 2 for old school JRPGs, FF7 Remake/Rebirth/R? for a modern take
- Fallout 3 shooting < Fallout NV < Fallout 4 < Starfield (kinda obvious) it's quite hard to go back
- Hollow Knight & Silksong for the snappiest platforming/metrodvania, really hard to play some random slop that releases every week
- TLoU Part 2 & MGSV Phantom Pain & Hitman WoA are probably the best 3rd person shooter/tactical/stealth/action adventure out there.
- Baldur's Gate 3 for the depth and freedom to try anything and the feeling of it working, easily the best cRPG out there.
- Factorio and Satisfactory for automation and planing
- Gunfire Reborn for telling me rogue like FPS are cool
- Tactical Breach Wizards and Mewgenics for top-down tactics
- Dishonored, Prey and Deathloop, Weird West for modern immersive sims.
 
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All the time. In fact, scoring reviews are a reflection of providing comparability with what has come before. It's nonsensical but the creep of prior experience always finds its way into our opinions.
 
FFXVI

FFXV is just too good and the sequel didn't compare. To this day, Square have not made a game better than the masterpiece known as FFXV.
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Dark souls 3 / elden Ring.
Bloodborne is just so damn good …


Any rts that isnt starcraft.
Even sc2 sucks compared to sc:bw


This isnt true abymore but Action rpg because of terranigma for a Long time.
 
Sorry in advance but the Leon back half of RE9 was like a depressing, geriatric RE4R mixed with throwaway DLC from Revelations 2. That whole Raccoon City stretch made me pine for better games it was poorly imitating every minute.
 
Xenoblade, the thread. I remember playing Xenoblade on my Wii for like 10 hours and being overwhelmed... at how much of a worse version of FF12 it is.
 
oh boy, here I go.

- Pretty much ever sequel of Far Cry and Assassin's Creed has improved on the previous one (kinda obvious), in general every Ubisoft game has industry leading world design, art and accessibility.
Now that you mentioned it, the RPG Assassins Creed games ruined the non-RPG ones.
 
I quit playing Watch Dogs about 10 hours in because it made me wanna play GTA instead.

I don't think it was Ubisoft's intention 😋
 
Honestly none.

If anything, I try to play more similar games to a "leading" series in a genre.
 
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Only case where I think this has happened to me was in reverse: Monster Hunter GU ruined the modern ones for me.

More content and more challenge with less stream-lined gameplay.
 

Game you couldn't play properly enjoy... because you compared to a better one


Most platformers after Mario.

The Crew series after Forza Horizon.

Dante's Inferno after God of War games.

Every open world that tries to emulate Rockstar too close.

Every single game with side quests after The Witcher 3 and DLCs.

Every single linear "cinematic" game that ever tried to imitate Naughty Dog games, with none of the responsive controls, none of the artistry, none of the agency during setpieces. That's a very peculiar formula that simply doesn't work without those exact ingredients.

I loved Evil Within 2 game structure to death, but boy were the controls and animations a fucking torture to endure after TLOU.
 
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I can't really say that happened to me.

I mean, the first thing that pops in my head is if I play a neverending game, or at least one with hundreds and hundreds of hours. Sure, if that is the case, then I can't afford, time-wise, to play multiple games of that sort, so I better find the one that is best and devote myself to that. But that's not my style of play. Since I don't play MMOs or Gachas* or whatever, I've never abandoned one game because of comparing it to a better one.

And so if we limit it to my playstyle of playing lots of smaller single player games, well, this just doesn't come up, because I'd rather see the variation within a genre than compare two games at broad strokes and find one to be better. I mean, look at the OP'S example. Besides both being open world and racing, what do Forza and Mario Kart have in common? One's realistic, the other is wacky. One has items you can use, the other doesn't. To me, saying that one game does open world better than the other, and therefore one game replaces the other is just limiting. There are a lot more ways to judge a racing game than just that.

Or take a genre I know much better than racing that people above have chosen as examples: Metroidvanias. There's a huge variety of different aspects a game could focus on within this genre, whether it be movement and platforming, combat, exploration, progression systems, map structure, etc. I've played dozens upon dozens of Metroidvanias, and I still feel like I haven't exhausted the options of the genre. Do most of them compare favorably to my favorites? Perhaps not. But it would be crazy to say that SOTN or Metroid does everything that the other games do. There are so many stylistic differences between them that I would rather take the breadth than simply replaying the same game over and over. SOTN is not Super Metroid is not Metroid Dread is not Shantae is not Steamworld is not Prince of Persia is not Ender Magnolia is not Astalan is not Haiku the Robot, etc, etc, etc.

Now, one could then look at games that don't have much differences. I suppose there is some logic to that. If a game fails to provide any unique aspect and is totally derivative of another one, then there isn't much point in going back to it. But that's the key: going back to it. I'll still finish, say, Blossom Tales, even though it is a shallow imitation of A Link to the Past. I just won't play it again. And it's not JUST because I can compare it to a better game. It's because I wasn't impressed in the first place. I only replay the really good games regardless if I can compare it to something better or not. Thus, for example, I'll still replay Super Mario World even though I much prefer SMB3. Because they are both good, and thus both worth replaying.

So no, I can't relate. Sorry.

*OK, I guess in a way this did happen to me... I used to play Ingress while taking walks, now I play Pokemon Go. But that doesn't really count, since it's just something to have open while taking walks. But that's the closest example I can think of.
 
I cant enjoy 2d metroidvanias because metroid is always better

I cant play third person souls clones because the real exists by FROM

I cant enjoy open world games after botw/totk. Nothing comes close
 
Interesting thread.

I'd say for me it's the Fixed Camera Resident Evil indie clones, they always end up feeling like a derivative work and nostalgia cash grabs, games like Alisa, Tormented Souls, Song of Horror, Heartworm, etc. They aren't necessarily bad games they just feel copy-pasted AF.

Indie Survival Horrors that try their own thing are fine though, like Signalis or Crow Country those are great actually.
 
They are only kind of related in genre but Mass Effect really hurt my love of Fallout 3. Then my pre-existing love of Fallout 1 and 2 became much more powerful! Which was not good for Fallout 3. The love was dead.

Then my eye prescription expired and I had to quit my Oasis cover band so I wasn't wearing my magenta-tinted glasses anymore. Suddenly it hit me. "THIS GAME IS GREEN AS SHREK!" but it was too late.
 
I exclusively play Vampire Crawlers. It covers all the bases and meets all my needs. Stealth Espionage Action Tactics Speed Drama Mystery. There's nothing it can't do.
 
Mario 3d is a jumping flash copycat.

Astro bot is the evolution.

Someday you will be able to play it.


Astro Bot is a platformer for people who suck at platformers. dumbed down to the max, so you never get stuck. the simplest mechanics, so you don't have to think a lot. and lots of jingling keys in the form of nostalgia bait, so you can point your finger and say "I REMEMBER THAT CHARACTER!"
 
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