Video game biases

[TheInvisiblePony]

Hello, everypony!

So, I'm aware that there's a favorite game thread up already, but what those series of games that you have special ties too? They don't have to be your favorite games, and indeed they could be far from the top, but that doesn't mean you can't love 'em just the same. They might be a favorite game from one's childhood, or rather a guilty pleasure, or even something you know is bad but still find yourself playing it time and time again.

You know those games, those wonderful discs, cartridges, and programs that have fought their way into the fiber of your being until, dare I say, you've developed a certain bias for them. Believe me, I don't even mean bias in a negative connotation. I mean straight up games you will defend to the point of defeat and back, because you love them that much. Or, you know, something less intense.

For me, I'd have to say its Neverwinter Nights 2. Hey, I never even finished the thing, and I still love it to pieces Mainly because it got me into D&D and RPGs in general, but I digress because it was still first and foremost a stellar game. Hey, it was even one of the first games I'd played, and I loved everything from the characters to the quests. Like I said, maybe not my favorite game, but definitely one of the most meaningful.

[Arylett]

For me, that's the Final Fantasy series. I'm a bit of a fanatic about them and will buy ENTIRE consoles just to play them even if they have nothing else I'm interested. My range of interest in games is very limited anyway. But still. Final Fantasy inspires all of my works, and has pretty much helped make me who I am today. So obviously, I have a massive bias for it, and will probably keep buying and playing through the games for a very long time. I just can't stop. Regardless of what other people seem to say about the series' quality declining. It hasn't really gotten me the same, the most recent games, I'll be honest. And I don't think they're quite as good in some aspects. But I'll still keep buying and loving.

I just cannot tolerate somebody badmouthing the series at all. It's something I don't like to hear and honestly, keenly try to avoid as I just utterly don't understand how you can't like it. But again, my bias is huge.

[LightningChaser]

For me, that's the Final Fantasy series. I'm a bit of a fanatic about them and will buy ENTIRE consoles just to play them even if they have nothing else I'm interested. My range of interest in games is very limited anyway. But still. Final Fantasy inspires all of my works, and has pretty much helped make me who I am today. So obviously, I have a massive bias for it, and will probably keep buying and playing through the games for a very long time. I just can't stop. Regardless of what other people seem to say about the series' quality declining. It hasn't really gotten me the same, the most recent games, I'll be honest. And I don't think they're quite as good in some aspects. But I'll still keep buying and loving.

I just cannot tolerate somebody badmouthing the series at all. It's something I don't like to hear and honestly, keenly try to avoid as I just utterly don't understand how you can't like it. But again, my bias is huge.

Agreed! My main game bias is for Mass Effect. Everyone has been hating on the ending of ME3's ending, but I never thought it was that bad. I've had plenty of debates with people on the Internet over the quality of the ending

[Rosewind]

I just cannot tolerate somebody badmouthing the series at all. It's something I don't like to hear and honestly, keenly try to avoid as I just utterly don't understand how you can't like it. But again, my bias is huge.

I love Final Fantasy as well, but if you are intolerant of hearing others' opinions on it, it must be terrible to try to talk about it, especially as the quality of the games tends to vary by personal preference. For example, I thought VII, IX, X, and XI were fantastic; I didn't like VIII, XII was meh, I liked XIII (this one seems to polarize people the most), and XIV's first release was an insult to the fan community and franchise. I do understand what you are trying to say, though.

[Huscarl]

IB, and the old Crash Bandicoot series, always seen it as being far superior to Mario, despite it's obvious disadvantages. :s

Agreed! My main game bias is for Mass Effect. Everyone has been hating on the ending of ME3's ending, but I never thought it was that bad. I've had plenty of debates with people on the Internet over the quality of the ending

No, it really was that bad. REALLY bad.

[Parker_Izing]

Action 52 on NES... That's a major derp, i mean, 52 games on a cartridge, and 4 of them don't work at all, the others, games that glitched from start, or at random point, games that glitch before beating them, a miriad of space shooters, bad graphics, bad music, bad playability... But it had something dragging me back for a quick shameful fun...

[starswirlthebearded]

There are three series that come to mind... MegaTen, MGS and Sonic the Hedgehog. (Granted I haven't bought a PSP yet for MGS, but I will).

But yes, when I was beginning to be underwhelmed by the Final Fantasy series (8 and 10/10-2 mostly), I bought Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne on a whim. Since then I've bought every game put out under the MegaTen moniker. You could even extend that to anything developed by or in part by Atlus (though on a lesser degree than MegaTen) (BTW 10-2 was the tipping point, it was just bad imho)

MGS I bought two systems for. PS2 and PS3. I first played it on my friend's NES

Sonic I've been a fan of since the first game on the Genesis (also my first console).

[Arylett]

I love Final Fantasy as well, but if you are intolerant of hearing others' opinions on it, it must be terrible to try to talk about it, especially as the quality of the games tends to vary by personal preference. For example, I thought VII, IX, X, and XI were fantastic; I didn't like VIII, XII was meh, I liked XIII (this one seems to polarize people the most), and XIV's first release was an insult to the fan community and franchise. I do understand what you are trying to say, though.

I meant the series in general. Just saying they hate Final Fantasy in general. Not specific games. I don't mind if somebody badmouths most of the specific games. (except IX, which is my absolute favorite and I do not want to hear it >< But nobody tends to badmouth that one as most people I meet who are into FF haven't played it... it's rather obscure for a modern one) As there are certain ones I am a bit... meh about. But i usually do avoid talking about it and keep to myself anyways. It's not a fandom I'd like to participate in.

[starswirlthebearded]

I meant the series in general. Just saying they hate Final Fantasy in general. Not specific games. I don't mind if somebody badmouths most of the specific games. (except IX, which is my absolute favorite and I do not want to hear it >< But nobody tends to badmouth that one as most people I meet who are into FF haven't played it... it's rather obscure for a modern one) As there are certain ones I am a bit... meh about. But i usually do avoid talking about it and keep to myself anyways. It's not a fandom I'd like to participate in.

My absolute favorite is FFVI. But I still have a preference to MegaTen over Final Fantasy these days.

[LightningChaser]

Final Fantasy IV. Just saying

[frostfauna]

Okay, time to shock the shoes right off you all... I've never played any of the final fantasy games. There, I said it! Are you happy now? That being said, I obviously don't know the allure to FF games. The game I'm most biased towards has to be Dead Space. I've loved everything about those games so far, and can't get enough of them. I don't care what anyone says, I will always think Dead Space is epic.

[RarityDash]

Hmm, interesting question. Well, Final Fantasy VI was the most important game for me growing up. It's probably stuck with me the most, so perhaps I'm slightly defensive of it. My favorite game in the same series is FF XIII though, which catches a lot of flack. I think the game is brilliant, but I can kinda see where most of the neighsayers are coming from. I don't mind it too much, even if I really standby the game and think it's great.

Really though, hard to say. I could give a list of games I love, but I'm not sure I'm "biased" toward them as much as I just really enjoy them. I'm really pretty fine with people having different opinions on things that I like, so long as I'm entitled to different opinions myself.

[DarkspinePrime]

I can't say no to anything Suda51. Killer 7, No More Heroes, Shadows of the ****ed, Lollipop Chainsaw, Liberation Maiden...all amazing games despite being flawed. Objectively, I could not recommend any of these games save for maybe Killer 7, and yet these are all some of my most beloved games. I put so many hours into Lollipop Chainsaw, and loved every moment of it.

[TotalEcplise]

Final Fantasy Tactics: War or the Lions is one of the greatest games in the FF franchise.

Final Fantasy XII was amazing, I still play that game (I will hear no bad talk about this game) .

I love CoD. They aren't bad games in the, they just get hate for being successful, because that's obviously bad now a days.

I love Too Human, that's my dirty little secret.

[DarkspinePrime]

I love CoD. They aren't bad games in the, they just get hate for being successful, because that's obviously bad now a days.

I'm just going to quickly interject here. They get hate because much of the older gaming community is very wary of CoD's primarily younger online community. It is the same complaint as back in Halo's early days, where the online community was generally full of pre-teens and teenagers. Well, those people have grown up and now Halo's community is primarily young adults and adults in their early 20-30s. CoD will most likely follow this trend in due time, but that doesn't change the fact that young boys with microphones are very annoying.

[TheInvisiblePony]

Okay, time to shock the shoes right off you all... I've never played any of the final fantasy games. There, I said it! Are you happy now? That being said, I obviously don't know the allure to FF games.

Actually, I can't say I've played FF that much myself. I've played a little of VI, which I admit I liked, and a little of XIII, which was painful. Just... painful. The cinematics were pretty great, but it was sooo linear. Other than that I haven't played much either. I just can't really get into them, although I certainly have no qualms with anything in particular. In fact, I can certainly respect them. Just not my cup of tea, I guess.

[starswirlthebearded]

I'm just going to quickly interject here. They get hate because much of the older gaming community is very wary of CoD's primarily younger online community. It is the same complaint as back in Halo's early days, where the online community was generally full of pre-teens and teenagers. Well, those people have grown up and now Halo's community is primarily young adults and adults in their early 20-30s. CoD will most likely follow this trend in due time, but that doesn't change the fact that young boys with microphones are very annoying.

That and CoD games don't change very much between iterations. I've heard that there was a lot of changes between BO1 and 2 but that is hearsay. I also have a personal issue with their bullet physics or lack thereof. You could be on a beach, in the middle of a storm and be able to grab a sniper rifle and hit a target from 1000m out. (Ok exaggerating, but still). They literally don't put anything into the game to make it harder. And the game gets easier as you get better. What the heck is that about? They give you abilities so you can kill better and then give you some ultimate tool to take out loads of people and basically people can powertrip? Yes, your opponents at your level get better, but then it always remains a level playing field.

Also, the reason for their popularity is the same reason for Apple's popularity. Make changes enough for people to be enticed by new product that they feel a need to buy it again. New maps, new weapons, new power-ups. With no real overall change to game play or mechanics. (then again, I haven't played BO2 so I can't say personally, but from the chat yesterday, I'm slightly intrigued enough to give it a go, we'll see how my financial situation goes)

And yes, the whiny preteens are rather annoying too.

(I suppose this can be categorized as a bias AGAINST CoD franchise, yes?)

[leodylandy]

the tales series megaten and ffx hate me if you must but i love ffx and also the zero escape franchise(including 999)

[Lerian]

For me it's the Tropico series. I like any of the large scale type games, (4X, god game etc), though the humour and OTT nature of the characters has stuck with me throughout even though the actual gameplay can be said to be quite 'samey'.

Viva El-Presidente!

[NoGiantRobots1983]

I don't really care for Final Fantasy as a series, but Final Fantasy I, IV and VI are nostalgic classics for me and still some of my favorite RPGs of all time, up there with Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger and Earthbound.

My biggest bias by far is that I tend to prefer games made in either the 8- or 16-Bit era to anything else. When you go back to things like the Atari 2600, those games are just too simple for me to enjoy, while I find the 32- and 64-Bit era was where gaming started taking on a lot of bad tendencies that only got worse as time went on (RPGs in particular went from being one of my favorite genres to being games I just couldn't stand, with rare exceptions such as the Lunar remakes, Grandia, and the few MegaTen games I've played).

For some reason I tend to also favour underdog consoles. Tell me there was an awesome game on the SNES, I'll believe you but probably won't be motivated to seek it out. Tell me about an awesome game on the Sega CD, though... (and yes, despite what a certain Angry Nerd says, there were tons of awesome games for the Sega CD).