Worst game possible: First round

Error message

Deprecated function: implode(): Passing glue string after array is deprecated. Swap the parameters in drupal_get_feeds() (line 394 of /var/www/pied-piper.ermarian.net/includes/common.inc).

Pages

Author	Topic: Worst game possible: First round
Student of Trinity Electric Sheep One Member # 3431	written Wednesday, July 12 2006 04:28 Profile #25 A Dying Earth CRPG would be very cool. Heh. Hey, I once played a pen-and-paper RPG based on Michael Moorcock's world of Elric, called Stormbringer. It had a horrible combat system in which death was relatively rare, but wounds very common. The result was that is was very hard to put an enemy out of action reliably; a hero had to take several rounds to kill the weakest opponent. But it was very easy to get your character maimed, and it was a near thing whether your rising experience levels would compensate for your accumulating handicaps. The old sci-fi RPG Traveller had a combat system that was similar but not quite as bad, in that there were no hit points, and instead damage subtracted temporarily from your ability scores. So it was almost impossible to kill anything with one shot, but it was quite easy to take a hit that would lower your dexterity to the point where you couldn't hit anything any more, or your strength to the point where you couldn't wield your weapons. At least you could heal afterwards, but until then one hit could make your character useless for the rest of the game. Conceivably realistic, but not much fun as a game. For all its flaws, the D&D combination of random hits and damage subtracting steadily from a large hit point total makes it easy to keep going effectively for a while, then retreat before you get killed. -------------------- We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty. Posts: 3335 \| Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00
Lt. Sullust Shaper Member # 32	written Wednesday, July 12 2006 07:27 Profile #26 quote: Originally written by Drew: and FFVIII, which I know some people here loved for the story, but every battle was a festival of spawning summons, which took forever, and had little variety, until you got a walkthrough and figured out how to get Squall's final limit break, which was then what you had to have pretty much to win the game. Oh, and leveling was so imbalanced that Squall had about forty levels on everyone else by the end. There really isn't any need to level in the game. Just get Diablo and get his No Exp skill. This makes the battles go much faster later in the game... -------------------- Lt. Sullust Cogito Ergo Sum Polaris Posts: 2462 \| Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
MrRoivas Warrior Member # 5550	written Monday, July 17 2006 15:37 Profile Homepage #27 This topic has no point. Why? Because the worst game has already been created. Homeland. I hear the U.S uses it on uncooperative people in Gitmo. -------------------- Q: What is the sound of one hand clapping? A: The sound of someone getting smacked upside the head. Duct tape is like the force. It has a good side and a dark side and it binds the universe together. Don't worry Alorael, custom titles are overrated. Posts: 154 \| Registered: Saturday, February 26 2005 08:00
Ash Lael E Equals MC What!!!! Member # 5491	written Monday, July 17 2006 16:09 Profile Homepage #28 Despite the bad press it gets, Homeland is not the worst game ever. I think the worst game ever would be an absolutely awesome game that built up to a tension filled climax... and then there was an impossibly difficult final battle to get to the end that virtually no one could beat. And if you somehow managed to get through, it turns out to have all been a dream. Hoo yeah. -------------------- SupaNik: Aran, you're not big enough to threaten Ash. Dammit, even JV had to think twice. Posts: 1861 \| Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Monday, July 17 2006 17:32 Profile Homepage #29 It's the journey, not the destination. I'd be happy to play a great game with an impossible ending. Okay, not happy, but I'll take whatever amazing I can get. —Alorael, who thinks Homeland meets several of the criteria listed here. Oh yes. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, July 17 2006 23:33 Profile Homepage #30 quote: Originally written by Ash Lael: I think the worst game ever would be an absolutely awesome game that built up to a tension filled climax... and then there was an impossibly difficult final battle to get to the end that virtually no one could beat. And if you somehow managed to get through, it turns out to have all been a dream. Hoo yeah. I thought you liked Doom Moon II. :P -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Drew By Committee Member # 4233	written Tuesday, July 18 2006 04:57 Profile #31 Sometimes incredibly difficult games are very fun. Though not a cRPG, the original Ghosts & Goblins for the NES springs readily to mind - I don't know anyone who's beaten it without flash memory saves on an emulator. Likewise, the original Castevania was pretty tricky. We're just not accustomed to playing difficult games anymore, which is kind of a shame. I still think PoR2 is the worst though - the hype for it beforehand was so disproportionate to the actual playing experience - it was supposed to be the game that dethroned the Infinity Engine games, and it just didn't - spectacularly. I've never felt more remorse for having spent $50 in my life. EDIT: Oh, so I'll add that as a qualifier for worst game ever - it has to have had crazy hype beforehand - maybe "Fable"-like hype. [ Tuesday, July 18, 2006 04:59: Message edited by: Drew ] Posts: 2242 \| Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Ash Lael E Equals MC What!!!! Member # 5491	written Tuesday, July 18 2006 14:35 Profile Homepage #32 Doom Moon II had a crappy story even without the ending. It doesn't count. :P -------------------- SupaNik: Aran, you're not big enough to threaten Ash. Dammit, even JV had to think twice. Posts: 1861 \| Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Drew By Committee Member # 4233	written Tuesday, July 18 2006 17:38 Profile #33 It's a scenario, however. I affirmatively assert: Pool of Radiance 2 is the worst cRPG ever. Can anyone disprove this? :P Posts: 2242 \| Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Sticky Infiltrator Member # 4256	written Wednesday, July 19 2006 05:44 Profile #34 Homeland definitely has some of those very frustrating things described. For instance, if you kill something on top of a lever, you can only click on the body of whatever you killed, not the lever, quite possible ruining the entire game. It also had enough of a plot that it made it seem like it would be worth overcoming the difficulties of interface and combat. By the time you realize this is unlikely to be true, you've spent too much time playing, and don't want to waste it all by not finishing the demo. As you approach the last battle in the game/demo you kill a monster in the wrong spot and make the game unbeatable. Or you accidentally overwrite your only save file when your dog is somehow stuck on the other side of a bridge getting killed (which ends the game), and there's nothing you can do. It also has some of the auto camera stuff if I remember correctly. So yeah, Homeland is a fairly good nomination for this. -------------------- "Let's just say that if complete and utter chaos was lightning, he'd be the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting 'All gods are false'." Posts: 564 \| Registered: Wednesday, April 14 2004 07:00
Tyranicus Law Bringer Member # 6489	written Friday, August 4 2006 09:24 Profile Homepage #35 quote: Originally written by Drew: I affirmatively assert: Pool of Radiance 2 is the worst cRPG ever. Can anyone disprove this? :P Why would anyone want to? That game actually messed up my system files requiring me to reinstall Windows when I unistalled it. [ Friday, August 04, 2006 10:11: Message edited by: Tyranicus ] -------------------- "You're drinking liquor because you're thirsty? How nasty is your freaking water?" —Lazarus Spiderweb Chat Room Avernum RP • Summaries • OoC • Roster Shadow Vale - My site, home of the Spiderweb Chat Database, BoA Scenario Database, & the A1 Quest List, among other things. Posts: 1556 \| Registered: Sunday, November 20 2005 08:00
Drew By Committee Member # 4233	written Thursday, September 7 2006 10:09 Profile #36 Furthermore, in POR2, you couldn't even be a wizard - only a sorceror. Broooo-ken! Posts: 2242 \| Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Enraged Slith Agent Member # 27	written Thursday, September 7 2006 17:22 Profile #37 Just when you thought games couldn't get any more pathetic they invented Guild Wars. Posts: 1233 \| Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Drew By Committee Member # 4233	written Friday, September 8 2006 17:43 Profile #38 PoR2 nukes it in the war of awfulness and letdownitude, though. Posts: 2242 \| Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Garrison Agent Member # 2820	written Friday, September 8 2006 20:11 Profile #39 After the obvious, objective reasons why Homeland is a poor game, the next worst thing about it is the anticlimactic letdown it delivers. That is pretty impressive, too, because it is not a highly advertised, nay, advertised at all game. Its introduction projected promises of grandeur and deep plot with all the classical elements of fantasy and adventure. The character creations screens were fine at first, and the dog seemed more cute than an annoyance. And then the game started outright. Then came the end of the demo. Then I wept. -------------------- Thuryl: I mean, most of us don't go around consuming our own bodily fluids, no matter how delicious they are. ==== Alorael: War and violence would end if we all had each other's babies! ==== Drakefyre: Those are hideous mangos. Posts: 1415 \| Registered: Thursday, March 27 2003 08:00
Arancaytar Law Bringer Member # 2984	written Sunday, September 10 2006 23:16 Profile Homepage #40 quote: Originally written by Dikiyoba: Submission: "Sometimes Linear Is Better" Game: Some online text-based adventure that I forgot the name of. Summary: Game was extremely good up until random teleportation got involved, then the game become too frustrating and time-consuming to continue. The problem: The game started off well. I solved one puzzle, and the game advanced me to the next one. There was even a walkthough I could refer to in case I got stuck. However, towards the end of the game, the game got split into seven or eight places I had go to via a teleporter. The teleporter sent me to a place randomly. This wouldn't have been a problem, except that the teleporter continued to send me to places I had already completed. By the time I was down to two or three places to visit, I was often using the teleportal five or six times before getting to one of them. Furthermore, the teleportation itself was annoying. It took several turns to get where I was going. Typing "wait" four turns in a row just isn't that interesting, and it's downright tedious the fifteenth time I had to do it. After realizing that I had spent over ten minutes teleporting without getting to a single new place, I gave up. The game should have just teleported me to places in a set order. It would have been a lot less frustrating. Dikiyoba's rating: Random and extreme frustration. Random and extreme frustration is pretty much the point of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game though (that's what you were playing). Oh, and using the teleporter with real tea instead of ATS (advanced tea substitute) shortens the waiting period to one round, and allows you to re-teleport simply by typing "wait" again. Which conveniently saves you from teleporting into the head of your future self, leading to your own messy death in five minutes. Nonetheless, I wouldn't play it aqgain. For the reasons quoted. quote: Originally written by Student of Trinity: until suddenly you're staring at a wall while a Bugblatter Beast is whaling on you, and you're trying to pound in the necessary six-key sequence just to get a look at the thing. Having to struggle just to look death in the face: priceless. Since the Bugblatter Beast believes that if you can't see it, it can't see you, turning around to look at it is actually not such a good idea. ;) [ Sunday, September 10, 2006 23:32: Message edited by: Drow ] -------------------- Encyclopaedia Ermariana • Forum Archives • Forum Statistics • RSS [Topic / Forum] My Blog • Polaris • I eat novels for breakfast. Polaris is dead, long live Polaris. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. Posts: 8752 \| Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Monday, September 11 2006 10:48 Profile Homepage #41 Text-based games in general often suffer from obscure commands and syntax, which is a trick that has been gleefully adopted by graphical games. I think that needs to go on the list. Making necessary tasks hard to perform is bad, but making them easy to perform and hard to figure out is just as bad. —Alorael, who has played too many games that demand exactly once, sometime in the middle, the use of an ability, key combination, or trick that is easily overlooked. It is often overlooked because it is otherwise entirely useless. Somewhere there is a programmer sniggering evilly. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Arancaytar Law Bringer Member # 2984	written Monday, September 11 2006 13:16 Profile Homepage #42 Yes, but saying text adventure games are frustrating is like saying SM is painful. In fact, the analogy fits quite well. :P -------------------- Encyclopaedia Ermariana • Forum Archives • Forum Statistics • RSS [Topic / Forum] My Blog • Polaris • I eat novels for breakfast. Polaris is dead, long live Polaris. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. Posts: 8752 \| Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Monday, September 11 2006 18:59 Profile Homepage #43 Hey, I like text adventure games. I just also like them more when they're upfront about how you do whatever it is you're doing. —Alorael, who has fond memories of dying over and over and over in the beginning of Zork until he had the sudden stunning realization that he could fight back with better word choice. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Drew By Committee Member # 4233	written Monday, September 18 2006 17:52 Profile #44 How about the King's Quest series? I remember being brought to the brink of insanity in KQ4 trying to climb up the whale's tongue high enough that I could tickle its uvula! Posts: 2242 \| Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00