Games You Love That Everyone Else Hates

Mass Effect 3? Maybe not the best response, as Mass Effect 3 was generally considered to be a quality title in spite of its ending, but heck - even the ending felt fulfilling to me, and a lot of people used their disappointment with the ending to paint the whole game in a bad light. The later additions and DLC were just icing on the cake. Destroy felt like the only natural end for my Shepard.
I also didn't mind Andromeda. It wasn't as good as the original trilogy, but I was pretty happy just to be back in Mass Effect territory.

 

Fifa 18 ....

 

I've been going on and off Evolution 1, and it's alright.
It has a lot of cool mechanics, but the battles are very simple and it's a little grindy. Still prefer over Time Stalkers, a similar Dreamcast JRPG.

 

Soul Calibur 3, I think most of the hate was that it was a Sony Exclusive. I loved the game, but it was hated by most fans.

 

I don't want to restart the battle between Fates or Awakening, but I've played most of the Fire Emblem games and enjoy them all, including the most recent installments. As for children characters, I think someone already mentioned that people forget that there was already a 'pairing' and children system in ye olde games like Genealogy and Thracia and conveniently pinpoint the flaws of the system in the 3DS games. I for one enjoy it but maybe I'm the minority? I won't get in too deeply what IS did correctly or incorrectly (ahem Deeprealms) but I will thank Awakening for revitalizing the series and introducing it to a lot more people.

Corrin/Kamui gets a lot of flack for being a terrible, naive lord and I won't start a fight defending anyone, but if you go into the game expecting a decent Fire Emblem experience, you won't be disappointed.

Also my fav husbando is a Fates character so there's that, too.

 

Edited because I got too political

 

I am going to talk about my TWO faves:
1) MDICKIE'S Booking MPire 2004: This is a wrestling booking game (Take over a promotion. There are wrestlers, create great matches, take over another more impressive promotion. Rinse and repeat.) However, this is quite possibly one of the most ridiculous and stupid looking/sounding/controlling games of ALL TIME! It is as to wrestling as The Room is to Shakespeare. There are thematic resemblances on paper and that's it. But I do love it for it's, erm, action.

2) SONY'S Until Dawn: This is a Filmic-Game (actually, back in 1988, I talked to a film director who told me about "Interactive Cinema", this is what this "game" is) based on mixing up old horror film tropes with an interesting setting. I love this style of game, but it got trashed for being more movie than anything else. As a big fan of QuanticDreams since Omicron The Nomad Soul, this was a pleasant surprise to me. A fascinating genre, which I hope can go back to it's FMV roots one day.

 

Sonic Adventure.
The Gamecube port.
Really, it's only for nostalgia reasons since it was one of the first games I owned as a kid.

 

Sacred 2 fallen angel was my favorite back my xbox 360 days. the game was very underrated in my opinion. I currently own the game+expansion on steam. Pretty much the alternative to diablo 2 on console back then

 

@Vance Raehart : Is it better than Sacred one? Here is what my experience in Sacred 1 was like:

"Ok, I'm level 10. Let's see if I can do that quest now."
*Gets killed by level 10 monsters*
*Goes and grinds a couple levels*
*Gets killed by level 12 monsters which replaced the level 10 monsters*
*Gets more levels*
"No, why are they now level 15? I leveled up as I was having trouble with you in the FIRST place!"
*Dies*
*loads game, all monsters respawn, now I'm stuck halfway between two towns with monsters I can't beat as they keep powering up with me*
*Quits game, sets fire to CD*

 

I never played sacred one, but sacred 2 was more of mash up of community ideas. hundreds of quests, generic quests but whatever it give me something to do. PVP was for more endgame players who reached Niob Difficulty(highest diffculty level) i remember being lvl 126 was my highest character.

 

I have a big love for Guilty Gear 2: Overture. Even though the game was hated by critics, there really isn't much wrong with it and people on Steam even reviewed it very positively, which is rare since Steam is usually filled with negativity. Well, there is a big glaring problem, which is the fact that the game was made due to lack of access to any but the two main characters in Guilty Gear (Ky and Sol). There is also the genre shift, which would upset fans of the main series, which is a really great set of fighting games, but it was one of the few times where "something new" was a great thing. It is a real-time strategy with some fighting game elements that make it easy to learn and hard to master. There is quite a bit of personality in the game, and I really love how there are four different armies with very well designed units that also have some personality to them.

Another game I liked that wasn't well received at the time was Shadow Dragon, the remake of Fire Emblem 1 which is/was labeled as Fire Emblem 11 by some. They say that the graphics were really ugly, but I enjoyed them. The opening was also really cool in my opinion. I watched that so many times, mainly because of the music. Pretty much the best Fire Emblem opening, I think. The game is nice and fun for being portable and stuff. You get the reclassing and the very well designed classic maps. And simplicity is just good for some games in my opinion. It was a nice mix between simple and improved complexity where it was needed.

 

Final Fantasy VII, Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow, and Pokemon Pearl/Platinum.

 

Admittedly I consider Shadow Dragon the worst FE game I've played (and as an art and animation student who adores Ghost in the Shell I was super disappointed to learn Masamune Shirow did the portraits since I feel they're a step down from his usual quality) but whenever I think about how regressive the game's design is compared to later entries I try to remember it wasn't really made for the West - it was made for Japan, where the Archanea games reign supreme, where the GBA titles aren't as fondly remembered as they are by us in the West and where a faithful remake of the original NES game was exactly what they wanted. Context is everything, after all!

 

Wait, people didn't like Pearl/Platinum?

 

FVIII...It was my first Fantasy game with “cool” graphics and skills back then. I didn't even read English, just go trough by some parts by pure sheer luck xD But yeah, to this day, it remains as my favorite Final Fantasy game… after the one with Terra and Celes in it (forgot the number).

 

It seems that Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword gets a lot of hate. Personally, I love it. It has some actual new ideas to the formula and it doesn't feel like Ocarina of Time again for the third or fourth time.

 

According to the internet in general, but, then, to paraphrase what a Canadian folk singer once said, 'just because I don't like meatloaf doesn't mean I'm going to go online and complain about how much I dislike meatloaf. People are a bit crazy that way.' Pearl/Platinum are my favourites of the main series games, along with Heartgold/Soulsilver.

 

Most recently it was The Last Guardian, I haven't disagreed with most reviews in a while. I love it just as much as Shadow of the Colossus.

And Kingdom Hearts. I know the Kingdom Hearts series technically has tons of fans, but to most outside of its fandom I get a sense that they think its story is stupid. I actually like the story of KH even though I'd also agree that it's not written very well. I don't like it in an ironic way either. The story feels like it's made with such passion and all of the emotional scenes feel so genuine that I can't hate it even when it has so many stupid and cliche lines that make me cringe at times. The gameplay is dope as well though.

 

Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts, it's got it's problems and I feel it definitely should of never been a banjo game, but it's a way better game than people give it credit for. It's got one of the most fun and well put together vehicle building system I have ever seen in a game and the challenges are just open ended enough for you to have fun with the vehicle building and your imagination