Games that could be better

The Core Video Games Forum
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I’ve had this topic on my mind for a little while now. About how there are some pretty good games out there, but ultimately get overlooked due to some major flaws that keep them from being more well-known.

Case-in-point: Avalon Code
I think it came out back in March or so? Anyways, I finally went back and beat it today. It has a pretty interesting gameplay element; change the elemental codes in things to your heart’s desire using a mystical book that’s supposed to recreate the world.

Sounds good so far, right? Unfortunately, this brings up one of the game’s major flaws: interface control. See, you go through the book like an actual book. And if you wanna transfer codes from one thing to another, you can put it an open area that has room for four codes. At first, it’s not that bad, but something to keep in mind here. The book, once it’s mostly completed, rakes in at about 1500 pages. At least 50-66% of the pages are editable via codes. Those four slots suddenly become very limiting, not to mention trying to figure out where you put that code for Light, Shadow, or whatever. If it had something like how FF7 manages its Materia, it probably would’ve been a lot easier to deal with.

Another major flaw the game suffers from is the way it handles dungeons. The dungeon design itself isn’t that bad, but how it handles them. See, each room in a dungeon consists of a challenge. This is usually something along the lines of “Hit all the switches” or “Defeat all enemies”. If you’re in a large dungeon, this gets very grating after a while.

However, this is hardly the worst part. This coincides with the last flaw. Trying to get useful things. See, in order to get stuff to make better weapons/items, you have to find metalize tablets. Some are pretty easy to find, but the good ones are hidden away. In order to get them, you either have to 1) find all search points in an area (massively annoying) or 2) get a Gold Medal for a room in a dungeon. Some are fairly easy to get a Gold medal in, but others are very difficult and involve clever use of code arrangements and weaponry. You would have to be very anal-retentive to try and 100% complete this game.

In all, Avalon Code isn’t a horrible game, and its flaws does kinda hold it down a little bit, but doesn’t keep it from being great. There is something that did catch my eye though. Since it’s came out, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it used in stores, nor have I hardly seen it new. I am pissed that it’s the 1st game to cause my screen protector to be scratched (damn stylus!).

So any other games that fit this mold?

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I guess it’s better writing here than creating a new thread for My World, My Way.

The game’s main mechanic is that by pouting (expending Pout Points), the spoilt princess you’re playing, can change the terrain, the EXP/gold/items earnt by enemies and their level. She can summon new enemies, get the first turn or not deign to engage in battle or freeze them in their tracks, mute them, banish them. Quests can be crossed off your list with a small penalty and chests opened without keys -at long last!

Add to this the stat-boosting meals you can order and the customisability is pretty enjoyable, even enough to compensate for the slowish battle animations and generally unflattering 3d models. The problem is that there is little story or character development till the final stages of the game and there are two things you can do with the princess: Fetch quests, most of which can be pouted away, or exploring ruins and grinding. And boy, is there grinding!

While mocking established tropes is fun, webcomics have already done that years ago and the dungeons would be totally uninspired where it not for their labyrinthine qualities.

All in all, it’s a gameplay system that provides welcome control over some of the pacing of the adventure, but cannot absolutely replace the lack of of things to do and the formulaic nature of most quests. Pity, because the characters were colourful when they were given the floor.

As for her mentor accusing her of losing her mirth the first time she becomes serious with good reason, HA!

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Personally, I think that’s just the tragic irony of My World, My Way - to satirize its subject material, it has to be a shitty game. Also, I really never had to grind much except for at the very beginning and very end of the game :open_mouth: Unless you count the actual process of gathering items ‘grinding’, in which case the entire thing is a giant grind.

Anyways, if you ask me, this question is sort of a fail, because there’s so many games that could obviously be better, and not even in a “well, no game’s perfect so it could be better” sort of way. So, the answer would be “damn near all of them.”

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Ultra: I agree with you 110%. I got about 10 hours into Avalon Code before saying “This game has a really neat idea, but it’s implemented so awfully that I haven’t enjoyed one freaking minute of it.” Game is now getting sold back, good luck to the poor sod who buys it.

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Every game ever (excluding Super Metroid).

Stupid replies aside, every Mana game since Legend. As good as Legend’s story was exploration was a pain in the ass.

The other post Legend Mana games need the ass sucked out of them too (especially Sword).

Sword needed someone to actually design the damn game instead of randomly throwing everything the series had ever done up to that point into a blender and hitting frappe.

Children failed as anything but a less than mediocre/lazy dungeon crawler (Summon Night: Twin Age was vastly superior in both gameplay and multiplayer options).

Heroes was brave to attempt to create the JRTS genera, but that’s the only good thing I can say about it.

Dawn needed to be something other than a really shitty 3D action platformer. Maybe if they removed the emphasis on the platforming parts it might of been better than a steaming pile of crap.

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You bring up a good point. Perhaps I didn’t phrase my question right, or I wasn’t thinking all that straight. Any game could be better. There is no such thing as a perfect game, and there probably shouldn’t be (for technical reasons…). Every game has its flaws, just some stick out more than others. Even classic games have flaws, but it usually doesn’t break the game.

On that note, I often wonder why it’s so damn hard to make a decent superhero game? I mean, the groundwork is pretty well laid out depending on the hero you’re making the game on, but the majority of those games are basically crap (with some exceptions like Spider-Man and Batman). Take Superman 64 for example. If it had actually been done right, it would’ve been a potentially great game. Instead, it looked like a half-ass effort, and ended up being a broken, near unplayable piece of shit.

The Mana series, as Killmore mentioned, is pretty much falling apart. The first couple of games were great, but since Legend, it’s turned to shit. What happened to “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”? You’d think it’d be easy to make a classic Mana game for like the DS, and put in some decent Wi-Fi, and it’d be golden. Soma Bringer seems to have some LoM aspects in it at least, but it’s really the closest thing I’ve seen so far.

What really got me thinking about some of this was the Wrestling genre. Since the N64/PS1 days, wrestling games seem to be just less enjoyable. I remember playing WCW Mayhem and having a field day creating my own character, making him super crazy and just busting loose with custom stuff. Yet it seems with each new iteration of wrestling games, such as SmackDown vs. RAW, they dumb down the customization options and change the controls around. Seems to me that they complicate the gameplay and screw around with too much stuff with trying to make stuff look more realistic (when it’s not that real to begin with).

What’s really funny is that when trying to look for some of the best wresting games, WWF No Mercy shines up there against every other wresting game that’s come out since. I’ve heard quite a few people mention it as the best wresting game ever. I can’t really comment on that, since I’ve never played it, but there’s still a decent fanbase for it.

Sorry if I seem to be getting off-topic or ranting. Just had a lot to get off my chest.

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Final Fantasy VII and up.

What? I said it.

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After a certain point I just fought battles for money (to raise my PP) so I could wish the item-gathering quests to be completed. I rather liked that you could wish to have the final quest beaten instead of facing the last boss, though I obviously didn’t skip the finale.

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Lunar: Dragon song. It could have just not existed, but that would have made my life too happy wouldn’t it? It could have been a decently playable game if they had a normal fighting system where you get money, stuff, and experience from battles but they super overomplicated it by making you do ridiculous deliveries to get gold, and made you choose between fighting for exp or items.

Now if working designs had been there to do this game…

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Star Fox: Assult.

More flying missions, and for fucks sake make the Missle Defense stage longer, as in you’re able to fly around for more than 30 seconds before you have to divert your attention and destroy the missles.

Too bad there’s no immediate future plans for Star Fox. : \

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Mega Man 2 is one of my favorite games ever, but there are TWO things I would change about it.

The ‘Get Equipped With…’ screens which take too damn long. About the only thing I like about the AC port of this game is that it deals with this because long message was LONG.

And the Crash Bombs. Seven shots was too damn few, and it’s a surprisingly useful weapon that you never ever use due to fear of running out. That goddamn boss at the end of Wily 4 would not be as frustrating if you had, say, 14 shots instead of 7.

Mmmmaybe I’d make Wily’s final form also weak to buster shots, but really, if you run out of bubble lead of all things then you’re doing it wrong.

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Yeah with 14 Crash Bombs I wouldn’t have to worry about that boss at all. No more trying to find the right barricades to blow up when you can take them all out and I’d still have enough Bombs left over to beat the boss with.

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MARIO RPG!!! The name alone deters people… Its Mario but its also a pretty sweet RPG and minus a few… kidish moments a really solid game.

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If you like it so much why do you post it on a games that could be better thread?

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Yeah…that doesn’t really tell us anything.

Anyways, got another one: Final Fantasy XII
But…I’m not gonna go into major detail why, since it’d take a while. Anyone who’s played it can probably explain it. Basically, it has lack of a good plot, near useless characters (I’m looking at you Vaan and Penelo), and the major villain just kinda sucked. Obviously there’s more issues, but that’s for another day.

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hands down game that showed the most promise but crapped out shadow run on super nintendo anyone who played the genisis one would agree(the one on the 360 was god awful too)

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Hmm now that I think about I didn’t understand the thread at all before I posted…haha oh well.

I got the hang of it now though…lets hope crosses fingers

Here’s a good one. Fallout 3 … Yeah I said it…

Reason 1: Hardly any violence…Bloody Mess = boring…yeah yeah his whole body falls apart… A question I would have for the creator is " Have you seen Gears of War?" (I am not a huge fan of that game either…played it to much and ruined for myself) That game had gore! Watch and learn… all I gotta say.

Reason 2: No reward for all my efforts…Example I wandered the waste for like three hours(hoping to find someone to talk to…really comon ,was there like five or six peopl in the whole game that had any info for your character?) and I found a railway track. I followed that track for what seemed like forever until I found a turned over train…Did I find a little side mission? Did I find a hovel where someone lived? Did I even find a cool weapon? No… I found an empty shopping cart… thats it…:fungah:

Reason 3: This game is one of the shortest games I’ve ever played and the side quests are all boring … so even if I wanted to play it again I would have nothing to do…

Reason 4:The exp for almost everything kinda sucks except doing quests. (I love to grind!..that sounds kinda wrong… but maybe I don’t wanna be right!)

That being said I loved the first two (Fallout Tactics wasn’t a game it was a waste of life) and I have high hopes for the next one.

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It was pretty fun as a one-man army game. Ensure cover for your main, sneak behind enemy lines, critical-hit them from behind at point blank range, use the rest of the characters only when strictly needed. I guess it wasn’t too bad as a TRPG either, though it could be broken the way noted above.

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:fungah:
Yeah it was an RPG… but so was Crono Cross…

Also an option in everyday life is to place a bullet in your brain…I just wouldn’t suggest it…

Fall Out Tactics sucked in sooooo many ways…

Every time I think of it my intelligence drops…

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Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth (ps1)
Game had a lot of potential but it’s dreaded because it’s so imbalanced. Either fix making it more fair and playable or add options to difficulty.