I could cop out on this and go with Final Fantasy XIII. I mean, I loved the story, the characters, the graphics, the Paradigm system, and the voice acting. But, the battle system, the upgrading, and the overall "watch long cut-scene, play for a few minutes, watch another cut-scene" really turned me off.
But, I'm not copping out. I'm going with two games that not only disappointed me, but made me wary for the future installments of the series'. These two games had solid foundations that were either squandered or ignored. And, both of these had basic ideas that just failed to hold the magic the others had worked so hard to make.
Ooohhh! Looks fun!
First off, is Front Mission Evolved. I love SRPGs. Love them. And when I first got into playing them I played a game about giant robots. That game was Front Mission 3. I had already fallen in love with Final Fantasy: Tactics, but now I had that same deep, fun, and enchanting gameplay with robots! How could that go wrong? Well, it didn't. It was amazing and I sunk days into the game. When the PS2 came out and Front Mission 4 was announced, I jumped on that immediately. FM4 was super hard, but fun just the same. It still kept the grid battles and the deep mech customization that the series was known for. Four games with turn-based, grid mech combat were thrown out for Front Mission Evolved. I was so excited for Evolved. I had convinced friends to get the game because there was supposed to be co-op. I was a bit worried about the shift to real-time action. It looked more like Gears of War than a traditional Front Mission, but I was willing to give it a chance. Trailers blew me away! The action! The intense mech fights! The silly cheesy/serious story! Anime tropes! It was everything I wanted in the series except that it changed to real-time. I was pretty sure it would be good.
It still gets me excited even though I know better
Boy, was I wrong. The mechs controlled well enough, but it was bland. The environments were bland and empty. The enemies were lifeless. The game strove for realism, and then put giant floating emblems about like coins in a Mario game. Every time you got used to the game being grounded, something silly like an emblem would pull you out. There were way too many collectables, too. From finding transmitters, emblems, chests and parts; it seemed all you did was look for things to pick up. I was disappointed, but the real blows were yet to land.
So awesome looking! ...and yet.
First, they took out co-op. No longer could you and friends run around and blow stuff up together. Instead, we were given a poorly designed and generic deathmatch. Yep. I played it a week after launch and found a match with two people in it. That's it. It was two-on-one and this was the only "viable" match found. I looked at the others and most were hampered by the terrible server issues. So, not only was I denied a chance to play with my friends, but what I was left with was not even worth the bother. Next came the awful bosses. You are constantly accompanied by help in the missions. These army folks hang around and fight along side you right up till the boss. Then, stupidly, the boss cuts you off from them and handily creates an arena. The first time it happened, I accepted. The fifth? I didn't care any more. The best part about these arena fights is that you fight two mechs at once. So, you have no support, but there are two bosses to fight. Most of the time this means that you just run away taking pot-shots when you can. It gets tedious and frustrating and finally stupid. And since it happens the same way every time, I really felt that the team phoned it in. Which is what I started doing during boss fights. Lastly, and this is what really tore it for me, the best levels in the game are the ones where you are on foot. Yeah, the best levels in a mech game are the ones where you are not in a mech. These are pretty fun, and hectic. The fact that you fight mechs on occasion make them difficult, but fun. I loved the drama and the challenge of these levels, but if this is what I wanted, I wouldn't have bought a mech game! Overall, Evolved wasn't the evolution the series needed or wanted.
Seriously, the best part of the game takes place outside the mechs
Another deep disappointment goes to Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. These games just got progressively worse. The first Sly title had small hubs with linear levels attached. It felt like Mario 64 in a lot of ways and was really fun and enjoyable. Sly 2 moved to giant hubs. Instead of linear missions branching off, the missions instead took place in the hub. This was weird at first, but it grew on me. What didn't grow on me was the increased roles of Bentley and Murray, Sly's two idiot side-kicks. I wanted to play as the nimble Sly not the lumbering Murray or the slow and stupid Bentley. Sly 3 basically takes the title character and gives him a bit part. I only lasted through the first chapter because the missions were split between the three evenly. For every enjoyable Sly mission, I had to wheel about as Bentley or bounce Murray like a giant rubber ball. Even the boss fight was split between them all.
This is fun...
This is not...
I suppose I could have forgiven this and pressed on if not for the completionist in me. Instead of having hidden collectables or treasures to steal and sell, this game decided that speed runs were what all the cool kids wanted. So, instead of using my skills to steal things (hmm, sounds like something a bloody thief would do, right?), I would have to finish a mission in under 90 seconds. Yeah, no. I may go back to this game and finish out the story, but I was so annoyed by the split cast and the reliance on speed runs to get completion percentages that it may take a titanic effort to do so. Oh, and the cast grows by leaps and bounds, meaning that Sly gets less screen time the further you get. I'm worried for Thieves in Time.
The ensemble cast
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