The world we live in is full of hype. When things don't live up to the hype generated by magazines, websites, and advertisements, it's disappointing. Have you ever gotten a video game that you thought would be the greatest thing, something that you had been waiting ages for, only to pop it in and come to the realization that it's nothing like you hoped? Maybe you should have played the demo or read more reviews. Maybe I should have too with these five games.
The Legend of Alon D'ar
[PlayStation 2, 2001]
Oh brother, what a game. I read about The Legend of Alon D'ar in Game Informer before it came out. They had a huge, multi-preview for it. It looked so cool being in full-3D with big environments, unusual character types, and for having a more Western style than the usual Final Fantasy. I got the game soon after it came out, and the cover art made me nervous. There he was, the generic main character in an outsider artist painting of his goofy face and burned hand floating in a purple cloud. It looked so cheap. The game was the same, starting with a vague and generic prophecy via bad voice acting and a scene of a burning village after the main character wakes up from his dream vision. How run-of-the-mill can you get? The combat system is similar to Final Fantasy's Active Time Battle, but it's broken. Speed plays a tremendous role in how many turns a character gets; you can easily die in the very first fight with the lightning fast little monsters if you don't use up all of your healing items. Not only is this difficult for the wrong reasons, but it looks terrible too. Some enemies attack almost once a second! Animations, lighting, and textures were all subpar. Strangely, I'd actually like to go back to this game to see how weird it is, but it's not gonna be a good game all of a sudden.
Desire to try again: Moderate
RPG Maker II
[PlayStation 2, 2002 (JP), 2003 (NA)]
I loved the first RPG Maker released in North America on the PS1 despite the limitations of the software. You could only do first-person Dragon Quest-style fights, spells and special attacks did not scale with character abilities, character stats were weirdly rigid for the most part, only three elemental types (such as fire/earth/water/lightning) could be used and only in a rock-paper-scissors triangle, and you were mostly restricted to making a medieval fantasy world. When I heard about RPG Maker II and the power it was supposed to have, I was really excited. When I got the game, I was pretty disappointed, though. The engine was much more powerful, but that power was utilized in a way that really hurt the usability. The graphics also took a nosedive, going from competent SNES or early PS1 sprites and backgrounds to minimalist polygon block-people. Colors seemed to be much more garish as well. I was really hoping for better graphics, so this bummed me out so much. The battles were still first-person too. I don't think first-person fights are so bad now after playing Dragon Quest and Shin Megami Tensei games, but we also have Unity and other manageable, full-power engines nowadays. There's no real reason to use this anymore unless you really like these aesthetics.
Desire to try again: Low
Floating Runner: Quest for the Seven Crystals
[PlayStation, 1996]
I thought I would really like Floating Runner; the game really smashed my expectations into bits. The visual style, the characters, and the levels looked cool at first glance, but this game has so many faults. Releasing before Super Mario 64 in Japan, Floating Runner didn't have any good models to go off of and used a tank control style akin to Resident Evil. This is a fast platform game, so this kind of setup doesn't work. Not to mention that the game is a split between really precise jumps and incredibly basic levels and has a terrible camera that makes it a lot harder to play. To top it all off, you can strangely continue infinitely, right from where you died with no real penalty. Time is the real enemy here, and if you do run out of time (due to those tough camera angles making it hard to navigate), you get a game over with no option to continue or load. What a bummer. One day, I'll beat it, but man will that be a grind.
Desire to try again: Moderate
Superman: The New Superman Adventures aka Superman 64
[Nintendo 64, 1999]
For people my age, Superman 64 does need an introduction. The game had tons of hype riding off of the popularity of Superman: The Animated Series, but it failed hard due to poor controls, buggy gameplay, bad level design, and blocky graphics. I rented the game from Giant Eagle or Blockbuster, excited to fly around Metropolis and play around with Superman's powers. I had read some cheat codes in, I believe, Nintendo Power and planned on using them in my sandbox ambitions. Initially, I had fun shooting heat rays and breathing ice breath, but then I tried the main storyline. What a disaster! Why did Superman have to fly through rings, and why did Lex Luthor call those rings a maze? I completed a few of the ring levels and then had to stop a car without any time to react. After a few tries, I did it. Then there were more rings. It got so bad and tiresome that I went back to messing around. What a mess indeed.
Desire to try again: Very low
Pokémon Sun & Moon
[3DS, 2016]
Every few years, I get excited by Pokémon again. When Diamond & Pearl were coming out, I went and bought Emerald in anticipation. I actually never finished Emerald but did buy and finish Pearl. Despite some bad design choices in that game, I had a lot of fun with it. When HeartGold & SoulSilver were about to release, I was still pumped. These games looked like some of the best ever! Unfortunately, when I got HeartGold I barely played it. I had played so much Pearl that I was burnt out on Pokémon. I came back again with Pokémon Y and had a lot of fun with that one again. I liked the new additions like Super Training and the enhanced online trading system. The game had some nice world design too. After Pokémon Y, I got Alpha Sapphire and the newly released Pokémon Moon in quick succession. I never finished either one. Burnout was a factor - these games are always pretty similar - but, in terms of Moon, I found the game far too easy and without much of a draw. Opposing trainers rarely had more than one or two Pokémon. The game lacked any real rival, something that has changed a lot in the Pokémon series over time, and the islands seemed way too relaxed for my liking. Too much dialogue was spent on talking about a food called malasada. The Pokémon in the game had an odd balance of old species, old ones with new forms for the Alola region, and some new Pokémon. I was excited to hear that HMs had gone away, but the game never pushed me to try harder. I've only picked up Pokémon Moon a few times since I got it. I've played so many of the other games already. It's just not a game for me.
Every few years, I get excited by Pokémon again. When Diamond & Pearl were coming out, I went and bought Emerald in anticipation. I actually never finished Emerald but did buy and finish Pearl. Despite some bad design choices in that game, I had a lot of fun with it. When HeartGold & SoulSilver were about to release, I was still pumped. These games looked like some of the best ever! Unfortunately, when I got HeartGold I barely played it. I had played so much Pearl that I was burnt out on Pokémon. I came back again with Pokémon Y and had a lot of fun with that one again. I liked the new additions like Super Training and the enhanced online trading system. The game had some nice world design too. After Pokémon Y, I got Alpha Sapphire and the newly released Pokémon Moon in quick succession. I never finished either one. Burnout was a factor - these games are always pretty similar - but, in terms of Moon, I found the game far too easy and without much of a draw. Opposing trainers rarely had more than one or two Pokémon. The game lacked any real rival, something that has changed a lot in the Pokémon series over time, and the islands seemed way too relaxed for my liking. Too much dialogue was spent on talking about a food called malasada. The Pokémon in the game had an odd balance of old species, old ones with new forms for the Alola region, and some new Pokémon. I was excited to hear that HMs had gone away, but the game never pushed me to try harder. I've only picked up Pokémon Moon a few times since I got it. I've played so many of the other games already. It's just not a game for me.
Desire to try again: Very low
I have more disappointing games to talk about. I can't do it all at once or I'll have no hype for you to crash and burn like my experience with The Legend of Alon D'ar. I should mention that just because a game is here, it doesn't mean that it's one of the worst games ever (though there are some that are); it just failed to live up to my hopes and dreams for it. I'll be back again some time with more dream crushers. Don't hold your breath, though.
I have more disappointing games to talk about. I can't do it all at once or I'll have no hype for you to crash and burn like my experience with The Legend of Alon D'ar. I should mention that just because a game is here, it doesn't mean that it's one of the worst games ever (though there are some that are); it just failed to live up to my hopes and dreams for it. I'll be back again some time with more dream crushers. Don't hold your breath, though.
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