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[J. R. Hill]

Or, I guess games where you were totally in to it, then everything went...anticlimactic

For me, Twilight Princess.  The game builds up Zant into this huge awesome evil magician, you have this semi-awesome battle against him, and then suddenly Ganondorf is here and the battle against him takes what feels like 2 minutes.

[Aquin]

Grand Theft Auto 4.  I couldn't even finish it, because it just dragged on for waaaay too long.  Oh oh, and the ending to System Shock was *bloody* awful.

It's hard for me to remember some games, since usually I put them aside and out of my mind.

[John Nesky]

I feel sad putting Beyond Good and Evil here because it honestly was a pretty good game. But the ending was just bizarre. 

[kinnas]

Starcraft 2
 

[supershigi]

Suikoden 2.  I really wanted to like it because I loved the first one, but so many of the cutscenes felt contrived to me.  And I felt like they were building up to something really big and revelational, but when they finally got to the critical moment I was totally let down.

[LemonScented]

Fahrenheit*.

Brilliant noir feel, focussing really carefully on maintaining mental health in this toe-curlingly banal world cast into a new light by the opening scene. Two Acts of Psychological thriller par excellence. And then... And then Act 3.

SPOILERS?

Uh, so it turns out you're not a mentally ill guy after all, but The Chosen One. I think. You're supposed to save the world from The Internet, or some psychic aliens, or robot cockroaches, or something. I think you turn into a zombie at some point. I'm hazy on the details because I tried to block out the plot because it was making the Bullshit Receptors in my brain hurt too much.

Fahrenheit was the game that made me make a solemn vow to myself - that the moment a game asks me to save the world is the moment I turn the game off and never go back to it.




* (Indigo Prophecy if you're a 'Merican)

[I_smell]

Dark Void. There's so many small good ideas in there, how did it come out so bland?? I couldn't even finish it.
The guns are generic boring laser guns, the enemies are all the same, and I was waitin for that big cutscene where the characters get interesting but before I knew it I was halfway through. It really seems like they had to cut out a shitload of cutscenes.
It's like WE HAVE TO TAKE DOWN THE OPPRESSIVE FACTION and I'm like WHAT? WHO? I JUST GOT HERE.
Nikola Tesla's in the game building jetpacks for a weird tribe underground, and they just kinda breeze passed it like it's normal.

Every time you start a new mission it feels like you've skipped about 5 others. It feels like you're playing the first 5 minutes of a game for about 7 hours. It's actually weird how forgettable it is.

[Contrary]

Bioshock. Nothing about the characters, the plot, or the gameplay made me want to continue playing.

[ezuk]

For me it was Torchlight.  About two thirds of the way through, clicking on things to collect more loot lost its charm.  Then the lack of a story, characters, and engaging world made itself felt.  I found the game hard to finish.

It was strange to find a mechanic that started out as fun and addictive lose its lustre, and then to discover that it was pretty well the only thing that had kept me playing.

[Nava]

Limbo.


here come the pitchforks....

[Chris Z]

Limbo.


here come the pitchforks....

I think I see where you might be coming from though.  While the game is extremely atmospheric and beautiful, there wasnt enough exposition as to why you should care about the little girl.  The game and ending might have been much more emotionally moving if they fleshed this relationship out more.  Think of Up by Pixar, the whole theatre was bawling in the first 10 minutes (and in a few scenes throughout the movie) because they did such a good job in establishing a meaningful relationship between the characters.  Although I can somewhat understand why the makers of Limbo would want to keep it mysterious.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

i don't see the point in pointing out which games moved us the least, it just seems like an excuse to hate on games rather than something that'd lead to interesting discussion.

bearing that in mind, i'd say that when a game fails to move me, it's usually not the game's fault, but my fault for failing to sufficiently engage with the game (due to a number of reasons; perhaps i let some little annoying thing in the game get in the way of enjoying it).

now if this topic is specifically about melodrama -- e.g. moments in games where you were intended to be moved, but were not, i'd say the most melodramatic game to me was ff8. it was supposed to be about a love story, but i never really cared about squall or rinoa or most of the other characters. the only part of the game that moved me at all was the flashback sequences with leguna and squall's mother (who i forget the name of); that was a much more interesting love story to me than the main one between squall and rinoa.

but again, a lot of people were moved by the squall-rinoa story, perhaps i just didn't empathize with the characters enough, whereas others were more similar to those characters so it matter to them more. squall struck me as kind of a jerk: always secretly thinking in his head negative things about others and about the situation, but never saying it out loud. i found it hard to want that kind of guy to be happy.

[RCIX]

i don't see the point in pointing out which games moved us the least, it just seems like an excuse to hate on games rather than something that'd lead to interesting discussion.

Didja just miss the last post?

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

i did, but that doesn't change what i said; but speaking of limbo, i don't think limbo's purpose was to move people, but to unsettle them. it's hardly a flaw to say that a game doesn't move people if it doesn't intend to.

[Seth]

I didn't play it but I watched my brother go through it:

Metroid: Other M.  And it tries so hard, too.

[voidSkipper]

The entire Elder Scrolls series. No exceptions.

[J. R. Hill]

i don't see the point in pointing out which games moved us the least, it just seems like an excuse to hate on games rather than something that'd lead to interesting discussion.

I think of it as mistakes we can learn from.  The game designers likely thought these were great story ideas, but for one reason or another they didn't work.

Also, I second FF8, but for different reasons.  I was enjoying the game world, gameplay, etc. but the it-was-all-a-dream ending literally ruined the game for me.

[Hangedman]

FF10.
Stupid main character who accepts anything he sees, ditzy sidekick you'll only use in fights because she can Steal, walking stereotype who just isn't all that useful for most of the game, buxom tsundere girl who stops being a bitch too quickly like they didn't want fanfic writers to get impatient because she wasn't nice enough, weak summoner girl with a death wish and no sense of pattern recognition. And they all go stumbling around putting themselves in danger for reasons unclear even to them. Kimahri wasn't bad, but his overarching problem seemed a bit silly, as if being short could preclude you saving the world. The only character with any depth was Auron, and that's because he actually seemed to pay attention to what was going on.

[I_smell]

Also game that failed to move me: Far Cry 2.
There's a bit about halfway through where all your mates get shot, and it's so boring. It tries to make everything all dramatic with people dieing n whatnot, but up until that point I'd just considered all these guys to be like bots in a multiplayer deathmatch. I don't know what any of their names are and they've showed zero personality.
I was like "is this supposed to be some big awesome twist or something?" but their characters are just nothing-people.

Bioshock. Nothing about the characters, the plot, or the gameplay made me want to continue playing.

YOU CRAZY

FF10.
Stupid main character who accepts anything he sees, ditzy sidekick you'll only use in fights because she can Steal, walking stereotype who just isn't all that useful for most of the game, buxom tsundere girl who stops being a bitch too quickly like they didn't want fanfic writers to get impatient because she wasn't nice enough, weak summoner girl with a death wish and no sense of pattern recognition. And they all go stumbling around putting themselves in danger for reasons unclear even to them.

Sounds like every Final Fantasy game ever OH SNAP!!

[benbradley]

Or, I guess games where you were totally in to it, then everything went...anticlimactic

Generally speaking, there are a lot of games which work on the principal of progressively unlocking different levels which you can then play in any order. Maybe you unlock multiple levels at a time or with a credits system, and usually you can go back to them when you want to get a better score or try for a gold medal. I'm sure everyone can think of a game like this.

These games almost never have an ending. I think they should! (kinda). I always think it'd be nice that after you unlocked and played your final level (which ever that happens to be in your case) you'd get a congratulations screen, to celebrate unlocking and playing every level. And then when you get a gold medal/AAA time/etc on every level you should get a second congratulations screen. I can see why you might not want to do this, you want the player to keep playing and not feel like it's all over, but it's a clear milestone and some small piece of recognition from the developer that you've achieved it could be very rewarding instead of just being thrown back to the main menu to choose another level.

Also game that failed to move me: Far Cry 2.

I didn't care too much about your "friends" in the game either, but I found it really moving. Very atmospheric, it felt like a very tormented country and that you had the chance to do something about it. The end was also just bizarre but really good, no spoilers but it was a nice change to the usual "boss fight" type ending.