- 2 months ago
When fan feedback ruined great games
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00:00Hoo-oo-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh!
00:03Yep, that's the right tone I want. OK.
00:05All right there, you little demons, Jules here for WhatCulture.com, back again with
00:09another episode of the awesomely named and awfully hosted Choose Your Own Adventure,
00:14the weekly medieval-themed format where I, the crown Jules of WhatCulture.com,
00:18take a list chosen by you, yes you, the person who is gearing up as of the time of recording
00:22to do one of the biggest streaming events that I've personally ever done. You see,
00:27over on FGS, the main channel for all of my work for, I am going to be streaming from Monday
00:33through
00:33to Friday across the entirety of the Steam Next Fest, and I'm going to be trying to play as many
00:38demos as I can. How many is that, Jules? Well, it's probably going to be like between 50 and
00:45100 games, and I'm probably going to be mad by the end of it. So tune in on the FGS
00:48channel to
00:49see me descend slowly of what's left of my sanity just being eroded away. Yes, you can decide what
00:56list I dial out to you each and every week, and this week we have none other to thank
00:59than Full Metal Soldier, or MTL Soldier, if you want to get technical about things, for their
01:07suggestion of times that video games were improved by fans, and they came out even worse. You see,
01:15here's the thing, we're a very particular bunch, us gamers, really, aren't we? We know what we like,
01:20we know what we don't like, and sometimes what we think we like isn't actually what we like when
01:23we delivered it in a way that we don't like, but we thought we did like. And sometimes we're
01:26very loud about those points, and we go onto message boards, or make YouTube videos, or just
01:31stand in the street in our underwear yelling at anyone who will listen about what we want
01:36from our games. But here's the thing, friends, sometimes we're not right. Where am I going
01:42with this? Oh yeah, it's eight times that listening to fans made video games worse.
01:47Einstein, Cleopatra, Hercules, Dracula, and Karl Marx all walk into a bar.
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03:13on the screen.
03:148. Getting Rid Of The Timer Dead Rising 4
03:18One of the most divisive gameplay aspects of the original Dead Rising trilogy is the in-game
03:22timer which places a hard ceiling on how long players have to actually finish the main story.
03:28Many felt that this made the game less fun, because it discouraged exploration and put pressure
03:33on them to race through the core story as fast as possible. Capcom listened to the complaints
03:39and made the timer more forgiving in Dead Rising 3 in particular, but because some fans
03:43still weren't happy, they ditched it entirely for the series' most recent entry, Dead Rising
03:494. And yay it, perhaps the single most vocal complaint about the fourth game was that the
03:55lack of an in-game timer robbed the experience of its overarching tension and unease. Capcom was
04:01like, oh my god, shut up, okay, we're taking it away, what do you mean you're now crying
04:05that you don't have it, what do you want, what do you want from me in my silly zombie
04:10game?
04:11Some felt that the sequel tried too hard to streamline and even casualise the gameplay
04:16to its overall detriment, where a fair compromise would have probably just been including the
04:20option to toggle it on or off. Surprising how such a simple thing would have saved so much
04:25hassle. Capcom's just there like, you don't want it? Fine, I'll take it away, I'm ripping
04:30it up, I'm burning it. You want it back? Christ, if only we'd made a toggle. My kingdom
04:38for a toggle.
04:407. Make It Harder, Devil May Cry 3, Dante's Awakening
04:44The early days of the Devil May Cry franchise are evidently defined by Capcom's struggles
04:49to balance the series' difficulty. Case in point, some just absolutely moaned until
04:55they were blue in the face that the first game was too challenging, and so Capcom responded
04:59by making Devil May Cry 2 hilariously easy, to the point that most of the fanbase cried
05:04foul that they had massively course corrected in the wrong direction. Capcom once again,
05:09what do you want from me, my silly devil game? I love that Capcom in my mind is just like
05:17a parent who's got like so many screaming kids around, and they just do not know what to do with
05:23themselves. They've gone a little bit loopy. Just give daddy affection. Don't, actually, don't you, cut that. That's not right.
05:31So Capcom promised fans that this issue would be ironed out for Devil May Cry 3. However, once again, it
05:37kind of botched its balancing.
05:39Resulting in what remains the most punishingly difficult entry, pretty much in the entire
05:43franchise. For the game's western release, Capcom infamously made hard mode from the Japanese
05:48version the normal default mode, which combined with a brutally unforgiving checkpoint system
05:53ensured that even seasoned players of DMC found it way too challenging for its own good.
05:59In fact, the feedback was so vocal that when Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition was released the next year,
06:06Capcom rebalanced the entire difficulty while also introducing a more amenable checkpoint system.
06:12Finally, finally, Capcom said,
06:15Do you love me now? Do you love me now? Please? I haven't got enough money to pay for you
06:21all to go to college.
06:22I just need one of you to like me.
06:246. Including the Batmobile. Batman Arkham Knight.
06:28Now, despite the outpouring of love for both Batman Arkham Asylum and Batman City, many fans
06:33were still a little disappointed that neither game included one of the most iconic facets of
06:37the Dark Knight's repertoire, a drivable Batmobile. But Rocksteady heard fans loud and clear. Not loud
06:46enough that they introduced it in the second game, but loud and clear enough that the third game, Arkham Knight,
06:51got the damn Batmobile.
06:53Now, the marketing certainly made the Batmobile look like a fantastic way to explore Gotham,
06:57but once players finally got their hands on that game, it was clear that Rocksteady had, uh, kinda whiffed it.
07:05You see, the Batmobile is far and away the most contentious and polarizing aspect of the entire game,
07:11given that you're largely forced to use it in a number of tedious and frustrating combat and stealth
07:16sequences. Like, just for the record, driving around in the Batmobile and exploring the city
07:22in that way is so much fun. I actually love that aspect of it. But being told that, hey,
07:29whoa, hey, I'm using Batmobile again. I'm just like, do I not have an option to not use this? I
07:35mean,
07:35I could actually solve this problem by doing a lot of things that don't involve the Batmobile.
07:39No, no, no, no, buddy. Hey, whoa, you gotta use that Batmobile. You asked for it? You got it.
07:44You got it in everything. It's now a tank. Okay. Uh, whatever.
07:51Put simply, it just actually didn't feel that good to use and was way overused when it came to the
07:56gameplay elements, so it ensured that a badass method of transportation quickly became a massive chore.
08:02Pretty much no discussion about this game is complete without a prolonged rant about how annoying
08:07the Batmobile is. And you know what? That is a damn shame.
08:11Number five. More strategy. Valkyria Revolution.
08:15Now, 2017's Valkyria Revolution, a spin-off of the tactical RPG franchise Valkyria Chronicles that I'm
08:20just learning about now, and I'm a huge fan of Valkyria Chronicles games, and I'm actually kind of
08:26annoyed that I'm finding out this way that there's… I don't know why I'm checking my watch like it's 2017.
08:32I'm going to put a note down for me to check out this game because I didn't know about this.
08:36I… how did I not know about this game?
08:39Now, 2017's Valkyria Revolution, a spin-off from the tactical RPG franchise Valkyria Chronicles,
08:45which is amazing because Valkyria Chronicles 4 lets you have a dog as your tank commander,
08:49looked to broaden the series' player base, and unfortunately, it spectacularly backfired. You see,
08:55when the demo for the game was released, fans en masse lamented the greater emphasis on action
08:59over the series' expected strategy elements, feeling that a core facet of his identity was
09:04watered down and dumbed down. So the blowback from diehard fans was potent enough that Sega
09:09promised to retool the combat before launch to introduce more of the familiar strategy elements,
09:15and they definitely did that, but it was a messy, messy implementation that only made the game worse.
09:21Given that the strategy gameplay was only injected into the game in the final months of development,
09:26there clearly wasn't enough time to get it right, resulting in a clunky mish-mash of mechanics
09:32which satisfied absolutely nobody, neither the action nor strategy crowds. Ultimately,
09:38a lot of critics and fans felt that Sega would have been better just sticking to their guns and
09:43going all out on the action front, considering that this half-baked compromise pleased basically nobody.
09:494. Tone the cutscenes down. Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain
09:54Metal Gear Solid 4 was widely praised for its ultra-cinematic send-off for the franchise icon
10:00Solid Snake, which felt like peak Hideo Kojima in every sense of the word. But there were also fans
10:06who saw the game as a step too far in the self-indulgent for Kojima, and that the balance
10:11between gameplay and cutscenes was simply too unwieldy for its own good. Obviously, they were yet to experience
10:17what Death Stranding would be, which is the full rotation, the full Kojima sphere, where he just goes,
10:22oh, I'm up my own arse. That is to say that Metal Gear Solid 4's cutscenes comprised about
10:27half of the entire game, with an ending sequence that is shockingly close to being feature-length.
10:34With Metal Gear Solid V however, Kojima evidently took that feedback on board, toning down the rather
10:39lengthy cutscenes and ensuring that the player had more hands-on time. And while the fifth game arguably
10:45touts the strongest gameplay of the series, many were actually ultimately left disappointed by just
10:51how infrequent the cutscenes actually were. The grandiose cinematic sequences from the previous
10:56MGS games were desperately few and far between, ensuring that the story seemed like a total
11:02afterthought compared to the sprawling open-world gameplay they got their hands on. Don't get me
11:08wrong, I had a great time with this game, but the more I think about it, it didn't feel like
11:13a totally
11:13Kojima experience without being able to sit down, walk away from your entire console or computer,
11:20make you dinner, go take the dog for a walk, phone your nan for a bit, and she does go
11:24on.
11:25Oh, she does go on. And then you come back in, and you've only missed about like two plot points,
11:30because they've decided that they were actually going to take a trip to the beach. They were going
11:33from A to B, but they went to the C instead. And then they make some joke about Princess Mario
11:39or
11:39something like that. Yes, I used Princess Mario, they had to do it for legal reasons to change it.
11:46Ooh, a bit awkward in here, lost the crowd here with that one, big bitch.
11:51But anyway, don't worry about that, because even if you did find that
11:54Metal Gear Solid 5 was a bit short on the old cutscene front, like I said before,
11:59you've got Death Strand in 1 and 2.
12:01Number 3. Make it less linear, Mirror's Edge Catalyst.
12:04Now Mirror's Edge was genuinely lauded for its fluid parkour-infused traversal,
12:08gameplay and sprightly visuals, though many did feel that it also felt a little bit short of
12:12its full potential by being far too linear. Given that the free running gameplay implied
12:17a degree of freedom, there was considerable disappointment that players were largely on
12:21rails for the most of the experience, and that there was little opportunity to experiment or
12:26to run off the beaten track as it were. But for 2016's belated sequel Mirror's Edge Catalyst,
12:32developer DICE seemed to answer fans' prayers by revealing that it would transpire within
12:35an open world sandbox, which their players were free to explore.
12:40However, Catalyst's open world was a big, fat disappointment. A bafflingly sterile empty
12:46environment which never really felt alive in any sense, from the somnambulant NPCs to the general
12:52environment repetition copy-paste scenarios. It also didn't help that despite the apparent freedom on
12:58offer, many of the core missions still forced you down a linear path regardless. Ultimately,
13:02it feels like a middle ground between the original's linearity and Catalyst's listless openness that
13:08would have probably been the right way to go. But that ain't where we went, friends. We just went
13:13into nowhere and that game was so bad that it killed the entire franchise. Sick. The fact that they
13:19haven't even brought it back, even tried anything else in the years between, is mind-blowing.
13:262. Put Anakin in the Game – Star Wars Battlefront 2
13:30Though Star Wars Battlefront 2 had one of the most tumultuous launch periods of any video game
13:36ever, it was eventually shaped into a worthwhile experience through patches and free content drops.
13:41By far the most vocal request from fans was actually the inclusion of Anakin Skywalker as a new
13:47hero character, and in early 2019 that wish was finally, finally granted. But the joy was incredibly
13:54short-lived, as it didn't take long for fans to realise that Anakin was hilariously overpowered
13:59to the extent of being genuinely broken. I mean, the prophecy does label him as the wonderchild
14:06that was going to rebalance the force, but rebalance my ass, he's tipping the scale off the entire
14:11system right now. Beyond having insane overall stats, Anakin was also the only hero to have a fourth
14:17ability, making him excessively powerful to the point that he was extremely difficult for other players
14:22to take on. Now, Anakin, of course, like I've just said, should be a highly powered force user given
14:28that he's the, well, the face of the franchise, but at the cost of the misery of other players?
14:34Well, that's kind of funny, but no, no, come on. After a few months of this, months, DICE finally
14:40relented and gave Anakin a nerve, in turn restoring some absolute balance to the force to a game that had
14:46run chaotically amok. 1. Make the world bigger
14:50Dragon Age Inquisition
14:51Though it was broadly well received by critics, many fans felt that Dragon Age 2 was a major step
14:56down from the original game, largely because players were constrained within this tiny city
15:00of Kirkwall for the entire game. With recycled assets throughout and a patent lack of environmental
15:06variety, it was painfully clear that this RPG sequel was being rushed to market by EA.
15:12But Bioware undeniably took the feedback on board for threequel Dragon Age Inquisition,
15:18which offered up a more expansive, semi-open world structure. Sounds good so far, right?
15:23And while Inquisition was deemed a major improvement in many broad areas,
15:28it was also widely criticised for going too far in the opposite direction and being massive to its own
15:33detriment. The game world is so huge and yet so very empty and lacking and interesting things to do,
15:40likely as a result of the open world arms race that was going on in the early 2010s,
15:44where just about every remotely open world game was trying to be bigger than the next one without
15:49remembering that bigger should also come with better. Yeah, there was just nothing to do in
15:55this. You're just like, wow, this is the prettiest, longest walk I've ever not been on in real life.
16:02It's a textbook example of quantity over quality, for while Inquisition had a lot going for it,
16:07its world was deeply, thunderously dull. And then we go, my friends, those were eight times that
16:14listening to fans made games worse. Hope that you enjoyed that and let me know what you thought
16:19about it down in the comments section below and put your suggestion for next week's episode down there
16:23as well. And just remember, like I said before, put a mental reminder in for the 13th of October,
16:28because I'll be over on the FGS Future Games Show YouTube channel where I'll be streaming every
16:33single day for as long as I physically can. Which remember, I'm approaching my 40s. It ain't going
16:37to be like all day. My bones ache just being alive. Come on, guys. Just check me out there. I'll
16:44be
16:44streaming as many demos as I can throughout the Steam Next Fest. It would mean a lot if you would
16:48show up
16:48and give your support. Big love to you, my friends. And also, if you want to chat to me on
16:52the social
16:52medias, you can do so by going over here where I'm at retroj, but the O is a zero. And
16:56you can follow my
16:57lovely editor's site over on her social medias over here. But before I go, I just want to say
17:01one thing. See, this is the thing. We've been talking today about times where listening to fans
17:06made things worse. But you know what? You should listen to me, because what I'm about to say is
17:11going to blow your mind. You, my friend. You're a massive ledge. You deserve the best. You deserve
17:17love, happiness and respect. We all do as human beings, all right? So treat yourself with that love
17:22first and push it outwards to your neighbor as well. Start spreading love in this world,
17:27because trust me, there's a lot of hate going on here and it's, uh, it can be very overwhelming at
17:32times. But the only way that we're going to get through this crazy thing called life is together.
17:36So make sure that you're building bridges instead of burning them, going out there with love in your
17:40heart for your neighbor as well as yourself. Because at the end of the day, that's all that matters,
17:44that I hope that you're living a healthy and happy life, all right? Now get out there and smash it.
17:48Big love from me to you, all right? As always, I've been Jules. You have been
17:52awesome. Never forget that. I'll speak to you soon. Bye.
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