Your Unpopular Video Game Opinions

[Trainer Gabriel]

On the topic of Final Fantasy...

Sephiroth is overrated. That's not an uncommon opinion. But I also think that Kefka is super overrated. I don't think he's that great of a villain, sorry. He has some funny one-liners and he does awful things that really make you want to take him down, but I don't think that's enough for him to consistently be considered one of the greatest villains in the series along with the similarly overrated Sephiroth (Rufus was the best antagonist in VII, he was cool). Plenty of villains accomplish that much, and are more compelling when on-screen when doing so.

Actually, I think FFVI is overrated as a whole, to be honest. It's a good game, but the cast is way too large for its own good. I'd rather it not even bother having characters like Umaro and Gogo if they're just going to be glorified extras, and the story is fine and hits the right notes, but never really soars. At least to me. In my personal rankings, I'd actually put it below pretty much every game other than I, II, III, maybe V, XII, and potentially VIII. Again, I like it (as I do most games in the franchise), but it just... doesn't do anything special for me? also, desperation attacks are dumb

While I don't intend to change your opinion, and you are certainly entitled to yours, one thing to keep in mind is that one of the main reasons FFVI is highly rated is because it was way ahead of its time. In 1994, there was nothing (that I know) that had as much character chemistry and development than any RPG before. Even then, apart from some gameplay improvements and systems later FFs made that may make FFVI feel slightly dated nowadays, everything about FFVI still holds up very well to this day. I say this as someone who didn't play the game (the GBA port) until 2014-15, and after already playing FFs I, II, III, IV, V, VII and X (and part of VIII) before - and have since played I-XII to completion at least once each - and VI easily ranks at the top of the Final Fantasy series for me (admittedly, after my second or third playthrough). And I have my doubts that that opinion will ever change.

As for Kefka himself, the primary reason he's a popular fan-favorite is the simple fact that he managed do what no other video game antagonist has ever done before or since: devastate the whole world to ruins and rule it, while slowly obliterating it to nothing for a whole year before the heroes finally manage to gain the strength and determination to stop him. I can honestly say that don't see how other FF villains accomplished as much as Kefka did, nor how they're more compelling (but I suppose that's a purely subjective matter). Kefka may not be the deepest villain in the FF series, or gaming in general, but he may very well have been the only antagonist who came the closest to accomplishing his goal: to eradicate all life on the planet that he deemed meaningless... where Sephiroth, in particular, failed.

FFVI may have had a large cast of characters, but I disagree about it being too large for its own good. The two characters you mentioned being glorified extras were exactly that because... they're optional characters. To even have optional chars that could be ignored completely, as well as being able to swap active party members basically at will after a certain point, was uncommon at the time (possibly the first RPG to ever do it). But just about the rest of the cast were just as well-developed as equally as anyone else, with their moments to shine through the story (provided the player took the time to do each character's quest in the WOR). Each character had lost something, but found a reason to live in the end, that being having another character for support... and Kefka's nihilistic views that life was meaningless because it would all die and rot away eventually, anyway, served as the perfect foil to that very belief for wanting to live for something... or someone. I'm still rather amazed at how well almost every character, hero and villain alike, tied into the story's central theme(s) together perfectly, and how consistently well-crafted it is from start to finish.

But, hey, if the game doesn't do anything special for you, I guess that's just how it is, then. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, after all - or, in this case, art. For my obligatory unpopular opinion, I'll say that I, myself, dislike FFX, besides the refined ATB system. I honestly didn't like the main cast of characters much, outside of maybe two tolerable ones. Maybe I'll grow to like it a bit if I played it again, but I doubt that.

 

[prog rocker]

For my obligatory unpopular opinion, I'll say that I, myself, dislike FFX, besides the refined ATB system. I honestly didn't like the main cast of characters much, outside of maybe two tolerable ones. Maybe I'll grow to like it a bit if I played it again, but I doubt that.

Is that an unpopular opinion? I'm asking because aside from VIII and XIII that's the game that gets the most hate instead of II, who actually deserves it.

 

[Ereshkigal]

Actually, I think FFVI is overrated as a whole, to be honest. It's a good game, but the cast is way too large for its own good. I'd rather it not even bother having characters like Umaro and Gogo if they're just going to be glorified extras, and the story is fine and hits the right notes, but never really soars. At least to me. In my personal rankings, I'd actually put it below pretty much every game other than I, II, III, maybe V, XII, and potentially VIII. Again, I like it (as I do most games in the franchise), but it just... doesn't do anything special for me? also, desperation attacks are dumb

I'll admit the one reason why I like VI, and the one thing it does few other video games dare to do: The heroes lose. They don't just lose, they lose massively. This is the only RPG I can remember playing where you try to save the world, fail epicly, and then have to pick up the pieces and salvage something. And there is no magic reset button; even your attempt to pick up the pieces ultimately involves a massive sacrifice.

 

[FinalArcadia]

@Trainer Gabriel
X is probably my favorite main game in the series (though my favorite overall game is FFTA) and in large part thanks to a cast that I overall loved (Seymour is my favorite antagonist in the series, and I loved the entire playable cast), so this looks like a case of "agree to disagree respectfully" haha. In all seriousness though, I definitely see how FFVI was a milestone for JRPGs (and perhaps games as a whole) for its time and see the merits of the game, even if it doesn't really do much for me personally. There are definitely aspects of it I enjoy a lot (mainly Locke's character and arcs regarding Rachel and Celes, and Terra as a whole is a strong character and one I like enough to have gotten all her gear in some of the mobile gacha games). Somehow, the spark that others see just isn't there for me though. The cast as a whole doesn't really personally appeal to me aside from Locke, Terra, Edgar, and sort of Celes, so that probably doesn't help when characters are the biggest thing to me in this series (part of why I am very forgiving of FFXV, since I LOVE 3/4 of the Chocobros and really enjoy some of the supporting cast too). Though to be fair, the only NES-SNES-era game of the series that I would consider one of my top favorites is IV. A game I think is less ambitious and definitely shows its age (and admittedly has issues with too many characters too and enjoying knocking them out of commission lmao, but there's just something about it that I enjoy greatly, it's weird lol.

In regards to Kefka, Caius mostly accomplished his goal by the end of XIII-2, with the effects of that eventually leading to the situation in Lightning Returns. Caius had a lot of charisma to me so I enjoyed seeing him more than Kefka; I think this is a matter of taste though since I definitely have certain villain types I'm more fond of than others, and the sorta sad backstory for Caius over Yeul is right up my alley compared to Kefka being more just destruction incarnate (even if the Magitek infusion stuff causing his instability is sort of to blame there).

But, to cut this short, I definitely respect the opinion of those who enjoy VI. I also enjoy reading thoughts on games from people who are clearly passionate fans of them, so even if it didn't change my opinion of FFVI, I do appreciate the response you posted about the game. One of the things I love about Final Fantasy as a series is that each main game is its own thing, and there's something for nearly everyone to find to enjoy between the 15 main games.

------

To throw another unpopular opinion in here, I immediately liked Nero more than Dante even as early as the beginning of DMC4. I like Dante, but never had much of an attachment to him (after DMC3, I preferred Vergil over him too), so I never had the dislike toward Nero over him being the main protagonist of DMC4 like a lot of other people did. I feel kinda gratified now since DMC5 seems to have finally made most of the fanbase sort of like Nero. Also never had an issue with his Kyrie romance; yeah, Nero did have a tendency to yell her name, but the girl was practically the only person left who ever treated him like anything less than a freak orphan; I liked just how much he clearly showed his concern for her.

I also prefer Nero's gameplay over Dante's in the series. The Devil Bringer/Buster Arms are super fun to use, revving Red Queen is cool, and Dante has so many options at his disposal since DMC3 that it's almost overwhelming. I see the appeal, but I prefer Nero over Dante for, like, literally everything in the series lol.

 

[prog rocker]

Another FF thing, not sure if it's unpopular or not, but still: Can we get a male healer, please? It's kinda weird that, to date there's not a single male healer in the games. No, I won't count whoever had the role in FFXV because as far as I know there's only playable guys and the games where you can customize the characters.

Doesn't help that most of the time, the female healer is also the love interest (or has a crush for the protagonist), making it even more cliché.

 

[TeaWest]

I personally think Tidus is the best FF protagonist ever designed because his cocky and entitled attitude and persona were purposefully designed to fit the fish out of water situation he finds himself in and it forces him to actually develop and grow as a character over the course of the game as he falls in love and becomes invested in saving Spira. It's fantastic character development.

 

[prog rocker]

I guess I should add mine: I don't find Tidus to be terrible, although some of his scenes from Dissidia are extremely corny and I have to get used to hear Ratchet every time he talks.

 

[Trainer Gabriel]

Is that an unpopular opinion? I'm asking because aside from VIII and XIII that's the game that gets the most hate instead of II, who actually deserves it.

Well, I guess that may depend on which message board you're on, since it is one of the more "love it or hate it" kind of games, depending on one's stance. I know one of the primary reasons FFX is so well-loved was because it was in the same boat as FFVII, in that it was the first entry-point to the series for many.

It does seem to get more love than hate around here anyway, near as I can tell, and is probably still one of the more popular FF titles, so I'd still qualify my stance as an unpopular opinion.

 

[Tactician Karina]

Benjamin from FF Mystic Quest should be in Dissidia. I like that he's in Theatrhythm but I would love to kick butt as him in the Dissidia games.

Nergal and Julius are the best FE villains in the series. (also it's a crime against humanity that whenever I wanna look up Julius artwork Google asks if I meant Lucina, hell no)

Also I would love for Byleth in FE Three Houses to be a silent protagonist, or at least give us the silent option. I find it frustrating that Japan gets that option but the west doesn't.

Well, I guess that may depend on which message board you're on, since it is one of the more "love it o hate it" kind of games, depending on one's stance. I know one of the primary reasons FFX is so well-loved was because it was in the same boat as FFVII, in that it was the first entry-point to the series for many.

It does seem to get more love than hate around here anyway, near as I can tell, and is probably still one of the more popular FF titles, so I'd still qualify my stance as an unpopular opinion.

I see a lot of mixed opinions on FFX from a love to downright hate, so it does depend on the boards/forums you frequent. I'd have to agree that, at least on this forum, X does get more love/respect.

 

[Poke Dragon]

I hate the mean idols in Splatoon, there I finally said it. Just sick and tired of seeing Callie being insulted by Marie fanboys and fangirls. Same thing of being tired of seeing Marina being insulted by Pearl fanboys and fangirls. Both of the mean idols don't do anything but shove their Splatfest victories on the nice idols' faces. This is why I'm glad Marina is being mean to Pearl as of recently since Pearl and her fanboys/fangirls are annoying as heck. This also makes up for the fact that Pearl has been not only mean, but also outright a bully to Marina when she got annoyed at losing three Splatfests in a row.

 

[Blockhead Pippi]

Wow did I ever start a FF discussion here.

Well for something a little more different,

I'm tired of Pokemon. There I've said it. I guess this would be one of the more unpopular opinions here since I'm posting this on a Pokemon forum, but I mean it. Pokemon just doesn't hold the same kind of charm on me like it used to, which I kinda hate to say since I still really like Pokemon and it was my everything for well over 20 years. But I think after all of these years, coupled with my sheer dislike of S/M that burned me off of the series, I just don't have a high interest it in anymore. Sword/Shield look interesting, but I just feel no desire to play it. Maybe that might change whenever it releases but right now I just don't see myself playing it.

 

[EggOfReason]

Here's my unpopular opinion. MOTHER 3 is overrated because I cannot stand Chapters 1-3, where I spent a good third of the game in those dumb chapters bored out of my mind. Lame character development for anyone other than the main family. Enemies that take out an eighth of your health early on. Not a masterpiece, just a good game that gets me angry at the thought of replaying it.

Wow did I ever start a FF discussion here.

Well for something a little more different,

I'm tired of Pokemon. There I've said it. I guess this would be one of the more unpopular opinions here since I'm posting this on a Pokemon forum, but I mean it. Pokemon just doesn't hold the same kind of charm on me like it used to, which I kinda hate to say since I still really like Pokemon and it was my everything for well over 20 years. But I think after all of these years, coupled with my sheer dislike of S/M that burned me off of the series, I just don't have a high interest it in anymore. Sword/Shield look interesting, but I just feel no desire to play it. Maybe that might change whenever it releases but right now I just don't see myself playing it.

Also to this: Pokémon's easy and formulaic. It's Nintendo's equivalent of the Madden series; except that every time they rehash the same old concepts, it looks prettier with more stuff with it (and it happens every few years).

Which is a shame, because Pokémon could be a vast open world game with tons of stuff to explore instead of the same tired small town start, the same three elemental starters, the same eight gym badges, and the same evil bad guys that always get beat. It'll always be the same unless someone has the galls to propose change at Game Freak.

 

[Johtohfiller]

Wow did I ever start a FF discussion here.

Well for something a little more different,

I'm tired of Pokemon. There I've said it. I guess this would be one of the more unpopular opinions here since I'm posting this on a Pokemon forum, but I mean it. Pokemon just doesn't hold the same kind of charm on me like it used to, which I kinda hate to say since I still really like Pokemon and it was my everything for well over 20 years. But I think after all of these years, coupled with my sheer dislike of S/M that burned me off of the series, I just don't have a high interest it in anymore. Sword/Shield look interesting, but I just feel no desire to play it. Maybe that might change whenever it releases but right now I just don't see myself playing it.

Here's my unpopular opinion. MOTHER 3 is overrated because I cannot stand Chapters 1-3, where I spent a good third of the game in those dumb chapters bored out of my mind. Lame character development for anyone other than the main family. Enemies that take out an eighth of your health early on. Not a masterpiece, just a good game that gets me angry at the thought of replaying it.


Also to this: Pokémon's easy and formulaic. It's Nintendo's equivalent of the Madden series; except that every time they rehash the same old concepts, it looks prettier with more stuff with it (and it happens every few years).

Which is a shame, because Pokémon could be a vast open world game with tons of stuff to explore instead of the same tired small town start, the same three elemental starters, the same eight gym badges, and the same evil bad guys that always get beat. It'll always be the same unless someone has the galls to propose change at Game Freak.

It's hard not to see Game Freak as lazy these days. Compare their games to Nintendo's first party franchises and it seems like they just aren't putting in the effort.

Gens 6 and 7 burned me out on the main series games which has me feeling wary about Sword & Shield. I'm mostly hoping it gets a good anime and some good spinoff games (I'd love a new Mystery Dungeon).

 

[FinalArcadia]

I totally get the burn-out with Pokemon; I've experienced that feeling as well and it kinda ebbs and flows. Gen V is the one that bummed me out since B/W were just okay to me, and B2/W2 I just did not enjoy in the slightest. Gen VII I enjoyed enough when playing Sun version, but it's not a game I'd ever really go back to like lots of the past ones, and I hated the handholding that comes from Pokemon trying to have more plot now (also part of why I don't like the Unova games; I honestly don't give a crap about plot in Pokemon lol, I'm just trying to go on my Pokemon journey; even worse once they brought in that alternate universe stuff). OR/AS was straight up bad, IMO, a bad remake in my eyes and I can't think of a single compliment to give those games.

Weirdly enough though - and this is my unpopular opinion for this post - I think X/Y is very underrated, and it is legitimately one of my favorites in the series. It brought me back to Pokemon with its mix of less plot than B/W, the nice designs for the Gen VI Pokemon, the trainer customization (which is STILL better than what the Alola games had afterward, like... what), and Kalos as a region, which is beautiful. I also liked the chibi-ish models more than always being normally proportioned like in S/M... It really bothers me that we never got a Z version, because I'd have been all over that. Kind of a shame that all the good will X/Y brought for me sort of evaporated with OR/AS (I'm sorry, I just... really, REALLY was disappointed with that one) and - to some degree - S/M.

I'm cautiously optimistic for Sword/Shield though. The region is very appealing, at the very least.

TL;DR
X/Y versions are underrated and some of the best to me
Plot in Pokemon is a futile effort since they never go all the way in making it engaging, and it just causes problems like excessive railroading the player around; keep it simple like in the old games

 

[Poke Dragon]

Time for yet another unpopular opinion, Gen 3 is the worst generation, the fact that it's so reliant on Surf to get through the main game is my reason for it, what's worse is that there aren't many viable Pokemon who can use the move effectively in battle early on, making it an annoying liability rather than something that allows for smooth gameplay. It has simply too much water, and I don't mean that as a meme, I just hate Hoenn's geography so much that the only way it didn't become such a bother in the remakes was because of soaring.

 

[Tactician Karina]

While on the topic of Pokémon, I can't get into the side games and much prefer the mainline games. The only side game I actually liked was Pokémon Trozei, and that's cause I like puzzle games. I couldn't even get into Colosseum, XD, Battle Revolution, and the Mystery Dungeon games (and I like roguelike games/dungeon crawlers).

For mainline games opinions, then it would be that I actually liked gens VI and VII and didn't have too much of a problem with them (though I'm not sure if this is still exactly unpopular or not).

 

[Blockhead Pippi]

Weirdly enough though - and this is my unpopular opinion for this post - I think X/Y is very underrated,

You and me both. I can kinda get why people disliked X/Y and I concur they're not perfect games, but I still found them enjoyable and fun for what they offered. They were certainly leagues better than S/M, which I did not have fun with.

I'd go into depth about why I so vehemently dislike S/M, but I've done that far too many times now and I'm tired. Just know that I had big issues with the excessive handholding and horribly interruptive cutscenes. And the ending sequence especially.

 

[lordfridge]

I don't think Trish looks ugly in the new Devil May Cry.

 

[Ryan Massey]

Pokemon is for children so it will never grow up and evolve as a series.

 

[Aulos]

I agree that X/Y are underrated. When I played them, I knew they weren't quite as good as Gen V, but I wasn't really disappointed with them, much unlike what I'd experience with S/M. I also thought that Kalos was a fantastic region, and I loved the OST. Pokemon OSTs have trended to become rather forgettable to me, X/Y was a LARGE exception for me.

Nevertheless, my reasons for disliking S/M are different from others. I'm not bothered by story, by cutscenes, or "hand-holding". I'm bothered my inconsistent difficulty, the SOS wild battle feature, the region being so limited (very narrow paths, limited areas to surf/fish), and the lack of National Dex. Those all came together to make S/M just feel very poor. R/S/E were formerly my least favorite games in the series, but then S/M came around... (We don't talk about LGP/E.)