Games that had a good premise, but fell short of being a great game

Elden Ring

It's basically just Dark Souls 7 *Big Map Edition*

Mass Effect Andromeda- had a cool idea of a new galaxy where "we are the aliens" and such, but absolutely squandered the setting with only 2 new sentient species, a forgettable crew, and a rehashed story. The first 3 ME games were great, but Andromeda was a let down. The gameplay was still fun but the aforementioned problems made it a okay game, not a great game.

Persona 5 Royal. Playing it now, at January.

I wouldn't say I expected a great game, its a jrpg, and those usually don't have great gameplay, and this is no different. But I am absolutely shocked at the ways this story is bad and how badly written out n presented the characters are. For how much Makoto is gassed up her character development, her confidant arc, her palace are all lackluster.

They completely botch Ann after the first palace (which is pretty good story wise).

And so much of the game is just toothless when it comes to the thematic subject matter of the game. Shitty excuses for it like: well it's a video game, it's an anime, it's a jrpg, it's persona don't fly for me either. I played Kentucky Route Zero this year (pretty great story by any measure), i've seen well written or thematically potent anime (or both) with the likes of Kaguya, Evangelion, and Monster. I'm sure someone more well versed in anime can rattle off even better examples. Mother 3 exists, so the jrpg thing don't fly, FF7 I played last year or the year prior, and while the story itself isn't all that strong, it has a good cast of characters and the themes are consistent.

And the final nail in the coffin is that its the 5th person game following up Persona 3 a game that explores the concept of death n loss (with an absolute banger ending, shit game tho) and Persona 4 which is thematically about being true to yourself, being proud of the weird n different person you are and having self confidence. And it nails that shit (albeit again behind a mediocre jrpg).

5 aint even providing taht shit, and I'm not a story first guy. I'm a gameplay guy, so it goes without saying what I thought of the gameplay lol.

Gameplay wise

Bayonetta 2. The premise is that its a sequel to Bayonetta one of the greatest action games ever made. The problem? In every meaningful way that counts, its a step back in terms of combat, depth, enemies, and the rival boss fight compared to the first game. Substantially so.

@jg4xchamp: You know wut? As big of a Persona fan as I am (having played P4G, P5, and P5R) I can't help but agree with you about P5S. I didn't finish it and am mostly drawn by the story, but there wasn't enough there to keep me hooked. P4G I thought was a perfect balance of gameplay and story but P5 imo was a step back in story and P5S was a step back in both imo.

Idk maybe it's because I felt P5 wrapped things up nicely and P5S was an excuse to keep the money train going. I really don't know, will have to revisit it.

That said the Persona series is still god-tier imo.

P5S? he‘s talking about Royal

Me re-reading the first sentence of their post and realizing how drunk I was when I responded...

@Miyomatic: 🤣

"But the part where it falls flat is the mech combat. It was so derivative and overly simplistic."

That reminds me of the helicopter parts of AC Assault Horizon. Could have been so much better, way too simplistic.

When they add certain vehicles, it's a real opportunity and sometimes the simplicity ruins it.

Especially after playing Apache Air Assault, I was expecting something better.