What gaming moment stands out as being the biggest disappointment of your video-gaming life?

Like the thread title says…

What gaming moment stands out as being the biggest disappointment of your video-gaming life?

We’ve all had that moment. That one time in our gaming life where our hopes and expectations weren’t just “let down” but instead came crashing down like a pane of glass on a concrete floor. For some, such disappointment may have resulted in them totally swearing off a developer, a franchise, and even in some extreme cases video-gaming altogether (Say it ain’t so!). While thankfully that last point doesn’t apply to myself (as well as pretty much everyone else here on these forums I’m guessing.) I have to admit there have been certain moments in my gaming life that have made me question whether I was going to stay on with a particular franchise or not. These feelings of frustration and disappointment (-you mean the same ones we have reading all of your comments, Ninja?-) are only compounded when one has a particular interest or investment in something; perhaps a series that resonates with someone or a code of conduct a certain developer is known for. It’s not unreasonable to imagine that when these “tropes” are turned upside down one’s previous outlook can also go with it.

While for myself I have had varying levels of disappointment with not only certain franchises but specific pieces of gaming hardware I think the one gaming moment that stands out in my mind as being the biggest disappointment was my completion of Metal gear solid 2. What!? Metal Gear solid 2?! That’s a great game Ninja, you’re out of your mind! Cool your jets Turbo, slow down (Who says that?). To understand why I felt this way we need to back up.

Forewarning, this next bit is kind of long. But then again when are any of my posts not?

In the winter of 1998 Kojima released a little game named Metal Gear Solid, a title and a franchise that not only changed the landscape of video-gaming (stealth among other things.) but also garnered universal praise as well as criticism from all those in the gaming world. For myself, I wasn’t aware the kind of impact a game with 3 random words strung together would have not only on my gaming perspective but on other facets of my gaming life altogether.

After I had completed that title suddenly everything I expected out of a videogame changed. It goes without saying it was a great game but what really made it stand out was how it did things no other (or at least very few.) games did at the time. I can’t tell you how surprised and intrigued I was seeing credits show up during the initial opening gameplay scenes or the meticulous attention to minute details sprinkled throughout my play-through whether it be in the form of fresh footprints in the snow, unique codec conversations specific to the players game-style or more easily glossed over moments like how the developers made sure every desk in Otacon’s lab was individually designed and not just a carbon copy of the next. Add to this features like breaking the 4^th wall (Psycho Mantis reading the memory card or getting Meryl’s codec number off of the back of the physical videogame case.) as well as a memorable and intriguing cast of characters to go along with what perhaps some could argue is some of the most memorable voice acting in all of gaming history (I know, bold claim.) and it’s easy to see why not only I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it but why some herald it as the best game ever made.

In addition to this, perhaps more than anything else, it showed me that videogames could be something more. Something more than just mindless fun with no sense of direction or purpose (Hey, not bashing games that DO do this as having fun is what games are all about anyway, right?). Emotion, loss, sorrow, intrigue, all things that we as gamers used to hear on a regular basis from those in other mediums of entertainment that sneered at us for engaging in “childish play things,” the same ones that said games could never achieve the same level of sophistication or depth associated with other forms of entertainment (Cough- Roger Ebert- Cough.)… well, in a way it proved them wrong. At least in my mind anyway. It also showed me that the magic of Hollywood, something that was confined to the silver screen, could be adapted into our own medium. It’s worth mentioning that that last point is also part of Metal Gears/Kojima’s biggest criticism. Still, that last point of contention wasn’t enough to persuade me from abandoning what I considered at the time (and still do to some extent.) the single most memorable gaming experience of my life.

As you can imagine, I was completely enamored with every piece of info when a sequel was announced. All the screenshots in the magazines (limited internet back then.) showcased something that was not only going to blow the socks off of the original but something that would, just as the first game did, change the landscape of video-gaming once again (some could argue that in a way it still did.). Things only heightened exponentially when I got my hands on the Metal gear solid 2 demo that was released before the main game’s launch. The Metal Gear solid 2 demo… and I know this is a very bold claim so maybe others can chime in… might very well be the best video-gaming demo ever released (-What’s with these bold claims today, Ninja?-). It wasn’t unheard of back then to hear people spending hours upon countless hours of in game time searching through every little nook and cranny in addition to playing through that demo in various ways. The fact that it also sported the slickest console graphics at the time while also adding in a slew of features we now take for granted in gaming (suddenly every game after MGS2 had tranquilizers.) only further added more fuel to the hype train so to speak.

As you can imagine I was in Heaven. The hype that had festered over the coming months only further swelled up my expectations to the point that I thought that once the game dropped it would be the end of the world because nothing could possibly follow it.

Well… the game came. And I played it… and… well…. Yeah.

:/

Now don’t take that the wrong way. The game was a technical marvel. A pure “tour de force” of graphical might and solid (No pun intended, well… sort of.) gameplay. Up until that point very few games were doing or had done what MGS2 did from a gameplay and technical standpoint so well. For that, considering when it released, it should most definitely be praised. But… the characters, the story, the atmosphere… all of it took a back seat from the flow and engaging narrative of the first, at least IMO. That’s not to say the characters or the story line in this rendition were terrible but rather goes to show the might of the cast and narrative of the first. Add to the mix you were now in control of (SPOILERS KIND OF, WELL… NOT REALLY.) Raiden, a “green” rookie who was a sniveling, whiny, beta version (Are you talking about yourself, Ninja?) of the soldier you last took control of in the form of Solid Snake and it just was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. This is far from any kind of exaggeration. Raiden was extremely hated by gamers. A fact that made Kojima take the initiative to make him the complete opposite in MGS4.

Needless to say I was let down. Scratch that, mortified at what I had experienced. Suddenly a game that had been about tactile espionage, spies, infiltration, secrets, amazing plot twists, ideological and sociological meanings about war and the friendships and differences that could arise in those twisted settings took on more of a philosophical and cerebral standpoint in regards to the digital age, unfortunately one that considering the time was waaayyyy over people’s heads, myself included (Everything’s over your head though, Ninja.). While Metal Gear solid was analogous to an amazing classical spy novel Metal Gear solid 2 was more like a dry wall of text (like your comments, Ninja?) on some random philosophers note pad (The philosop--- La-li-lu-le-lo.... Ninja, that’s the Patriots not the philosophers.). As such the themes didn’t really resonate with me and as a result, I’m ashamed to admit, it totally turned me off of the franchise I had only recently fallen in love with.

For the next few years the assortment of words metal, gear, or solid weren’t even in my repertoire. “They ruined it” I kept saying to myself, “They ruined what could have been the best franchise ever.” As a result when news of MGS3 leaked I didn’t even bat an eye. BIG MISTAKE! Even when all the reviews for it came out (almost unanimous 10/10’s everywhere.) I still didn’t waver from my stubborn stance. “They ruined it… they ruined it.” It wasn’t until one day I was in a store and saw the game for sale for half off that the thought that maybe it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try entered my head. Bear in mind this was 2 years after its release. Suddenly all of the resentment and disappointment I had was gone. In fact those same feelings of awe and intrigue that I experienced on my first foray with Snake came back tenfold. I won’t go into why Metal gear solid 3 is an amazing game (Thank goodness Ninja, we would be here all day.) but just know this. It brought me back to a franchise I thought for sure had gasped its last breath of life.

The funny thing about all this is that although at the time I thought MGS 2 was the devil I don’t feel that way anymore. I played it again recently (when they released the HD collection in 2011.) and you know what? It’s actually a great game. The concepts and philosophical musings I thought were just pointless jargon actually had more grounding, especially in today’s social media/internet dominated society. Perhaps I was too young when I first played it during its original release or perhaps its themes of technology, extraneous information, and memes were lost on me in a time when the digital world we live in today was still in its infancy. Perhaps this was another reason why it seemed so un-relatable at that time. Maybe… but in retrospect I can now see why those same polarizing concepts made many gravitate toward it. Still, even with this change of heart it doesn’t change the fact that at the time it was easily my biggest gaming disappointment ever.

So Gamespot community, what gaming moment stands out in your mind as being the biggest disappointment of your video-gaming life? I mean, other than reading another one of my posts that is.

;)

-WRITE A BOOK WHY DON’T YA NINJA APPROVED-

The Wii

Oh boy 2 coming in my mind

DIABLO 3 vs RESIDENT EVIL 4 ( i wont even mention RE5/RE6 which i wasnt surprised theyll suck since they were based on RE4 formula )

As a long time hardcore fan of both franchises is really hard to choose between those 2. I played both games day 1 , played both games till the end and beyond ( lol ) and both games let me down and gave me the biggest dissapointment i could ever imagine.

BUT , since i need to choose only one and i need to be fair , ill go with Diablo 3. What saves Resident Evil 4 is that it wasnt utterly shit , it had its moments and some good points to point out like its level design , graphics , some nasty boss fights etc when about Diablo 3 , the only thing that wasnt a let down .. was its high quality and flashy CUTSCENES !! Yes , it was THAT bad.

Low end graphics , lack of atmosphere atmosphere , very shallow itemization , even worse build diversity , narrow and small regions made it feel pretty linear and small even the outdoor maps , the most ridiculous voice acting i ever heard from an RPG , cheesy and predictable story , balance problems between classes all over the place , unbalanced difficulties , legendaries were CRAP ( supposed the rarest of weapons lol ) , BOTs all over the place day 1 , no ladder/seasons , no PVP , graphic glitches ( unfinished more likely ) in many areas , NO END GAME at all , exploits all over the place , bad damage scaling in inferno ... those are just on top of my head.

So , Diablo 3 , my biggest dissapointment ever and i doubt ill have a bigger/worse one anytime soon , if ever. And this is coming from a hardcore fan of Diablo/Diablo 2 with 1 copy of original and 3 copies of Diablo 2 ( before a blizzboy call me a hater or something)

I was beta tester , i praised the game before its release , was reading and talking about it for years almost in daily basis , watched numerous podcasts and was reading all developers QAs , hype and anticipation like no other game before it ... and then on release , the TEARS all over the place ! lol

RROD.

I have not owned anything prior or after, that I can think of, that was a bigger disappointment or irritation and related to my gaming hobby.

Blog it.

Didn't read your paragraphs due to being self-absorbed and not respecting human life equally, but probably The Witcher 3 or New Order.

Terrible console port/movie game, big pile of shit.

My 360 3RROD on Christmas day, I got Mass Effect and it cooked my 360 lol.

Mine would be selling my entire Sega collection (over 700 games & all consoles) for something that never eventuated :(

Seconded. The only system I ever sold within the first year of owning it. What a pile.

Devil May Cry 2

What's bad about this game? Not that i've played it, got HD collection though.

@uninspiredcup: It's a major step back from the original which was a good game and very unique at the time in nearly every way. The franchise made a great recovery with the third game and the fourth while unifinished has amazing combat.

Discovering just how shitty RPGs really were with Fallout 3, Oblivion and Mass Effect 1

Others,

Launch Civilization 5 (Such a huge step from Civ 4)
Getting Defect RAM memory
Opening my brand new DS, only to have it snap, this was short lived however, as super glue fixed it.
Guild Wars 2 (Objectively a terrible game)

@AzatiS: Incredible but interesting

@i_p_daily:

I was mostly on PC when the 360 launched and that got me back into consoles.

I bought several at launch and they all RROD'd. I should have bought a store warranty or something but I can't think of another console that crapped out like it did so I never expected it.

It was also at the time MS was denying it and their support basically blamed me.

Still crying to be honest about Diablo 3 even if it shaped up a little thru the years , cant get over it !! lol

@lrdfancypants: I was you're fault though, you were told not to dress them up in fancy pants :P

@i_p_daily:

At least they were dressed to impress!

This I would definitely agree with. The game did improve a lot with the expansions tho.

Aliens Colonial Marines still comes to mind.

On how a 'vertical slice' basically means nothing and the game could end up looking entirely different.

On how developer integrity and saying you love a certain franchise could mean you just ship it to some third rate developer.

Just developers lying and overhyping stuff when they know they have crap in their hands.

Pitchford knew the game was nowhere near Half Life 2's standards, but still he said it was.

Warner Bros knew Arkham Knight on PC was a huge pile of **** but that didn't stop them from trying to sell it like people wouldn't complain.

Kinda figured from the footage it would be highly scripted and console like, so didn't bother.

Still maintain AVP2000 was the quintessential Alien experience.

It's not really about Aliens: colonial marines;

It's about lying to consumers and selling people crap when you know you have crap on your hands:

Watch_dogs was overhyped. AC: Unity's launch was a disaster.

You remember Ubisoft saying 24 fps is fine for games because "The Hobbit at 48FPS 'looked weird' " ?

I hate blatant lying like that and if you are not honest about your product you should get the hell out of this industry.

Buying my first video card, the 3dfx Voodoo 3, and having it be defective (artifacting in 2d) right out of the box.

Fortunately that initial experience didn't scare me away from PC gaming.

Mass effect 3 ending. First introduceing a new character at the end of a story is stupid and all the choices you made through 3 games boiled down to 3 crap choices. The god child contradicts himself saying organic life and machines can't co exist, so the mission about getting quarians and geth to work together did not happen did it not. Legion died for that dammit.

FFXIII comes to mind.

I mean they became disappointing slowly, but I always had an apologist period with Halo 2, 3's campaigns and MGS4's story. I still think MGS4 has bitchin gameplay segments, and Halo 2 is the best halo regardless of how shit I think the campaign is. And I spent a lot of good hours on Halo 3. Brawl maybe, because I played a **** ton of Melee, but I also chalked that up to the death of couch multiplayer in my life.

Mafia 2 is really fucking shit, but I can't say I was all that excited for that game as much as I just love mobster shit. Plus I've retroactively learned that all Mafia games are bad, and anyone who likes those games just has bad fucking taste.

Gears of War 2 was really bad, but me and my friends were more into Halo. I had no excitement going into Uncharted, Ratchet just got old, Metroid Prime 3 was still good.

I don't know, I feel like even with the amount of games I dislike, I've never been super disappointed by a game. Especially in recent years now that my hype is in check. If anything I'm likely more surprised then ever disappointed by something. I usually have myself braced for what potential short coming a game will have. Even Devil May Cry 2, I just read the bad reviews back then and didn't try it till well after release, and christ that game was shit, But we got DMC3, so all was forgiven.

2002's State of Emergency.

I was still in the honeymoon phase with GTA III and I foolishly thought that Rockstar could do no wrong. Not even a year later State of Emergency comes along and what I expected to be more open world brilliance ended up being one of the most mind numbing and repetitive gaming experiences I'd ever had.

Luckily Vice City came out later that year and provided a salve for the wound but that was the last time I ever made a blind purchase off of developer creed and hype.

I can still smell it on me. Yuck.

Gran Turismo 5 locking everything behind a level system.

These are big ones.

bayonetta 2, bought that game for $60 few years ago but havnt finished it, i really like the gameplay, but too hardcore for me on that staff.. i love the main character shes so awesome!

Donkey Kong 64. After the amazing jumps into 3D from Mario and Zelda, DK64 was my most anticipated game. Loathed every second of it.

Dead Space 3. RROD up there too. Great thread as always Ninja

final fantasy xv

Wwhat a freaking joke that was.It was worse shitening returns which itself is a damn accomplishment

@videogameninja:

Halo 5's single player campaign. What mess that was.

PS VITA - squandered potential

ME A - the combat feels so sloppy at least on PS4.

DA I - Custom Tactics went way downhill.

The first one that came to my mind is Suikoden 3 not releasing in PAL regions ... back when I was a child and neither knew how to import and play it nor did I have the money.

@Sam3231: Ditto. The Wii was the first thing to come to my mind.

@getyeryayasout: good call. The death of the DC sucked. At least it burned twice as bright while it lasted.

Playing an 8-player online death match in GLQuake with dial up modem back in 1997. So many times I was gunning for top spot only to have my targets warp away.....and my Quake guy having to respawn.

@getyeryayasout: love that type of game. I've got $19 in Steam credit with an itch to spend it. Will check it out, thanks man.

I always say 2014 was a year I decided gaming as I knew it was something else... Its also that I may have made some poor choices that year, but between destiny and watchdogs, everything else UBIsoft, I just got this gross feeling like games were unfinished, uninspired cash grabs... It hasn't been the same since. I've only played a few games since 2014 that have made me feel like games have a pulse.

"The princess is in another castle!" You don't do that to a 7 year old!

I don't know. There haven't been many. Through a combination of luck and a healthy dose of caution in where I send my money, I almost never wind up with games that aren't a good fit for my mood.

Huge disappointments... well, two recent examples that stand out at Thief reboot, and a runner up in Diablo 3. Thief, in particular, was just a huge mess. The stealth action was actually pretty good when you turned off all the modern crapola and ran it in "old school" mode or whatever it was called. But boy - what a messed up product.

Diablo 2 I played for almost a decade... Diablo 3 at launch was the most disappointing game I've ever bought.

Biggest disappointment game this gen is arkham knight :(

Going from the Space World 2000 Zelda tech demo to Wind Waker is probably number 1, but after that Halo 2 & 3, Mario Sunshine, Pokemon gens 3 & 4, Metroid: Other M, Soul Calibur III, Fable II, Dragon Age, and Sonic Lost World.

Spore, I was hoping for some awe inspiring x4 game where i took my civilization from protons to a galactic empire. Instead we got some janky looking nintendo game.

2014 was a disappointing year. 2017 has been a good year for gaming so far.