http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/adam-west-dead-batman-star-832264

Gone to that big batcave in the sky.

-RIP BATMAN APPROVED-

Gone to that big Batcave in the sky.

-RIP BATMAN APPROVED-

Great post!

Think few would find it hard not to relate in at least some way with a few of the points you brought up.

-CDRAGON_88 APPROVED-

NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The fact that those are all long RPGs just adds insult to injury.

-GAMER'S NIGHTMARE NINJA APPROVED-

Princess Peach/Toadstool was the biggest tease in gaming.

-THANK YOU MARIO BUT… NINJA APPROVED-

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-

Yeah, that’s something I never do anymore on a first play-through. Had a bad experience with Killzone: Shadowfall. I find that playing games on the hardest difficulty right off the bat can, in some cases, make the experience more frustrating (specific parts.) and take away from that first impression you have (not to mention the overall flow of the game.).

-NORMAL DIFFICULTY FIRST NINJA APPROVED-

Whoa!

-NOW THAT'S A LIST NINJA APPROVED-

I find this to be the biggest issues with massive games such as these. They really are quite the time investment. Thinking you can take some time off to play another game in between finishing games like these is usually not a wise thing, at least for people like myself.

-FINISH WHAT YOU START NINJA APPROVED-

The new Darksiders game (3.) might just be the motivation you need to finally get to it.

-INCENTIVE NINJA APPROVED-