Biggest disappointment of 2023?

[mb23100]

I was really looking forward to Greyhill Incident. Coming off a slew of awesome indie games I was stoked. Survival horror during an alien invasion? Yes please.


What a piece of shot it turned out to be though.

 

[The Dark Knight]

Starfield

 

[TKing]

Metal Gear Solid Collection was one that I thought of instantly, couldve been a memorable collection and it felt like they shoved it out the door.

I agree with Greyhill Incident, I wouldve been fine with even an average/below average alien game but wow did they miss everything and put out a terrible game.

AEW Fight Forever, couldve been a nice No Mercy call back but it lacked so much content, a CAW system that is straight out of the 90s and the 20-30 dollar season passes. It's terribly out of date roster wise and alot of the featured wrestlers are nowhere to be found.

Honorable mention COD being money hungry and releasing what should have been dlc at full price and Phasmophobia for missing 2 console release dates and ghosting since.

 

[GtehMVP]

I was really looking forward to Greyhill incident. Coming off a slew of awesome indie games I was stoked. Survival horror during an alien invasion? Yes please.


What a piece of shot it turned out to be though.

Starfield for me.

I really enjoyed my time with it, and put 260-ish hours in, so it seems weird to call disappointing. However, I expected thousands mainly through base building like I did with Fallout 4, even vanilla.

I really liked the main story. It's best one (main) they've ever done (until the end), had me so intrigued, especially the NG+ promise, but it wound up ending in a lackluster fashion. I hope the shattered space DLC does more with it, and give us the Va'ruun faction. They really need a faction with some teeth, as everything is so PG. One of the worst parts are all the ugly NPC's, the game has next to no sex appeal.

There's a lot of Bethesda magic in the game, but the way it's scattered in pockets takes a lot away from it. It didn't help that so many quests were half baked, and or could have been handled with an email instead of forcing us to into several loading screens.

Fast traveling isn't always as bad as everyone makes it out to be, because you can do much of it from your cockpit and not enter menus, but the lack of exploration in ships is the biggest fail for me. All that space between planets and they did nothing with it.

Ship designing is really fun though, where I spent most of my time, but it has a ton of issues. Improving this and adding explorable areas in space is something they can easily implement, especially the former.

Anyway, I can babble on and on about what the game needs, but I'm sure anyone who has played knows what I'm talking about.

 

[KidBaize]

Starfield for me.

I really enjoyed my time with it, and put 260-ish hours in, so it seems weird to call disappointing. However, I expected thousands mainly through base building like I did with Fallout 4, even vanilla.

I really liked the main story. It's best one (main) they've ever done (until the end), had me so intrigued, especially the NG+ promise, but it wound up ending in a lackluster fashion. I hope the shattered space DLC does more with it, and give us the Va'ruun faction. They really need a faction with some teeth, as everything is so PG. One of the worst parts are all the ugly NPC's, the game has next to no sex appeal.

There's a lot of Bethesda magic in the game, but the way it's scattered in pockets takes a lot away from it. It didn't help that so many quests were half baked, and or could have been handled with an email instead of forcing us to into several loading screens.

Fast traveling isn't always as bad as everyone makes it out to be, because you can do much of it from your cockpit and not enter menus, but the lack of exploration in ships is the biggest fail for me. All that space between planets and they did nothing with it.

Ship designing is really fun though, where I spent most of my time, but it has a ton of issues. Improving this and adding explorable areas in space is something they can easily implement, especially the former.

Anyway, I can babble on and on about what the game needs, but I'm sure anyone who has played knows what I'm talking about.

Haven't played Starfield myself but I know its relative disappointment has people panicking about TES:VI. I'm jonesing for that game personally so I hope Bethesda takes note of the criticisms and puts together a classic. Their world building is normally so good.

One of the best parts of Skyrim is the lack of loading screens. You can literally run across the map without encountering one. In fact, I just learned that when you look at your map, you are actually taking a bird's eye view of the entire world in real time. You can test this by checking your map after killing a dragon... when they ignite, you can see the flames from above. It's wild. Shame they didn't do something similar with Starfield.

 

[mb23100]

Starfield for me.

I really enjoyed my time with it, and put 260-ish hours in, so it seems weird to call disappointing. However, I expected thousands mainly through base building like I did with Fallout 4, even vanilla.

I really liked the main story. It's best one (main) they've ever done (until the end), had me so intrigued, especially the NG+ promise, but it wound up ending in a lackluster fashion. I hope the shattered space DLC does more with it, and give us the Va'ruun faction. They really need a faction with some teeth, as everything is so PG. One of the worst parts are all the ugly NPC's, the game has next to no sex appeal.

There's a lot of Bethesda magic in the game, but the way it's scattered in pockets takes a lot away from it. It didn't help that so many quests were half baked, and or could have been handled with an email instead of forcing us to into several loading screens.

Fast traveling isn't always as bad as everyone makes it out to be, because you can do much of it from your cockpit and not enter menus, but the lack of exploration in ships is the biggest fail for me. All that space between planets and they did nothing with it.

Ship designing is really fun though, where I spent most of my time, but it has a ton of issues. Improving this and adding explorable areas in space is something they can easily implement, especially the former.

Anyway, I can babble on and on about what the game needs, but I'm sure anyone who has played knows what I'm talking about.

Uninstalled this morning. Only played about 15 hours but that was enough

 

[Zazen]

Honestly nothing. I’ve enjoyed pretty much everything I bought this year. Starfield had so many red flags prior to release that I knew it would be garbage. 1. Multiple big delays 2. Review outlets saying they haven’t received a copy meanwhile every Xbox associated outlet got them in time. 3. Leaks of exploration being very limited. 4. Dated visuals and gameplay. Point is there was enough there that people shouldn’t have gotten there hopes up but people keep falling for Todd Howard’s bullshit hype. Bethesda needs change within the company and an updated engine. Overall a pretty good year in gaming though despite one big game not delivering.

 

[GtehMVP]

Haven't played Starfield myself but I know its relative disappointment has people panicking about TES:VI. I'm jonesing for that game personally so I hope Bethesda takes note of the criticisms and puts together a classic. Their world building is normally so good.

One of the best parts of Skyrim is the lack of loading screens. You can literally run across the map without encountering one. In fact, I just learned that when you look at your map, you are actually taking a bird's eye view of the entire world in real time. You can test this by checking your map after killing a dragon... when they ignite, you can see the flames from above. It's wild. Shame they didn't do something similar with Starfield.

I still really liked it, but it should be concerning for ES fans if they want something more. They can easily do another Skyrim, but that won't be enough.

I was watching a video about Bethesda development, and how their dev teams don't use documentation. It really explains how their narratives can be contradicted/disjointed often, ie they don't always know exactly what another team has done.

The perfect example is the ending of Fallout 3 when it launched.

Spoiler

If you had a mutant with you, he should have been able to go into the chamber and not be affected by the radiation, but he refuses like he's being sacrificed. They forced you to either sacrifice yourself or get another another party member to do it instead. If you chose the latter, Ron Perlman calls you a coward in the end credits. They fixed that with Broken Steel, but never changed Perlman's lines, even though using the Mutant is the logical choice.

 

[GtehMVP]

Honestly nothing. I’ve enjoyed pretty much everything I bought this year. Starfield had so many red flags prior to release that I knew it would be garbage. 1. Multiple big delays 2. Review outlets saying they haven’t received a copy meanwhile every Xbox associated outlet got them in time. 3. Leaks of exploration being very limited. 4. Dated visuals and gameplay. Point is there was enough there that people shouldn’t have gotten there hopes up but people keep falling for Todd Howard’s bullshit hype. Bethesda needs change within the company and an updated engine. Overall a pretty good year in gaming though despite one big game not delivering.

Everyone raved about the first game, but I couldn't be bothered to finish it, gave it a good effort. The combat was meh, and the puzzles were really irritating. I like cinematic games, but I just couldn't get into that one.

 

[Zazen]

Everyone raved about the first game, but I couldn't be bothered to finish it, gave it a good effort. The combat was meh, and the puzzles were really irritating. I like cinematic games, but I just couldn't get into that one.

I’m just not sold on it yet. They seem almost scared to show it off and it’s been in development for what seems like forever. I liked the first one enough but it looks like they are going all in on visuals and not doing anything to address the flaws of the first. Combat was my biggest issue and the brief footage we saw from the recent trailer at Game Awards don’t fill me with confidence

 

[KidBaize]

I still really liked it, but it should be concerning for ES fans if they want something more. They can easily do another Skyrim, but that won't be enough.

I was watching a video about Bethesda development, and how their dev teams don't use documentation. It really explains how their narratives can be contradicted/disjointed often, ie they don't always know exactly what another team has done.

The perfect example is the ending of Fallout 3 when it launched.

Spoiler

If you had a mutant with you, he should have been able to go into the chamber and not be affected by the radiation, but he refuses like he's being sacrificed. They forced you to either sacrifice yourself or get another another party member to do it instead. If you chose the latter, Ron Perlman calls you a coward in the end credits. They fixed that with Broken Steel, but never changed Perlman's lines, even though using the Mutant is the logical choice.

Interesting. I didn't know that about Fallout 3's ending. You're right, it does seem crazy they don't map out all their quests and it would explain some of the issues we see in their games.

 

[Nova44]

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

GTA6 not coming for another 2 years

 

[HereticBD]

I hate to say it, but it's "Starfield"

It's got so many things going for it, that is just killed by bland writing, horrible UI, and a general feeling of "I know there is depth here, but this game is just plain boring and tedious."

It's a very confused game. It's an RPG that rarely feels like one. It's an open world game, that feels like a chore to explore and engage in it's activities. It's a shooter that sucks. It's a crafting game that feels limited in comparison to "Fallout 4". What's that LOTR phrase? "I feel like butter that's been spread too thin across toast"? Something like that. Yeah, that's how this game feels.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

Starfield was hyped to be the probable GOTY winner, and by the vast majority of those who played it don't consider it to be worthy of even being nominated for GOTY.

Remember when Baldur's Gate 3 released 2 weeks before Starfield and we were like 'Such a shame that an amazing game like BG3 is released just before Starfield, because in just 2 weeks its going to be abandoned by the fans & coverage for Starfield.'

Its seemed like BG3 was going to be like Sega Dreamcast in 2000 when the Playstation 2 (Starfield) launched.

Holy fuck were we wrong.
Or rather, those who believed that Bethesda were the beasts of the industry they once were. Thankfully Starfield's reception is evidence they're far far behind by today's standards.

 

[Bornstarch]

Baldur's Gate 3

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

Baldur's Gate 3

 

[Wrath of Foamy]

Everyone is going to say Starfield.

I must have played about twenty to thirty hours of it?

It just felt very uninteresting to me. Dialogue was bland and felt artificial, and the engine made the characters and urban areas look lifeless.

The combat wasn't particularly good either. Stealth was broken.

Then again, there seems to be an odd thing going on in the gaming community, where it's cool, maybe even profitable, to hate on popular games.

 

[deadshot138]

Did Wo Long come out this year? If so, that's my answer

 

[Hitman81]

Starfield and Tears of the Kingdom were both disappointments for me but Starfield was disappointing on a much more massive level. I didn't really enjoy the gimmicks of Tears but I can't imagine wtf Bethesda was thinking with Starfield. Just bankrupt of anything fun or interesting.