Bad but compelling games

[Silly_Bean]

Anyone else played a game like this? I'm not on about bad-but-good games. I'm on about bad games which are strangely addictive.

My bad-but-compelling is Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (forgotten realms 3.0 game). I think it's a poor game but compelling - I have to complete it! I don't know why either because I think it's so bad I have to leave for a few months until I forget how bad it is and then go back to it. It may be to do with the sheer number of hours I put into the first dungeon and I was trying to convince my flatmate that firstly, the dungeon would end soon (yeah I kept that up for about two months of solid game playing) and that, secondly, the game would get better after.

Any others out there?

[Lothorus]

Mine is Septerra Core, an old PC RPG (RPG in the sense that a Final Fantasy game is an RPG). The gameplay is kinda bland and especially annoying in some dungeons where you seem to do nothing but go to area X, find a locked door, go to area Y, find a key, go back to area X unlock the door, find a key, go back to area Y, unlock door... etc.

The plot isn't that much better, but still passable.

What's really interesting is the setting, the mechanics of the setting, along with a few of the characters. First off, the planet the game is based on has seven layers. Basically, there are entire continents floating around in the atmosphere, no oceans, all arranged in layers. Like, the second layer from the top is very arid and desert-like, and home to a bunch of scavengers who build their lives and tools from junk that drops from the top layer, where the most prosperous people live. It's pretty dang nifty, if you ask me.

Plus the mechanics and such within the game are pretty neat. The entire planet, called Septerra, is alive. All the seven layers are connected by a giant "spine", and the rotation of each layer's largest continents rotates the spine and generates "Core energy" that a lot of devices can draw energy from. For example, the main character's weapon is a gun. But it's sorta "alive" and organic. You don't need to keep track of ammunition since it grows it's own from the ambient core energy and a "core generator" that can be affixed to it, which is like an electric generator. Throughout the game you can buy more powerful generators for the gun, which in turn makes it more efficient and able to fire more powerful ammunition and such. Lotta fun. Plus you can incorporate a lot of other things besides a regular generator, like a Napalm generator which allows the gun to create a napalm grenade from time to time and burn up multiple foes. There are lots of other things that can be affixed... grenade launcher, mini-missile dealie, all sorts of things. A lot of the other characters have similar weapons that can be upgraded and expanded upon, like the wizard who has a staff you can affix a tazer or a buzz-saw to. A few others, though, have the generic "this sword has 20 more Attack Power, I'll sell the old one and buy the new". But all in all, the mechanics and setting is pretty neato.

Too bad the rest of the game wasn't up to snuff.

[potatocubed]

Ninety-Nine Nights.

I know in my heart that it's really not a good game. But still... sending about eight hundred baddies flying with each swing is immensely satisfying.

My favourite is Asphar's super-overdrive attack. WOOMPH and it's RAINING GOBLINS.

[My name is Wanda]

Final Fantasy VIII. The gameplay is absolutely horrendous, and I hate half the characters, yet I've been known to stay up until 4am playing it, looking for the next cutscene.


And that Yu-Gi-Oh! game that I bought for the Gamecube a while ago. It's really slow and tedious, yet I've somehow managed to become decent at it. Stupidly, however, the tutorial level's the hardest, because that's the only one where you don't have healing items. Grr!

[Artanis]

Summoner.

Basically, it gave you a whole ton of options, but most of those were useless or worse. The characters had some interesting abilities, but the battle system made it counterproductive to try to actually use them, so the entire party just ended up poking monsters with pointy objects instead of Backstabbing or lobbing Fireballs or whatnot. And they had to be small pointy objects because, once again, the battle system ensured that any character with a slow weapon had to be left under AI control because you simply couldn't do anything with them yourself. To top it all off, the entire premise of the game - summoning monsters - was virtually unusable because of the rediculously high permanent penalty for letting them die.

...and yet, I played it to the end, and eventually came back to play it a second time.

[Mr. Moon]

Every. Mario. Game.

Don't get me wrong. I know tons of people love the game, but hear me out.

I hate the plotline, and the characters make me shiver. But there's something about them that drives me to play them. It might be that music, which is constantly planting itself in my brain and playing parts of itself over and over again, it might be Yoshi, it might just be the clasic adventure style, but theres something about them that drives me to play more and more and more and...

You get the picture.

[RoboticSheeple]

Final Fantasy VIII. The gameplay is absolutely horrendous, and I hate half the characters, yet I've been known to stay up until 4am playing it, looking for the next cutscene.

Was I the only one on this god-forsaken planet to enjoy the gameplay of FF8?

something about mario

As for the mario game, the controls are spot-on and the graphics are far from bad. I fail to understand why the game is "bad" if you take it for what it is a move left to right platform game (classic mario).

Alarge part of the problem is a person like me will say "That's a bad game, I won't play it" and make their own judgement calls on the game rather than percived popular opinion"

[Dhavaer]

Baldur's Gate. I hated everything about it, yet somehow I kept loading it up, then quitting about fifteen minutes later. I can't imagine why.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Baldur's Gate. I hated everything about it, yet somehow I kept loading it up, then quitting about fifteen minutes later. I can't imagine why.

If you're talking about number 2, it's probably out of the vain hope you'll get out of Irenicus' dungeon. Or the vain hope that it'll have been worth getting out of the dungeon. I like games that let me walk around the map from the start not shove me into a tiny hole that I have to crawl out of.

I assumed you're actually talking about number 1. Then it may be out of the vain hope that it'll be as worth it as number 2. Otherwise you're probably feeling sad that some people told you this game was worth buying.

[Sailacela]

Mine is Septerra Core, an old PC RPG (RPG in the sense that a Final Fantasy game is an RPG).

You are the first person that I've come across that has actually heard of Septerra Core.

To answer the OP, I'm going to have to go with Myst. A beautifully rendered environment and gameplay boring as hell...yet...I was driven to finish it. Go figure.

[Bryn]

Hey, I played Septerra Core too!
I played it for ages (being very young then, I was convinced the graphics were the most amazing ever, and that it was a really good game, in the way that little kids do). Interesting idea, very boring gameplay... I agree about the keys thing and all that.

You know, I think I'm going to have another go some time... just because. See how much I like it now.

[neriana]

Was I the only one on this god-forsaken planet to enjoy the gameplay of FF8?

No. Though I can't say that drawing the max number of spells from enemies was terribly interesting. Things get a lot better when you get really into the card game, though, because you can just make spells on your own, and the card game is horribly addictive.

I hated FF9, and yet I played it for hours and hours. I think mostly for the chocobo mini-game and the music. Definitely not for anything else, as the ratgirl was the only character I liked even a smidgen and the gameplay totally sucked.

I love Baldur's Gate, and frankly I think 1 was much better than 2. The PC game, not the console game. (How can you get stuck in the first dungeon, anyway?) The console game, Dark Alliance, is weirdly addictive, but not that great, and I like 2 better than 1.

I tried Septerra Core. Only got about 10 minutes into it though.

[Lothorus]

Wow, other people have heard of Septerra Core as well!?

I never thought I'd see the day. My story is a lot like yours, Z-Axis. I was young, found it in a bargan bin about seven or so years ago, and thought it was the best thing ever.

Of course, I still like Grubb (the aforementioned wizard with an upgradeable stick, to all you uninitiated) a whole lot. There's something about a wizard who can make a buzz-saw pop out of his little wizard stick that appeals to me.

[General_Ghoul]

Temple of Elemental Evil. So buggy when it came out, not sure how it was released like that. After fan patches it was playable, most true to PnP D&D I've seen.

[Dhavaer]

If you're talking about number 2, it's probably out of the vain hope you'll get out of Irenicus' dungeon. Or the vain hope that it'll have been worth getting out of the dungeon. I like games that let me walk around the map from the start not shove me into a tiny hole that I have to crawl out of.

I assumed you're actually talking about number 1. Then it may be out of the vain hope that it'll be as worth it as number 2. Otherwise you're probably feeling sad that some people told you this game was worth buying.

Talking about 1. I've never played 2.

[Lilivati]

Progress Quest. Not really even a real game- you don't do anything in it, just let it run, but it's like watching a lava lamp...it hypnotizes you and you can't look away...

Also, regarding Baldur's Gate, I tried it in high school and couldn't get into it to save my life. Picked up a few years later in college and couldn't stop playing it, and it's now one of my favorite games. Not sure what caused the change of heart.

[Fualkner Asiniti]

I am quite sure that the Baldur's Gate Strategy Guide next to my computer is planning to kill itself. I HATE BALDUR'S GATE! I never leved. Ever. I didn't get any of the gameplay, I got slaugtered by traps, everyone in my party sucked beyond belief, and then there is the fact that I had to do every sidequest I could find to even get vaguely good.

Basically, Baldur's Gate is the suckiest game ever. And yet I still played it on and off for 3+ years.

[Silly_Bean]

I really really really liked Baldur's Gate 2.

Each to their own I suppose. What's everyone's opinion on the other computer games in the forgotten realms series? Personally think they're a bit rubbish. Icewind Dale was alright-i-suppose but the rest - and I do include Neverwinter Nights in this - are cringe worthy.

[Wehrkind]

I loved the BG series, as well as Ice Wind Dale series, it's "Screw it, let's just kill stuff" twin. I also liked FF8, but then I go in for complicated mechanics. I hated FF9 though.

My bad/compelling game was Pokemon Silver. I have enough hours logged into it to have earned a Bachelor's at PSU. I demand my degree! No graphics, no story, just collect critters and level them, get them abilities and get items. An advancement RPG distilled down to pretty much it's base form. Sort of like crack cocaine.


They made Temple of Elemental Evil playable? I loved that game for the 15 minutes it worked, and tried to love it for the next 6 hours it didn't. It was like an abusive relationship.

[Bryn]

Interestingly enough, there's a Wikipedia article on Septerra Core:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septerra_Core

[Closet_Skeleton]

I've never heard of Septerra Core...

[Ms_Elaneous]

Eh? Septerra Core? Ah! I have that. Can't say I finished it or even that I got very far, but I remember it. And that girl with the gigantic wrench that she smacked the snap out of stuff with. Heh...

[Sailacela]

Interestingly enough, there's a Wikipedia article on Septerra Core:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septerra_Core

*blinks* Holy cow. It's been about six years since I've played it. Must...resist...urge to...install on..new computer...

[Artanis]

My bad/compelling game was Pokemon Silver. I have enough hours logged into it to have earned a Bachelor's at PSU. I demand my degree! No graphics, no story, just collect critters and level them, get them abilities and get items. An advancement RPG distilled down to pretty much it's base form. Sort of like crack cocaine.

Gee thanks, and here I had just finished repressing all the horrible, addiction-addled memories of that game...

[Lilivati]

I really really really liked Baldur's Gate 2.

Each to their own I suppose. What's everyone's opinion on the other computer games in the forgotten realms series? Personally think they're a bit rubbish. Icewind Dale was alright-i-suppose but the rest - and I do include Neverwinter Nights in this - are cringe worthy.

NWN's single player campaigns were definitely cringe-worthy (though some of the premium modules were alright). Where that game really shone was in community-made mods (Twilight/Midnight, Penultima, Eternum, Shadowlords and sequels, among others) and in providing the opportunity to play something very close to PnP DnD in an online game environment. Multiplayer is the only reason I still play that game.

[Dhavaer]

I liked Icewind Dale 2, although soloing it with a drow sorcerer was pretty easy. Once you get Improved Invisibility you're golden.

[TheOOB]

Theres a few for me.

Final Fantasy VII, I don't really like the game, I find the combat boring, the art poor, and the characters underdeveloped. When I'm not getting into a battle every 5 seconds I'm breeding chocobos for 5 hours to get a golden one which gets me an item, that while powerful, is boring in that it has a 10 minute cast time. I keep playing it because I want to find whatever mythical quality it possesses that makes so many people love and worship it, but I just haven't found it.

Another such game is Halo/Halo 2(I'm still not convinced their different games). Sure, shooting aliens is fun, but thats all there is in the game. I could have sworn I played this game back when it was called Quake 2, except then there where cool weapons, user created levels, rocket jumping, and mouse and keyboard control(FPS+controller=bad). Walking down purple hallways to shoot more of the same enemies over and over again just isn't fun to me.

Also, I must confess that I have played Sewer Shark(Sega CD) way too much. I just have trouble figuring out how a game can be so completely and entirely bad. It's like the Plan 9 from Outer Space of video games.

[My name is Wanda]

No. Though I can't say that drawing the max number of spells from enemies was terribly interesting. Things get a lot better when you get really into the card game, though, because you can just make spells on your own, and the card game is horribly addictive.

I never liked the card game, so I never really got to get spells from that. That meant that after a night of playing FFVIII, I'd have a conversation similar to this:

Them: "So, Wanda, how did you sleep?"
Me: "I stayed up all night mining for Demi."
Them: "Er, do you mean gold? I didn't know you played WoW."
Me: "No, it was Demi. Unfortunately I levelled up twice, so now I'm going to lose the game horribly."

But yeah, give a card game and I'll ignore it. Give me a Chocobo ranch, on the other hand, and I'll spend ages and ages racing up a whole family so I can make genaeology charts and point out the pedigree of my racing chocobos, and then I'll make an inbred racing chocobo version of myself and mate it with a not-so-inbred racing chocobo version of Rufus Shinra, and make us have racing chobocobo babies. :P

Final Fantasy VII, I don't really like the game, I find the combat boring, the art poor, and the characters underdeveloped. When I'm not getting into a battle every 5 seconds I'm breeding chocobos for 5 hours to get a golden one which gets me an item, that while powerful, is boring in that it has a 10 minute cast time. I keep playing it because I want to find whatever mythical quality it possesses that makes so many people love and worship it, but I just haven't found it.

I have one word for you: Sephiroth.
... Ok, I have a few more for you: homoerotica, Vincent and Cloud. Those things are all very popular with the ladies.

[Midnight Son]

DOA Extreme Volleyball; Either version. The game has no real plot. All you do is play volleyball, stroll on the beach and gamble. For some "unknowable" reason, I like it.

[JellyPooga]

...the BG series, as well as Ice Wind Dale series, it's "Screw it, let's just kill stuff" twin.

Hah! I don't think I've ever seen this comment made quite so succinctly...and it's so true...

I never could actually get into Ice Wind Dale, but I did like BG (1&2).

Two absolutely appaling games I can't stop playing?

ADOM - I mean, it would probably make for quite a good (if over complex) pen and paper RPG, but the graphics are, well, non-existant (it is a Rogue-like after all, so maybe I can't criticize it for that) and the game is the same every time. You just end up walking round hitting/shooting/zapping stuff until, inexplicably, you come across some monster that is blatantly far out of your league, that you can't possibly hope to defeat or run away from...and have to start again...AAAAARRRGH! But I just can't help myself.

Pokemon Crystal - It's a terrible concept, with terrible gameplay, I play it on an emulator (so I can't 'trade' with anyone), it's too easy to complete, the music is godawful annoying (as are the sound effects), the names of half the pokemon are just ridiculous...need I go on? There are so many things that are NOT RIGHT about this game...but I can't help but, every now and then, starting a new game and, over a period of about a week, complete it...hey ho.