The '06 "Dammit, why did I buy this?" thread

[scharmers]

Darkstar One

Shows the power, or lack of:

- A terrible story that even Roger Korman would pass up
- No exploration in a genre that demands exploration
- Endlessly recycled content
- Easily exploitable gameplay (turrets, anyone?)
- Grindingly repetitive gameplay in terms of combat
- Grindingly trivial non-combat gameplay (why even bother putting trading in there?)

It was amazing how the designers of this game stole everything from Freelancer except the few things that made Freelancer from.

So, what dog did you drop $30+ for?

[Sarkus]

These are personal dogs, but I regret buying HOMM5 and SW Empire at War. Neither one lasted more than a few days before I was ready to move on.

[McBain]

Darkstar One

It was awesome for ten minutes, and then I got ass fucked by the copy protection (HELLO, DVD SPINUP). Then I realized I couldn't even buy fucking missiles without the game crashing.

Fuck you, Eastern Europe!

[jfletch]

-I bought Guild Wars, and ended up playing it about five days before moving on. Not that it was bad or anything, but I did not feel compelled to play.

-Shadow of the Colossus - got to colossus 4 or 5 and am just sick of the game. File it under, "don't see the big deal".

-Oblivion - bought it and enjoyed it but quickly bogged down. It does some things very well but there are a lot of weird immersion-breaking things that puzzle me why they put it in. But I managed to sell it at a decent price so all was not lost.

That's about it.

[Drastic]

Titan Quest. I'm not sure what happened. I really dug the demo, got the full game, played for a few hours here and there, and all my enthusiasm just drained right away.

[spiffy]

I had been watching X3 reunion forever, waiting for a price drop. Finally Target had it at 9.99$, snatched it up.
Derivative gameplay, horrible mission structure and voice acting, absolutely nothing new other than an annoying dynamic economy that takes alltogether too much effort. Stupid slow speeds for the 'infinite' expanse of space. 10 bucks wasted.

Indigo Prophecy. I dunno.. it is well done. I just got bored, is all.

Galactic Civ2: I know it's a good game. Just too much emphasis on everything but what I wanted, military focus. Felt bad about it, but sold it three days later.

Company of heroes: still playing this one, but I feel it happening.. a couple more games of being handed my head online (by my still noob friends) and I'll really wish there was no ressource management in this one. Too much clicking, too much to remember, too much frantic back and forth, not enough time to focus on the tactics which make this fun. For half the price, my few weeks would have been worth it for the cinematic flair and production values alone; as it is, overpriced frustration.

[Sarkus]

Company of heroes: still playing this one, but I feel it happening.. a couple more games of being handed my head online (by my still noob friends) and I'll really wish there was no ressource management in this one. Too much clicking, too much to remember, too much frantic back and forth, not enough time to focus on the tactics which make this fun. For half the price, my few weeks would have been worth it for the cinematic flair and production values alone; as it is, overpriced frustration.

That's why I reluctantly passed on COH. I would have bought it if the campaign was sans the resources aspect.

[jfletch]

Company of heroes: still playing this one, but I feel it happening.. a couple more games of being handed my head online (by my still noob friends) and I'll really wish there was no ressource management in this one. Too much clicking, too much to remember, too much frantic back and forth, not enough time to focus on the tactics which make this fun. For half the price, my few weeks would have been worth it for the cinematic flair and production values alone; as it is, overpriced frustration.

That's exactly how I felt playing the demo.

[Jason Lutes]

Battle For Middle-Earth II: Bought it because of all of the best RTS evar praise, only to realize after two missions that it doesn't matter how good it is, I just hate traditional RTS. Except for CoH, which I love to death. Anyone want to trade something for BFME2?

[Ben Sones]

I'll trade you a copy of BfME2 for it.

[Kaigen]

Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting (XBox Live Arcade) - I never liked street fighter before, but I wanted some more multiplayer games on XBox Live Arcade and I knew some friends were getting this. I've played it maybe once or twice since I bought it.

[TreadingLeitly]

This is actually a late '05 purchase but I still don't believe Age of Empires III was such a dog. Inspired game design that is worthless after a couple of days because a year later they STILL haven't managed to work the showstopping kinks out of ESO2 (the multiplayer server).

[mono]

Xbox 360.

I bought one in early January, despite having never enjoyed consoles since I had a Colecovision in the 80's. I never play it. I just don't have much of a relationship with my television. In fact, I get PC gaming in while my wife watches the tube. I've also never cottoned to using a gamepad, and pretty much play RTS, RPG, and FPS titles. I'm also an oddball who enjoys tweaking his PC instead of finding it frustrating.

[AndrewM]

Oblivion. I played a lot of Morrowind within the last year, so this was too soon. The quests were much better, the setting much blander. I feel like I barely scratched the surface. Though I think the game says I played 50 hours. But that doesn't feel right at all.

[cliffski]

guild wars, played it for a day. whack-a-mole online with zero roleplay.

[Jason Becker]

A second for Titan Quest. Figured I would like this game for awhile since I played allot of Diablo II(3 characters through Hell level), but it never grabbed me. D2 might of permentantly burned me out on these types of games.

[Mattc0m]

Rise of Legends - I loved the campaign to pieces, and played it non-stop for like 3 days. I couldn't really get into skirmish, and I pretty much never go online in RTS. Last time I played an RTS online was StarCraft. What ever happened to the kickass Conquer the World stuff that Rise of Nations had? That was a pretty big disappointment for me, right there.

[zabuni]

MS Saga. I have a love hate relationship with mediocre jRPGs.

[Shadari]

I honestly can't remember the last dog of a game that I've bought. There have been a few that I just didn't get into all that much because of other games though, primarily WoW.

I guess the biggest letdown for me was Oblivion, even though I'd have to say that it was a pretty darned good game.

[Fugitive]

I kind of regret buying Chromehounds. Not because of the game itself (I haven't even started it!), but just because I seem to have missed the window of prime multiplayer squad action.

Kameo. A good enough game, but I really should have just rented it for a couple of days...

Dominions 2 Gold. It sounded interesting, but I just haven't had the time to dedicate to exploring strategies in any real depth, and now Dom3 is here.

[nutsak]

Oblivion. I played a lot of Morrowind within the last year, so this was too soon. The quests were much better, the setting much blander. I feel like I barely scratched the surface. Though I think the game says I played 50 hours. But that doesn't feel right at all.

Same game but for a couple of different reasons. The first being that the leveling system sucked. The day really rare armor becomes standard garb for everyone really set me back. The second was taking out jumping like a grasshopper. I use to love being able to jump over tall buildings in a single bound. Now I'll be lucky if I'm able to dunk a basket. Apparently the only way in and out of cities now is by using a door.

[Jab]

Oblivion, same reasons mentioned above.
Metal Saga, Loading times are a killer.
Alittle bit on Rise of Legends.
Age of Empires for ds , I only played it on a plane ride and kept thinking I should gotten the castlevania double pak

[LokeUtgaard]

Oblivion for me too. But it's my own fault. I knew from the description of it, that it would probably not be my kind of game. But there were so many threads about it here, so I just had to... :)

[Equisilus]

HoMM5 LE. I had to get HoMM5 after waiting for so long for the series to arrive, but my high expectations were really shattered. Once TQ arrived, I was off HoMM5 and haven't thought much about it since. It was just dull, but in a neutral sort of way. It's not a bad game, it just didn't draw me in.

So, I guess I know why I bought it and can't really curse the fact that I did, but I wish it was more interesting than it turned out. I might even play it again someday (I hate having games go to waste).

[Thomas Wilde]

I've got a copy of Tenchu: Fatal Shadows and I don't know why.

[Peter Frazier]

X3 because of its awful interface and stupid backstory.
BF2 expansion packs, because noone plays them after a week.

Otherwise, I've been able to figure out if a game will grab me or not.
Still not sure about BF2142 though.

[Kaigen]

Okay, another one: The Outfit for the 360. Once again I bought it for the multiplayer. In this case, I actually really like the game, it's just that no one else seems to play it.

[Rob_Merritt]

Titans Quest, Star Wars Empire at War, Rise of Legends

[Dante Rising]

Rule of Rose. The game was decent, but not nearly worth the amount of money I spent on it.

Older games I've recently played and now regret buying:

Resident Evil 4
Eternal Darkness
Metroid Prime
Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires (xbox 360)

[Justin Fletcher]

HoMM5 LE...so, I guess I know why I bought it and can't really curse the fact that I did, but I wish it was more interesting than it turned out. I might even play it again someday (I hate having games go to waste).
Do try it again at some point. I just came back to it after my initial disappointment: horrible story and voice acting (not that any HoMM has been first rate in this department), an engine that chugged and stuttered at every graphics setting, inability to size up the map at a glace, irritating 3D camera controls.

After some time away and a few patches (fixed the engine problem, added some navigation aids), I find I'm enjoying it much more. I'm also excited to see what the editor may bring.

[Qmanol]

Spiffy - Your commentary makes me wonder if you enjoy TA, or are interested in Supreme Commander.

[shift6]

Civ 4. I bought it and loaned it to GMicek. He played it for a few months and gave it back. I still haven't even installed the fucking thing yet.

[charmtrap]

Only two really where I'm wishing I hadn't spent the money. Oblivion for it's bland art direction and dull quests.

And, although I may yet change my mind, so far I'm really really disappointed by Caesar 4. I loved Caesar 3, played it pretty much non-stop for months back when it came out. I hated the market walker mechanic, but they've managed to take that out and make the whole rest of the game boring as well. The interface is more getting in the way than transparent. Plus the camera is just completely broken and annoying. Mostly it's made me want to reinstall C3...

[Dave V]

Seal of Evil. Interesting setting (mythical China), but senseless and boring combat against hordes of everspawning monsters. Return to a region you just cleared to find out that all the monsters are back, making progress an excruciatingly tedious affair.

HOMMV. I enjoyed it but since completing the first campaign the game refuses to run.

FFIV Advance. Seemed like a good idea to pick this up when I bought my DS since I loved the old SNES version but fourteen years later it doesn't hold up, IMO.

[DennyA]

Chromehounds. I tend to buy anything that spawns a rash of topics around here... But I was so swamped during the heyday I had no time to play online. So far I've gotten in one online game with Roger Wong...

Ah well, hopefully folks will still be playing it when I finish Dead Rising. :)

[RichVR]

Space Rangers 2. I tried really hard to get into it a couple of times, but it just didn't do it for me.

I'll keep it installed and try it again, someday.

[metta]

Tenchu (DS) - bland blah bleh.
Lego Star Wars II (DS) - bloody bugggery bugs.
BFME II - I dunno. I wasn't interested in it, but snagged it because of all the loving it's received here. I think I'm just super-saturated with RTS's right now. Rise of Legends is much more compelling to me than this, which feels like Yet Another RTS.

[Muzzaro]

DennyA, i've noticed people are fading away from Chromehounds for Test Drive Unlimited. I was in a squad of "always active" people, now i log on and they are "always active" in TDU. I haven't played Chromehounds for a week and a bit now.

PSP - I was down, just finished Uni, and wanted to treat myself. This or an iPod. I reasoned this allowed me to play games, so why bother with a single-use device? Urgh. The sound is low, even with dedicated headphones (not the PSP ones), and using it as an MP3 player is not easy (popping it out of it's playgear case each time i want to find a certain song, plus it's bulky). The first one i had, had over 10 dead and 7 stuck pixels. Now i have a decent one, 15 games for it, and i never play it. The DS gets daily use. The GBA-SP gets at least weekly use. The PSP rots on the shelf. Bad purchase.
Farcry Instincts Predator (360) - Don't get me wrong, i like the game and trap-setting is fun, but for £40, it didn't seem right. I've already played the Xbox and PC ones, and the achievements didn't really keep me playing. I took it back the next day, and got Tomb Raider Legends 360 (£20) and a DS game.
Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny (PS2) - I got it for the Premium JP box, if you pre-ordered it from GAME. £31 (including delivery and my GAME vouchers), for basically a musical statue and a figurine, both of which are beautiful though. The game is still sealed, in the pile of "i'll play one-day" games.

[Enidigm]

Ostfront expansion pack for IL-2.

Worst 20$ i spent this year.

[Geo]

With me it's not so much "ugh this game's awful, why'd I buy it?", it's more "ugh, I don't have TIME to play this many games, why did I buy so many things that are probably good-great but gathering moss?"

Over the last year or two, probably the last Splinter Cell game, Dawn of War and recently Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood (which I was getting into at the time Company of Heroes knocked me off my feet) all plopped into that category.

[jpinard]

Tropico 2 Pirate Cove. I know, for a game I got for almost free this year, I had such high hopes to replay my fun times of the original Tropico. But the game was just too washed out and lacking easy to read details, with compting current games it wsn't worth my time. I guess some fond memories are better left un-relived. BUT... if they made a 3d Tropico I'd be there in a second!

Defcon - I've always wanted to nuke things in my games... but the way its presented in Defcon... it's just depressing as hell. Not scary - just utterly depressing. I guess that's a tribute to Introversion to make a gamer have a conscience about nukes.

[SqueakyFoo]

Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting (XBox Live Arcade) - I never liked street fighter before, but I wanted some more multiplayer games on XBox Live Arcade and I knew some friends were getting this. I've played it maybe once or twice since I bought it.
I bought this for nostalgia's sake. Some things are best left in the past. SF2 on xbla is my candidate for this thread (so far). Although N3 and Prey (collecters tin) are up there as well.

[JMR]

This is the last fucking time I'm falling for the QT3 "Gone Gold" effect of buying new games. So far I'm enjoying the single player campaign of CoH but it appears CoH's longevity lies in multiplayer/skirmish which is a wetdream for micromanagers but hell for the rest of us. Damn I'd kill to have a Combat Mission game with this engine though.

[Chris Nahr]

Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy) was yet another critically acclaimed adventure that I loathed. Walking through big environments in real time looking for the next trigger to an uninteresting story just isn't my idea of fun. Why can't all adventure games be like Phoenix Wright?

Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows was really as bad as the reviews claimed, but I had to try it anyway since don't trust reviews for action RPGs.

New Super Mario Bros. finally convinced me that I just can't stand typical platformers, even though I loved Yoshi Touch & Go .

[Ch. Hasslbauer]

Defcon - I've always wanted to nuke things in my games... but the way its presented in Defcon... it's just depressing as hell. Not scary - just utterly depressing. I guess that's a tribute to Introversion to make a gamer have a conscience about nukes.
If you're talking about the music, j, there are mods out there to eliminate a) the coughs and wailing, and b) the music. It seems if you'd use those you'd find this game far less depressing. (Although I didn't try those out yet.) You'll find them on the official Introversion Defcon forums, under "General". I'd link you to it, but it seems their site is completely down at the moment.

Edit: Their site is up again. Mod Link (http://forums.introversion.co.uk/defcon/viewtopic.php?t=1837).

[Unicorn McGriddle]

If they put Combat Mission into that engine -- which wouldn't be a bad idea -- they'd be well advised to give it far zoom and draw distances, which could be made possible by a Sacrifice-style scaling LOD system.

[Gordon_Bleu]

Ditto Geo. Lots of great games this year, too bad I don't have time to play them! I'm currently working my way through Quake 4, which on the plus side only cost me fourteen bucks.

[Idar Thorvaldsen]

Defcon - I've always wanted to nuke things in my games... but the way its presented in Defcon... it's just depressing as hell. Not scary - just utterly depressing. I guess that's a tribute to Introversion to make a gamer have a conscience about nukes.
You think global thermonuclear war, the folly of mankind, and the destruction of the planet should be presented in a cheerful, joyous manner? :) I personally love the presentation in Defcon, and wouldn't mind if more strategy games presented war in a grim fashion instead of the gung-ho yay-action affair it usually is.

Unwise choice: City of Villains. Got it to have something to do while being home with the flu, but apart from playing with the character generation and running around punching stuff as a Brute for a few levels, it didn't give me anything I couldn't find in either EVE or WoW.

[skystride]

I could come up with a top 10 games list with the games mentioned in this thread. Too high expectations perhaps?

[Xaroc]

I could come up with a top 10 games list with the games mentioned in this thread. Too high expectations perhaps?

These threads are always going to generate lists of great games because there is always someone who dislikes every game ever made. Games, like relationships, are about embracing what you like about them but being able to put up with what is wrong at the same time. About the only thing I regret I bought this year are a handful of underplayed arcade games from XBL. Still they were cheap, I don't regret them that much.

[AndrewM]

Different people also have different contexts. I can see why people like Oblivion, and even might have really liked it myself, if I hadn't played Morrowind so recently. I'm not saying it's a bad game, I'm just saying I wish I hadn't bought it.

[dannimal]

A lot of posts are even "I didn't even get to install it yet!". Which seems kind of not the point of the OP, which was looking for games that were dogs. It's one thing to not like a popular game, it's another to call a game a dog when you've never played it.

[Pogue Mahone]

Well, here's one that won't make any top 10 lists: I bought Jaws Unleashed, so yes I'm about as stupid as you think. I read lots of reviews beforehand that pulled no punches, but I loved the idea of being a shark in a GTA-esque gameworld - I was so sure I could make a silk purse out of a shark's ear. But no, it's really just frustration in a box.

[Muzzaro]

I guess that's true, sorry for being part of the "i didn't get to install it yet" people.

I bought and instantly regretted Splinter Cell and the Urbz on the DS. I couldn't take them back as they were both second hand, and i keep forcing myself to play them to justify the waste of money.

[HRose]

I never regret buying games, maybe because I read a lot before making a purchase.

Bought this year:

- EverQuest 2
- Dungeon Siege 2
- Guild Wars
- Quake 4
- Prey
- FEAR
- Baldur's Gate (whole saga on DVDs)
- Civilization 4 + expansion
- Darwinia
- Defcon
- Half-Life 2 ep1
- God of War
- DragonQuest VIII
- Metal Gear Solid 3
- Gran Turismo 4
- Sin
- X3
- Titan Quest
- Company of Heroes
- Paraworld
- Silent Hunter III
- Oblivion
- Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday

I have gripes about each one, but I always knew what I was going to find, so no real disappointment or regret.

I regret buying the expansion for Final Fantasy XI, though, as I said "fuck you" to the game even before installing it.

[Soma]

I can't even be bothered to buy any new release, I walk into EB full of intention to buy games but always walk out empty handed, and get an eyeful from the clerk ('this guy comes in here and sigh, should I call security?').

Game Industry: TAKE MY MONEY, please. But at least give me something exciting/interesting. KOTOR3 with PROPER ENDING will do.

Oh yeah, Lego Star Wars, I returned it after one day.

[Aleck]

I never regret buying games, maybe because I read a lot before making a purchase.

Bought this year:

- EverQuest 2
- Dungeon Siege 2
- Guild Wars
- Quake 4
- Prey
- FEAR
- Baldur's Gate (whole saga on DVDs)
- Civilization 4 + expansion
- Darwinia
- Defcon
- Half-Life 2 ep1
- God of War
- DragonQuest VIII
- Metal Gear Solid 3
- Gran Turismo 4
- Sin
- X3
- Titan Quest
- Company of Heroes
- Paraworld
- Silent Hunter III
- Oblivion
- Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday

I have gripes about each one, but I always knew what I was going to find, so no real disappointment or regret.

I regret buying the expansion for Final Fantasy XI, though, as I said "fuck you" to the game even before installing it.

I'm going to guess you're not married, in your 20s, and have a job that doesn't actually require all that much from you.

Correct?

As for game purchases I regret: I bought Star Wars Battlefront 2 and City of Villains for the PC. SWBF2 was such a tremendous disappointment that I literally only played it about a dozen times. So much potential, so poorly realized. I burned out on City of Heroes right around Xmas last year, so I bought CoV in January, hoping to rekindle the love. It didn't work.

[Robert Sharp]

BFME2...seriously, why do you guys like this game? I've tried getting into DoW also, but I can't seem to make it work. I seem to not like RTS games, but I REALLY want to like them....

[BDGE]

Guild Wars only pushed me back into the WoW fold.

Oblivion and Samurai Warriors 2 are probably tied as my most dissapointing purchases of '06 thus far.

DW5:Empires was a mistake purchase, as was Chromehounds.

FF4 Advance and VP:Lenneth came out worse than their original renditions. Tekken PSP also was a mistake(pretty, but missing the entire point).

I'm starting to feel like VP2 was a mistake as well, far too much needless busywork for my tastes.

[Hump]

regrets and/or overrated:

Just Cause, Far Cry 360, PGR3, GRAW,

Critically unpopular yet glad i bought:

Call of Juarez (Import), PDZ, Commandos Strike Force, Rogue Trooper

[Jake Plane]

Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting (XBox Live Arcade) - I never liked street fighter before, but I wanted some more multiplayer games on XBox Live Arcade and I knew some friends were getting this. I've played it maybe once or twice since I bought it.

Seconded. I don't know if I'm just old (I'm 79) but I basically want a skill level for dummies. Basically a level that lets me beat every match somewhat easily. Instead, I could never make it past game 3.

[Lunch of Kong]

\I don't know if I'm just old (I'm 79).

Yes, but your Brain Age is 23.

[Shadari]

I'm 79.
No way! I bet you're not a day over 65.

[Jamie Madigan]

I regret Resident Evil 4, too. Even the best RE game is aparently still not for me. I'm also starting to regret Dragon Quest 8. Just too simple and repetitive. At least I got those for just $20 each.

[deccan]

Paying for a character transfer in WOW so that my main horde character could be in Bear Drops, even though I was sure that a couple of weeks after the creation of the guild no one from qt3 would be on. ;)

[Kaigen]

Oh yeah, one more: SiN Episodes. Boring as shit.

[BDGE]

Oh yeah, one more: SiN Episodes. Boring as shit.

Yea, I forgot about this one(no surprise). Wish I went with HL2:E1 instead, or maybe not, I still haven't tried it.

[bago]

I was down with the sin column based fights. Not the quasi linear HL thang.

[EvilIdler]

Nearly every MMO, because I end up soloing way too much.

[Arioch]

Tekken PSP also was a mistake(pretty, but missing the entire point).

Please elaborate.

[curst]

I can't speak for BDGE of course, but if you're anything like me in terms of gaming tastes and want a great single-player fighting game for the PSP, I definitely wouldn't recommend Tekken. You can cheese the AI all too easily. Or at least you can with Marduk, Paul Phoenix and Heihachi, which happen to be the first three characters I tried playing to any noticable extent. I have a hard time believing that I just happened to stumble upon the only three characters the AI can't handle.

Put it another way... I'm NOT a good Tekken player, or at least I seriously doubt that I am since I never got into this series the way I did other fighters. Yet my winning percentages with each of these three characters (after having cleared all the dojos on the hardest difficulty) exceeds 90%. That seems insane.

I've found Guilty Gear Judgement to be much more enjoyable. Not only because I think its approach to WACKY!!!ness is better, but it's simply more of a challenge.

Having said that, Tekken PSP is the shit, the tits, the bomb, etc, when it comes to multiplayer. There's four of us in my office who brawl against each other all the time during breaks, and we've all returned MVP Baseball since we've given up on it that completely. So on balance I really enjoy the game.

[Hawkeye Fierce]

This year I tried really hard to avoid impulse purchases and restrict my game-buying to sure things. As a result I don't regret much this year.

I do regret purchasing Space Rangers 2, but only because I bought the US rather than the UK version, and there doesn't seem to be a working Starforce crack for the US version.

[Elton]

I recently made an impulse purchase and bought the Painkiller Special Edition, not knowing that what makes it special was that it contains only a subset of the levels in the original game (apparently so it'll fit on one CD). At least it was cheap ($10 at Best Buy) and I like what I've seen so far, but I wish I had the full game.

[BobJustBob]

I recently made an impulse purchase and bought the Painkiller Special Edition, not knowing that what makes it special was that it contains only a subset of the levels in the original game (apparently so it'll fit on one CD). At least it was cheap ($10 at Best Buy) and I like what I've seen so far, but I wish I had the full game.

They did that same damn thing with Deus Ex. Called it the special edition when really it was the demo on a disc. I thought it was a jewelcase version of the full game.

=(

[FIDGAF]

Rainbow Six: Lockdown.
Bigest piece of crap I've ever played. Gives the Tom Clancy series a bad name.

Oblivion: Just couldn't get into it.

[RickH]

Star Wars: Empire at War.

More of the same. The ground combat is different from Galactic Battlegrounds exactly how?

[Lorini]

Black and White 2. Have no CLUE why I bought it; never opened it and sold it. Kameo for the 360. City of Villains/Heros-just wasn't deep enough for me. Company of Heroes-seems like you need to be a military buff to understand what the heck is going on. Spellforce 2--bought it when it first came out and still haven't played it.

Lorini

[E-phonk]

sonic rush (ds), king kong (gc).

[delirium]

Chromehounds. Guess I missed the boat on this one. The Qt3 squad is pretty dead and I can't seem to find anything better to join. The interface is so clunky that I can hardly even generate the willpower to mess around with mech building.

[RickH]

The interface is so clunky that I can hardly even generate the willpower to mess around with mech building.

And what the hell is up with the Battleship-style coordinate system? Going to E5 is not particularly intuitive for me. Other things that confound me: no onscreen health display, unable to pause to review map (dictated by MP?), and unclear mission objectives.

[Damien Neil]

And what the hell is up with the Battleship-style coordinate system? Going to E5 is not particularly intuitive for me. Other things that confound me: no onscreen health display, unable to pause to review map (dictated by MP?), and unclear mission objectives.

It sounds as if you're attempting to play singleplayer. Unfortunately, Chromehounds does not actually contain a singleplayer mode. It contains a set of tedious and unnecessary training exercises carefully disguised as one, however, so the mistake is understandable.

[awdougherty]

Madden 07
Lego Star Wars 2
Star Wars Battlefront 2
Kameo

Haven't spent enough time with Darkstar One to get that regret feeling.

[Aeon221]

Civ4+Expansion

Will run like a snail on my laptop.

Will not run on the machine I bought for it. Refuses to even install, in fact. Which sucks, because I was really into the Civ3 modding scene.

[AndrewM]

Wait, if Civ4 didn't run, why'd you buy the expansion?

[Equis]

F.E.A.R

Did this get game of the year? Whoever designed the levels should be tied on a leash and made to walk around real offices and warehouses for at least a decade.

Also, the atmosphere and story was a cheap imitation of Japanese anime; when Americans COPY!!!. I really wanted to like it, and even enjoyed some of the firefights. But ultimately, it got too repetitive (firefights), tedious (level design) and pointless (story).

[dannimal]

Wait, if Civ4 didn't run, why'd you buy the expansion?

Sounds like it was bought as a bundle with the plan of playing it on a computer that can't/won't run it, leaving a woefully underpowered laptop as the only option.

Bummer.

[unbongwah]

Gee, funny how this thread is growing faster than the "I'm glad I bought it!" thread (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=29688). Are we easily disappointed or just more prone to griping than praising?

Anyway, not a purchase, but Dead Rising would be on my list had I bought rather than rented it. Just not my cuppa tea: lots of things to do, but none of them are all that interesting, IMHO. Plus I'm maybe burnt out on zombies.

I'd also include F.E.A.R. except I can't remember if I bought it this year or last. Great graphics engine and some great weapons; but boring environments, limited variety of enemies, cliche horror bits ripped off from better sources which weren't very scary (to me), and a weak confusing plot with a needless (if predictable) "cliffhanger." It was still OK, but I wouldn't've minded waiting for it to hit bargain bins before buying it.

[Thrag]

It's funny, I loved FEAR. Some of the best FPS combat yet. I don't follow a lot of the gaming press hype so I went in with no expectations and I found a great experience. It wasn't perfect and there were some things I didn't like but it was still jam packed with FPS fun.

[RepoMan]

Defcon - I've always wanted to nuke things in my games... but the way its presented in Defcon... it's just depressing as hell. Not scary - just utterly depressing. I guess that's a tribute to Introversion to make a gamer have a conscience about nukes.
Yeah, I think the fact that it's the real world is what makes it unappealing to me also. I haven't played it and I won't, because I have a baby daughter and nuking the world (including the San Francisco area where I live) is less than no fun, even in a mere game.

Supreme Commander, on the other hand -- where the nukes are big, incredibly graphic, and happening on planets populated solely by robots -- will be nuke heaven.

Edit: on the original topic... hmm. I don't usually regret buying anything even if I never get around to playing it at all, or even if I burn out on it quickly. I mean, how would I know if I'm going to burn out on it quickly without buying it? And I don't even sell my games -- even if a game isn't that great, I'd rather the developers get my money and not lose other sales.

But the games I've not yet played yet:
Silent Storm, Dawn of War: Winter Assault, Darwinia, Vampire: Bloodlines, Freedom Force Vs. The Third Reich, Kirby's Canvas Curse, Ninja Gaiden, Dai Senryaku VII, X-Men: Legends, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, Beyond Good & Evil, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy.

Games I burnt out on / dropped before getting more than 20% into, but that I still want to pick up someday:
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, Space Rangers 2, Quake 4, Far Cry, GalCiv 2, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, PoP 3.

Games I dropped for good (either from boredom or from interest loss):
Pirates!, Dungeon Siege II, Painkiller (it crashed my rig a lot), Project Gotham, NOLF 2, Shogun, Independence War II.

But I wouldn't say I fully regret getting any of these. None of them are really bad per se -- I use Qt3 and my 6 magazine subscriptions to avoid getting total crap games. And since I don't have nearly enough time to play games, I somehow get a warm fuzzy feeling from having a shelf of unplayed games... I know that if I ever do get time to play, I'll be set for years to come :-)

[Aleck]

It's funny, I loved FEAR. Some of the best FPS combat yet. I don't follow a lot of the gaming press hype so I went in with no expectations and I found a great experience. It wasn't perfect and there were some things I didn't like but it was still jam packed with FPS fun.

I thought FEAR's multiplayer was great. The SP game was okay (entertaining enough, and, well, hell, I don't expect stories from FPSes anymore).

Would have been better with some greater outdoor environments and levels that didn't play like you were on a rail, but... <shrug>

[BDGE]

To sum up from WAY above, my issues with Tekken PSP mostly involve the lack of solid multiplayer(outside of multi-PSP ownership) and even then it's just not conducive to the thrill of sharing the same space, trading insults with punches. The concept probably works well in the dense environment of Tokyo where it may be feasible to ad-hoc some random PSP junkie at the overcrowded Starbucks of Shibuya Station.

As curst mentioned, Tekken's bread and butter is multiplayer and despite the inclusion of several single player-focused modes they just don't pan out to represent what the Tekken experience is. Technically amazing but wasted potential. A 360 port or PS2 Greatest Hits remix would have been better served for this patched update to T5.

[Thrag]

The game I most regrest buying was GRAW for the PC. Such great potential and I tried so hard to like the game but the single player game was simply not fun. Your teammates AI was so bad it meant the only viable job for them was "stay the hell out of combat". Scanning the overhead map for which pixels might be the next insta-death trap, only to find out that the only way to actually find out about many of the insta-death traps was to trigger them and then reload from the last checkpoint play half the level again and remember where the insta-death was. The miles between checkpoints in a game where there is no possible justification for having checkpoint only saves in the first place. Gah, even thinking about it frustrates me. If a company isn't going to put any polish whatsoever into the single player gameplay, just sell it as a multiplayer only game. This is what GRAW seems to actually be even though they touted the single player campaign so much. Since I find pick up games with random people on the internet about as much fun as driving during rush hour (and for the same reasons) I know to avoid games where it's obvious that the single player is just a glorified tutorial.

[Qenan]

Agree about GRAW. Also regret buying GalCiv II.

[Crater]

Hard Truck Apocalypse. It seemed so promising, like those crazy russians were going to bring back Car Wars, mix it with Fallout and Space Rangers, and stir.

Instead, it was a bland, unintelligible crapfest of a game. At least it only cost me $20. I've spent more on parking in a pinch.

[Aeon221]

You can only sort of regret buying Galciv II.

Personal anecdote, not to be confused with evidence: I only played it for a few days, but I still felt like it was worth it to support Stardock.

[Peter Jones]

SW: Battlefront 2.

I was just really jonesing for some SW shooter action, but it just didn't do it for me. I can't pin it down, but it feels "off" in some way. Oh well, p'raps I can take it back.

[Torbe]

I kinda regret buying "The Ship" thought it was good after playing it for a couple of hours so purchased a second copy off steam for my wife. The bugs in the game though are pretty deep and cause both machines just to bomb out occasionally (at different times and with different errors). Seems like serious bug fixes aren't a high priority for this game. Oh and I hate the fact that steam has to be running in the background all the time hogging resources.

Also as mentioned before above somewhere on this thread, I also fell for the hype for Resident Evil 4 despite the fact I've owned and hated at least two other RE titles in the past.

But can't complain too much as other Qt3 hyped games like CoH have been a real treat.

[Alistair]

Might as well chip in with BFME II (zzzz.....) and FEAR (the genre-defining office shooter). Both cheap though, so never mind. What surprises me is a lot of these games did have demos...

[RickH]

SW: Battlefront 2.

I was just really jonesing for some SW shooter action, but it just didn't do it for me. I can't pin it down, but it feels "off" in some way.

I absolutely agree with you there. The tragedy is that now you'll be lucky to find more than one SWBF 1 server with players on it.

[Wholly Schmidt]

Phoenix Wright

Ok, this actually came out last year, but I just bought it a month ago. Jerks. I can't believe I bought into the hype on this one. I usually have a pretty good feeling for who to trust about what types of games. Phoneix Wright is an adventure game that makes me long for the sophistication of pixel hunts. It's just a series of illogical conversations that leave you feeling intellectually emasculated. You know things hours ahead of Phoenix and just have to make stupid conversation choices and fumble through the trial and error of what order to visit locations and witnesses to get the game to advance. Forced failures in witness examinations are scripted as part of the game, which means that you're not actually "failing" the "game", because you're advancing the plot, but boy do they make you hate playing. I got about halfway through the third case, and I'm never going back to this one. I should've known better than to trust you guys after...

Kingdom Hearts II

Somewhere (kitsune, toastyfrog, I don't remember exactly) I got the idea that this addressed the flaws of the first (which I didn't play, hearing it was a mediocre game in an appealing, nostalgic setting; I do love me some classic Disney) while delivering an even bigger does of reheated childhood goodness. Four hours into it and I hate Japan again. I ranted about it in the Rice Krispies thread already, but it deserves mention again.

It's been years since I've actually purchased games bad enough that I decide not to ever play them again. There are tons of games I haven't finished, and that realistically I'll probably never get back to, but these are the only two that I can even remember that have been so bad I've actively decided to abandon completely.

[Sectoid]

Call of Cthulhu. It started out so well. I even made it past the horrid stealth part, but by the time I got part way through the refinery, I couldn't force myself to go on. Infinitely and frequently respawning enemies combined with no ammo drops and lack of a crosshair made me regret dropping $20 on it.

[Rob_Merritt]

Titans Quest, Star Wars Empire at War, Rise of Legends


I should also add Age of Empires III. I just went through a period were I was going to force myself to enjoy RTSs and failed.

[sw001]

Madden 07

I don't know why I fall for it every year with the hopes of a good football game with something 'new' in it. I guess I get it because it is the only football game out now, but it always ends up disappointing and feeling like the same old game...

[MikeOberly]

BFME2 and Oblivion for me, but that says as much for how I feel about the respective genres as it does about the games themselves. But, who cares -- Dom3 is here!

[Brendan]

Project Freedom.

Look, I'm desperate for any decent space sim and I'm willing to try everything.

[DeepT]

Titans Quest, Star Wars Empire at War, Rise of Legends

Ill feel the same about those, and Ill add Civ City Rome and AoE III. I also didn't get much play out of BFM2, but this may not be because it was a bad game, I just got distracted and never got back to it. I might be adding Ceasar IV to that list as well, I dunno, although at this point it is a lot better then Civ City Rome.

[Pishtaco]

This is more in tune with the title than with the original post, but Civ IV and Oblivion.

Both are great games that I got many hours of fun out of. But in both cases the meat of the game seemed like too much hard slog, once the fun exploration stage was finished. So they sat on the shelf and I felt guilty about buying them.

Also, I-War 2, probably because I'm nostalgiac about I-War 1 and remember it as being more than frantic circle-strafing in junk-filled space. The weird solar-system browser and the wanton murder are also putting me off.

[Brendan]

I don't understand how people can say "Dammit, why did I buy this?" about games they payed for a few weeks and then put down. Surely that's the subject matter for the thread titled : "Games that were ok but flawed."?

Shouldn't this thread be about the gaming equivalent of waking up next to a 350lb woman/man who looks and smells like a landfill during a heatwave after a bender?

[SlyFrog]

Let me just say that I don't get the people who wish Company of Heroes had no economics or base building because it is too frantic and clicky that way.

The micro in these games primarily comes in the tactical battles. I am firmly convinced that the economics and base building are benefits to those with poor micro. I have no illusions but that I would have my ass handed to me even more if the game was tactical only, and had no building or resources. Sheesh, I'm bad enough as it is with my opponent's attention someone diverted by strategic needs of what units to build. I'd be even more destroyed if they were able to spend more time fast clicking units in reaction to my basic movements.

[Doug Erickson]

Recently, I picked up Xenosaga 3 against ALL BETTER JUDGMENT thanks to the RPG folks at GAF indicating that it was "way, way better than the other Xenosaga titles". Wrong. It's still shallow, poorly-designed crap with an awful story (but a stellar soundtrack). Other regrets include Tales of Legendia and Spectral Souls (PSP). Fortunately, the gal who runs the local GameCrazy is cool with me and takes returns. :)

[scharmers]

Shouldn't this thread be about the gaming equivalent of waking up next to a 350lb woman/man who looks and smells like a landfill during a heatwave after a bender?

Darkstar One, like I said. I don't know where the thread converged into the "played it for weeks, then hated it". I was talking about the "shit, I knew this was a bad idea" a couple hours into playing it games.