Popular Things You Dislike

[Shadsie]

A thread to talk about things in the games that are popular in the fandom that you personally dislike. I'm talking about specific characters, specific weapons/tools and specific sidequests in specific games, not "all across the games" themes. What I mean is, have you seen people all over the fandom absolutely gush about this thing or that thing in this or that game but you personally feel out of the loop because you thought that thing was "meh?"

I have a couple of these for Skyward Sword. (Thread posted in World of Zelda because I want people to share from multiple games).

1. The Minecarts. It seems to me, from DA to here, to one of my online friends... everyone loves the minecart-quest in the Lanayru Sand Sea. People go "Whee!"

I don't. Maybe it's because I was never a fan of roller coasters, maybe it's because I've had stomach-problems (including motion sickness) lately (I got some medication that is so far helping)... maybe it's just because I can't always keep up the Wii-tilting, or maybe it's just that the second track is just too friggin' long, but I don't like the minecarts. I can see why people love them, but they just don't appeal to me. I'm stalled on that part of the game on my Hero Mode file. I *cannot wait* to get past it, just like in my first game.

2. Ghirahim.

Excuse me, Demon Lord Ghirahim. I am not bashing anyone's like of him, it's just that he didn't float my boat as much as I'd hoped a gaming-villain would. (Then again, I wasn't much impressed by Zant, either). First of all, he struck me as this weird sterotype, of the kind that would come out of a very bad S&M fanfic. Also, as someone else who was unimpressed by him pointed out in a disscussion I had on Deviant Art, he's something of an ineffectual villain. Half the time, he's all "Link hurt me, I'm going to go back to the shadows to sulk!" and the other half, he's like a sterotypical cartoon villain summoning up the monster and not sticking around to make sure it actually kills the hero. Ghirahim has his good points for me - some of the best lines in the game, for instance, but I'm not head over heels for him like most of the rest of the fandom seems to be.

So, what are your popular-but-not-with-you things?

 

[Ronin]

My "unpopular" issues...

Epona - I am most certainly not talking about her as a general annoyance. My discontent with her rests in Ocarina of Time, and partially Majora's Mask, where you could ride her as Adult Link, but had to run everywhere as Young Link. Yet we could ride her in MM with barely any restraint. I realize Link might have gained some experience by the time he reached Termina, but it still makes no sense to me how he could ride Epona just fine as an adult and not be allowed to do it in child form. It sort of falls under the same terms of Young Link only using certain weapons when MM Link could. But I guess he gained sufficient experience throughout his first adventure. ; )

Sailing - This element tampered down a lot of potential esteem I might've held for Wind Waker. Personally, it's my least favorite method of transportation, aside from the standard running, because of how mundanely slow it is. I'd have King of the Red Lions skip over the water just to break the monotony. If Nintendo had implemented some way to accelerate that scarlet craft even when going against the winds that would've made it much more enjoyable. Nevertheless, I don't hate the entire game due to that; I simply dislike that concept.

And I have a few more, but I'll let others jump in now.

 

[unknown]

I have some issues with a certain dungeon...

The Forest Temple (OoT)
I don't know why, but I just can't stand this temple. I don't really care for the hunting of the poes, because you get the same battle 4 times in a row. The boss was kind of so-so, and the design was kind of bland. The music wasn't especially interesting or liveable. The most interesting part was the twisted hallways and the wall and floor masters. It wasn't super challenging either. I can't really think of any others right now, but I might chime in later with some epiphanies.

 

[MW7]

The overworld in Twilight Princess. People seem to love this overworld for its beautiful visuals and plenty of open space. Personally I thought the lantern caverns were an absolutely perfect fit for the series as well. However, the overall design of this overworld makes me sick just thinking about it. At first glance it seems pretty open because of the huge fields, but you are forced on a straight path for a huge portion of the game. It's literally fields connected by stone hallways for most of the overworld. Is it just me or is it incredibly odd how there are narrow paths connecting everything in the game? How is this even comparable to one piece of land a la Legend of Zelda or A Link to the Past?

My second subject is the second quests of Wind Waker and Skyward Sword. To be honest I do like these, but I think the amount of credit they get is vastly underdeserved. How can little tweaks to a playthrough qualify as a second quest when 25 years ago the original game had practically a whole new game as its second quest? It's like the standards are dropping off the face of the earth. I mean how do we go from practically a whole new game to Master Quest (which was also disappointing but wasn't a part of the original OOT anyway) to Wind Waker in which we are given a new shirt and a camera? At least Hero Mode was a step up from Wind Waker's second quest but still.

 

[DuelMark]

Majora's Mask. It's a great game but wherever I go they treat it with more than the praise I think it deserves.

 

[Wolf Sage]

Interesting and creative thread you got here, as always.

To the point:

1. The Navi hate
   • I never found Navi to be annoying in the slightest. She was a neat, interesting, and informative assist-character. Sure, there were times when she'd repeat the obvious, but it was never too excessive, in my opinion. All the hatred over her was totally uncalled for and unwarranted. It seems to me that many fans simply wanted to jump on the bandwagon.
   
   
2. Twilight Princess' "dark" atmosphere
   • I simply didn't like the darkness that many fans found in TP and I personally think that Majora's Mask's brand of "darkness" was far superior and much more effective overall. For starters, TP's atmosphere felt like an attempt at horror the likes of a typical, American alien-horror movie. The beings of the twilight - bizarre and alien-like - failed to instill a sense of fear within me of any kind. The same can be said in regards to the twilight veil. The dark, faded sky was more of a flaw than a plot device, seeing as how it made everything appear faded and pallid moreso than it made things dreadful and scary. It seemed to subtract from the visuals while trying to add to the game's plot; this was a terrible trade-off, in my opinion. Also, the overall "dark atmosphere" of the plot left much to be desired in terms of dread and urgency. I never once felt that the encroaching twilight was a threat to the safety of the citizens of Hyrule; it felt as though no one even noticed the twilight, and by extension I didn't feel sorry for anyone. Sure, Midna's story was touching, but I honestly didn't care as strongly as I could have been. Oh, and out pops Ganondorf on a stereotypical rant about taking over the world.
     
     My case:
     
     Spoiler

     Majora's Mask's darkness stemmed from themes that were macabre and occult, and was not always apparent at first glance; it called for the player to dig deep and find answers. It touched upon elements that were mysterious and dreadful, much like a Japanese horror film, and many such elements are not easily understood among Westerners. The sense of urgency was incredibly high throughout as the menacing Moon drew ever closer. During this time, I became enthralled with the citizens' daily affairs and the impending doom made my want to save them, so they could get on with their lives and return to their families and friends. They all tried to go about their lives all the while knowing that, within a few days, they were all going to perish. In a way, it seemed kinda effed up that the villain, Majora, would just go and screw those people's live up. To me, this added an even darker dimension to the plot. Majora's Mask's motives were uncertain and it seemed that they simply revolved around mindless destruction for the fun of watching others suffer. It practically fed on the emotions of the Skull Kid and amplified them to homicidal, sociopathic levels. There are many other miscellaneous elements of darkness to be found, including death, souls trapped within mask, torture, and a fallen kingdom whose history is tinged in bloodshed and war, voodoo (seriously), etc. All of this gave it a stronger sense of maturity than TP as well. / my case

That's about it...for now.

 

[SinkingBadges]

Majora's Mask. It's a great game but wherever I go they treat it with more than the praise I think it deserves.

Yeah, that's sort of irked me for a while too. I might sound like a hipster here, but I've had a huge respect for Majora's Mask as a piece of game design since long before it was popular. It was for the same reasons a lot of people do now, too. My appreciation for it only rose to new heights with some glimpses at the writing I've see some people make on the game. But its comparatively recent popularity boost does look kind of... I don't know, off to me. I guess you can thank that in part to the BEN story, because other than high praise and a reason for people to dust the game off, it also gave MM the unexpected advantage of internet meme-dom.

[*]Twilight Princess' "dark" atmosphere

• I simply didn't like the darkness that many fans found in TP and I personally think that Majora's Mask's brand of "darkness" was far superior and much more effective overall. For starters, TP's atmosphere felt like an attempt at horror the likes of a typical, American alien-horror movie. The beings of the twilight - bizarre and alien-like - failed to instill a sense of fear within me of any kind. The same can be said in regards to the twilight veil. The dark, faded sky was more of a flaw than a plot device, seeing as how it made everything appear faded and pallid moreso than it made things dreadful and scary. It seemed to subtract from the visuals while trying to add to the game's plot; this was a terrible trade-off, in my opinion. Also, the overall "dark atmosphere" of the plot left much to be desired in terms of dread and urgency. I never once felt that the encroaching twilight was a threat to the safety of the citizens of Hyrule; it felt as though no one even noticed the twilight, and by extension I didn't feel sorry for anyone. Sure, Midna's story was touching, but I honestly didn't care as strongly as I could have been. Oh, and out pops Ganondorf on a stereotypical rant about taking over the world.
  
  My case:
  
  Spoiler

  Majora's Mask's darkness stemmed from themes that were macabre and occult, and was not always apparent at first glance; it called for the player to dig deep and find answers. It touched upon elements that were mysterious and dreadful, much like a Japanese horror film, and many such elements are not easily understood among Westerners. The sense of urgency was incredibly high throughout as the menacing Moon drew ever closer. During this time, I became enthralled with the citizens' daily affairs and the impending doom made my want to save them, so they could get on with their lives and return to their families and friends. They all tried to go about their lives all the while knowing that, within a few days, they were all going to perish. In a way, it seemed kinda effed up that the villain, Majora, would just go and screw those people's live up. To me, this added an even darker dimension to the plot. Majora's Mask's motives were uncertain and it seemed that they simply revolved around mindless destruction for the fun of watching others suffer. It practically fed on the emotions of the Skull Kid and amplified them to homicidal, sociopathic levels. There are many other miscellaneous elements of darkness to be found, including death, souls trapped within mask, torture, and a fallen kingdom whose history is tinged in bloodshed and war, voodoo (seriously), etc. All of this gave it a stronger sense of maturity than TP as well. / my case

[/list]

That's about it...for now.

Yes... just yes. I honestly can't believe the definitions people give to the words "mature" or "dark"... I mean, not to say TP isn't either, but I've always gotten the impression that some people (nobody specifically, just random comments I read on it ocasionally) assign those words for rather shallow reasons (not to mention downright close-minded sometimes). It might just be me, but I still get that impression rather strongly sometimes.

 

[Shadsie]

I personally like Twilight Princess a lot - including its dark atmosphere*, but I agree with people above that Majora's Mask is a darker game.

TP had that "made for adult/teen audiences" feel from the get-go, with a young adult Link, and the "grit" feel while MM seems like Nintendo was trying to make a tale of apocalyptic horror and dealing with the dead into something "Everyone" - family friendly, and all the whimsy of it ends up coming across as a veneer. In other words, MM utlizes one of the great tools of horror-storytelling to the Nth degree: Subverted Innocence. (Color, cute things, child protagonist and so forth against a backdrop of The End and Death in general). Subverted Innocence stories *always* strike me as creepier than stories where the innocence wasn't even there to begin with. In other words, for me, TP has the "meloncholy" creepiness of evening softly falling on a cemetary. Majora's Mask has the creepiness of clowns. Since I live next to a cemetary and see night fall on it every day, you can guess what's more likely to make my blood run cold.

( * Twilight Princess was my favorite Zelda game before Skyward Sword came along. Majora's Mask *might have been* my favorite game if it wasn't for certain gameplay elements that annoyed the frick outta me).

 

[Tictalk]

I hated almost everything about twilight princess. I hated the graphics, the characters, the art style, the story, the dungeons, the items, the difficulty level, the overworld, and most of all i hated midna! She was annoying and never seemed to grow on me

 

[Trio the Punch]

I hate Midna. I know she isn't universally loved, but I think most people would consider her popular. And I hate her. And I don't mean "Boy, she sure is annoying" kind of hate; I mean pure unbridled fury. I hate the crap she says, her design (especially in her non-imp form; she looked like the offspring of a smurf and a giraffe), her stupid gibberish, her inability to be in any way helpful, the fact that she manipulates the player into getting the fused shadows, the fact that she won't let the player transform or warp in front of people (seriously, they can deal with it; I'm saving their lives for crap's sake), and I especially hate the fact that I never got to see her die. That would've been the only thing she could've done to redeem herself.

I hated almost everything about twilight princess. I hated the graphics, the characters, the art style, the story, the dungeons, the items, the difficulty level, the overworld, and most of all i hated midna! She was annoying and never seemed to grow on me

I agree with all of those things.

 

[SinkingBadges]

I personally like Twilight Princess a lot - including its dark atmosphere*, but I agree with people above that Majora's Mask is a darker game.

TP had that "made for adult/teen audiences" feel from the get-go, with a young adult Link, and the "grit" feel while MM seems like Nintendo was trying to make a tale of apocalyptic horror and dealing with the dead into something "Everyone" - family friendly, and all the whimsy of it ends up coming across as a veneer. In other words, MM utlizes one of the great tools of horror-storytelling to the Nth degree: Subverted Innocence. (Color, cute things, child protagonist and so forth against a backdrop of The End and Death in general). Subverted Innocence stories *always* strike me as creepier than stories where the innocence wasn't even there to begin with. In other words, for me, TP has the "meloncholy" creepiness of evening softly falling on a cemetary. Majora's Mask has the creepiness of clowns. Since I live next to a cemetary and see night fall on it every day, you can guess what's more likely to make my blood run cold.

( * Twilight Princess was my favorite Zelda game before Skyward Sword came along. Majora's Mask *might have been* my favorite game if it wasn't for certain gameplay elements that annoyed the frick outta me).

Hmm... I assume that was either at me or Wolf Sage, right? Lol, I'll reply anyway since I think the last thing I said will be seriously misinterpreted if I don't. :xd:

I've seen a good number of people assigning terms like "mature" or "dark" to Twilight Princess for rather odd reasons sometimes; namely, the artstyle alone. As I said, not to say TP isn't dark or mature (whether it's moreso than Majora's Mask is something I'd rather not delve into since I think they're both in their own way, but it really seems like I did by quoting Wolf Sage... note to myself: don't quote anyone in a rush and claim to agree with the main point if the person took the argument somewhere else).

In the end, I do think TP had that air most of the time. I'm not sure if I'd say it worked 100% for me, but it did make for some great moments from time to time.

 

[TheRationalDove]

I agree with Wolf Sage and the Navi Hate. I won't say Navi was the perfect companion or didn't irk me at times, but she has her good points, especially with her hints on enemies. At the end of day, I feel the hatred against her is more of an overexaggerated fandom meme than an actual uber annoyance that detracted from the gameplay.

Lowering Dificulty Levels: Having died 17 times in the Deku Tree in the OoT Master Quest, I don't really feel like the series is lessening in challenges. Twilight Princess has its hard points too for me, as I am right now having huge issues with the Chillfos in the pew room in the Snowpeak Ruins. The bosses, in many cases, could be a tad bit more difficult, but the temples and gameplay itself is at the right level for me at least. So, I'm a bit disheartened at the prospect that people want Zelda games harder, since that might mean the games would be too much of a challenge for me. But that's me.

 

[Shadsie]

Since others have mentioned it, put me down for not being "with the crowd" with the Navi-hate.

I make fun of her all the time, but I don't actually hate her and I find fanart where Link is killing her or hurting her to be out of character. (Yes, Link doesn't have much of a personality to begin with, but the poor kid has waited for a fairy all his life)! Navi really gained my respect when she decided to stay by Link no matter what in the fight against Ganon.

I like all the partners, really (at least in the games that I've played), so when people complain about Midna's rudeness or Fi's obviousness, or Navi's voice, etc. I'm kind of "Meh?"

 

[Heros Temporis]

I'm with the other guys on the Navi hate. Right from the get-go, I never found her annoying. Certainly not her voice.
To date, she's still my favorite Link-buddy.

Tatl, on the other hand...

 

[CheeseXCrackers]

I never liked Princess Zelda, but Spirit Tracks took my dislike for her and turned it into hatred. I would've despised ST if it weren't for Linebeck, he saves every game he's in. ST is the first game that lets us see her personality, and she's a b****! "Link! You're going to go fight that evil creepy guy all by your self while I sit comfortably here doing absolutely nothing at all! It's kind of a tradition of princesses. Chop chop!" Then she did nothing but complain throughout the entire game. WTF Zelda!? You can fight terrifying scary monster hands that try to take away a key, but you can't fight a stupid little mouse!? She was like a stupid ditsy blonde girl from a bad anime. I hated her in Skyward Sword, too.