The Hype Machine

 Lately, which I guess it has to do with the fact that gaming has become more mainstream lately and due to the lack of really amazing games on current gen, it seems that people get hyped a lot more easily. Every last 'triple A'(I hate the expression) has been surrounded by 'hype campaigns'. The Witcher 3, Bloodborne, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Batman: Arkham Knight and even Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire. And all these games have another thing in common, which I like to call the 'honeymoon period', which lasts about 2-3 months after release.

 During this time, these games are the 'BEST GAME EVER', or 'GAME OF THE YEAR', any person that expresses any kind of gripe or distaste with the game will be branded a 'troll' or told to 'git good'. Because. hey, it can't possibly be the game's fault. Like how The Witcher 3 had somewhat clunky combat mechanics, but hey, 'it was way worse in The Witcher 2' or maybe 'You should get good', because it can't possibly be the game's fault. Or take Pokemon ORAS, during the last months before its release, suddenly Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, one of the most disliked gens among the fandom, became the best generation ever. Suddenly people loved Ruby and Sapphire. And during the first months after release, it was 'waaaaay better than X and Y', and the 'Too much water' complaint became a meme because it, pardon the pun, held no water. But after the honeymoon period ended, ORAS was quickly forgotten, suddenly X and Y weren't so bad, so on and so forth.

 People need to remember that just because somebody doesn't like a game they love, it doesn't mean that it's a bad game, or that your taste is put into question. But people get too defensive about the games they like, it's as if videogame publishers were paying them to defend their games. And it's one thing to argue about something, but as soon as someone says they dislike a game or an aspect of it, all civility goes out the window: they are wrong, or they are playing it wrong and they are trolling and they should get good! People suck sometimes.

 But I was talking with somebody about Metal Gear Solid V, a game he was rather hyped about, but was feeling a bit let down about it, which prompted me to think about this and how 'Hype' has affected me.... and then I thought about the last time my hype wasn't met with disappointment.

 Last year's 'JoJo's All Star Battle', I couldn't wait for the game, I devoured every single crumb of information that was released, and the end result was everything I wanted. Sure, I had some gripes with it, but as a whole, it didn't disappoint me in the slightest. I got the game that I wanted, and it was fabulous.

 'Gundam Extreme VS Full Boost' was everything I wanted. I followed the Arcade's mobile suit unlocks month by month, I went to as many boards as a I came around, looking for information on a console port or the latest playable unit trailer. My hype was through the roof and was met with aplomb. Sure, the Single Player was a bit lacking, when compared to vanilla Extreme VS anyways, but that's not the game's focus. And, unexpectedly, the 'hype cycle' is still on-going, except that now I'm following Maxi Boost's unlocks and hoping for Console Port news! Namco, get on it.

 'Tekken Tag Tournament 2' was another game that delivered. I'm in love with this game, my only problem being... that all of my friends hate Tekken(because they suck), so I'm stuck playing the CPU.

 But then, there's also the games I've been disappointed with...

 Oh, 'Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS', my hype for this game reached Full Boost's level, not a day would go by without me lurking the boards for potential leaks. Waiting religiously for the next 'Screenshot of the day'... And, to be fair, I know that it's a better game than Brawl 'n all... but there's something missing. I don't know what exactly, I can't put my finger on it... Maybe I just outgrew the series? Thing is, I wanted to love this game, I wanted it to become my favorite 3DS game, but.... it just wasn't meant to be, for as good as it is. It even has Shulk! And Ike, my main, looks even better than he did in Brawl, but... sigh.

 'Dragon Ball Xenoverse'.... sigh. I admit that a huge part of my issue is that I played the terrible PS3 version, which makes 80% of the game nigh unplayable. There's framerate issues on the Hub Town, even if you play offline, and you need to go through the town since there's no traditional menu to select modes. And there's framerate problems if there's ever more than two combatants on screen at the same time... and most of the game is made up of multiple-man fights, and you need to play this mode if you want to unlock everything.

 But even then, there's no forgiving the insane grindy nature of the game. The RNGs' got RNGs!!! Meaning that every Mission has a chance to make a boss appear, who in turn has a small chance to drop items/skills. Even the Dragon Balls are governed by RNGs. To this day, this is the only Dragon Ball game in which I haven't unlocked every character. And what about the missions? You absolutely need to play online if you mean to finish the latter stages, as you CPU allies will become a hindrance. And if you play offline, you'd better not make a melee oriented build, or you are basically screwed.

 For as hyped as I was about Smash for the 3Ds, at least it delivered a good game. I can't say the same about Xenoverse.

 And that's it. Hype is bad, don't ever get caught in the hype. And if you do, don't get so defensive about people disliking it. They are missing out, not you. Plus, the Publishers aren't paying you to defend their games.