The Games I Wish I Never Replayed

don't get mad at me

also, one thing I wish I would have dove into is how for some games it is easy for me to look back at the memory of playing a game and hold onto that regardless of if I still enjoy playing it today, but for others (like the three games I talk about in this video) I can't seem to hold onto that initial memory as well and start to sour on the game as a whole. I have not thought about it enough to have an answer as to why that is. I touch on it a tiny bit when talking about games that you can't truly replay and how you go into replaying those with the mindset that a new playthrough isn't designed to be the same, but I think there is a ton more in that space to explore, especially considering that there are games that I think suck to play now that are highly replayable, yet I don't have the same sour feeling towards them as I do towards these three. Could be something about the game, could be my mindset when I replayed them, could be the strength of the original memory when I played it, could be all of these things and more.

oh and one other thing I wish I would have done a bit differently was how I talked about Majora's Mask. I stand by all of my thoughts on how the game didn't hit for me on my most recent playthrough, but I think I presented it as if a switch had flipped and that the game means nothing to me now when that is not the case. The more accurate view is that when replaying it, I just could tell that if this was a game I kept coming back to, eventually the good memories I had of it (whether those be from when I played the game or was just obsessed with hearing about it) would be replaced by my more current lukewarm feelings on it, so I have decided that in order to preserve what love I still have for MM, I am better off not playing it anymore lol.

anyway, have a good one.

But you'll never forget the story twist of bioshock. That's what locks in your mind. The would you kindly line is top tier

Bioshock Infinite was fun until I finished it. Hated the ending, it killed all desire to replay.

A good video, but I'm gonna have to disagree with you on Assassin's Creed. AC2 is the "face that launched a thousand ships", but something most of its imitators, and especially other Ubi games fail to do, is pace itself well. AC2 isn't perfect mind, and in the second half of the game it too starts to trip over its own scope and ambitions, but something it does try and generally succeed at doing is building up and paying off each memory segment. There's set up on who Ezio is going after next, why he wants to kill them, what their role in things are, etc. Later games progressively eschewed these things, to the point a game like Unity just drops your ass in a fully open Paris, overloaded with map icons, and just expects you to.... fuck off and figure it out. For Breath of the Wild, this is fine, because exploration is the name of the game. But Assassin's Creed as a whole is driven by narrative. The open world side goals are supplementary to the assassination, and the series lost sight of that after 2. So while you can certainly say AC has been done better since its conception, there is some secret sauce that has been lost, and that sauce was focus!

As for Majora's Mask, that is just a case of enjoying the conversation more than the content. I think that's sad, but its understandable. Majora's Mask in itself gives only a superficial narrative. Most of the depth comes through implication and interpretation. For me, that's beautiful and ideal, I like that a game isn't afraid to only give you the essential information and trust you to make your own conclusions and use your imagination to make up your own ideas from it. For some this makes the culture around the game more interesting than the game itself and that's fine even if i disagree with it lol.

You're totally wrong about the dungeons though, Majora's Mask has the best use of three dimensional space in a Zelda dungeon ever, only ones that even comes close was Lakebed in Twilight Princess or Van Nabooris in Breath of the Wild! Maybe Wind Temple from Wind Waker gets an honorable mention too...

Take your pants OFF and I’ll make this quick 😈😈😈😈😈😈 (fart)

Kingdom Hearts 1...I played CoM, BBS and II into the damn ground and figured hey let's go back to where it all started...

And then that very first armored knight fight...

As someone who was born in the late '70s, it's hilarious to hear someone constantly say "even by today's standards" for a game released in 2013. By 2013, we were already well into the era of diminishing marginal returns in terms of 3D graphics, to say nothing of gameplay, where true innovation seems harder and harder to come by.

I didn't really enjoy the ride on BioShock Infinite, I played it on hard and found the gameplay mid at best, the superpower were useless, upgrade were just a Dreams, and gunfight was always bout where is ammo. If BioShock 1 and 2 weren't so praised and thé World immersive, I wouldn't have finished it. But the final scène make it all worth it, It makes it one of the best game I've played even I felt bored more than 80% of it. I won't play it again because I've never feel the same way I've felt when I finished it, although I replayed the ending battle until the end in the same week to feel it again.

I really enjoyed Bioshock Infinite when I replayed it recently on Switch.

Is was kinda dissapointed in Infinite. I played it years after the release after having someone recommend it to me. Story was fine but confusing. The gameplay was not that engaging. I did enjoy my time but imo it did not deserve its reputation.

I had the same feelings towards Ac2 when I played it back in 2020 until I went and played ac odyssey and went back and played Ac2 and realized how much of a masterpiece the game was.

Yes the formula is repetitive but for some reason when I went back I was not tired of it.

Sounds like AC2 is falling into the "Seinfeld Isn't Funny" trope for you.

I replay Majora's Mask every couple of years and I think it does still hold up, and I still like it more than Ocarina of Time.

Bioshock was one of my favorite games when I was a teen, but I never got around to playing Bioshock Infinite... yet despite your feelings, I think I will finally play it soon.

I’ve only replayed a select few game, so far grand theft, auto five and four, red dead redemption one and two, and doom eternal. I’m about to replay ghost of Toshima, and the last of us part one cause I’m bout to play part two.

I've been trying to figure out why I don't like BioShock Infinite as much as I used to. It was my favorite game when I discovered it just a few years ago and now I've tried twice in the past year to re-play it and I can't even finish it. I think you hit the nail on the head with the spectacle of it. I was so overwhelmed and thrilled by trying to figure out all the little details and understand the quantum mechanics that I didn't stop to think about the characters and their choices, which is the part that now ruins the story for me. I wish I could enjoy it again, but I think it's best left in the past for me.

Im near my 30s now and i cant say ive ever had this experience despite going back and playing older games at least a couple times a year

Bioshock infinite had one of the worst downgrades when you look at early footage of the game

I think the thing about majoras mask holds up, i had to use a gift, but the themes i think definitely hit harder as a kid, but still a great game with some obvious hiccups

I didn't like Bioshock Infinite since the first (and only) time I played it, good job coming to the light. But I cannot tolerate your Majora's Mask slander.
What makes Majora's Mask possible to be so good is also what makes it bad. It's a paradox, once you come to terms with that you can realize how truly great the game is.

Wow.. your experience replaying Infinite is almost exactly what I just went through with RDR1. It devastated me to see this game that long held my no. 1 spot completely crumble and wish I had never revisited it..

I played Bioshock Infinite for the first time recently, and I kept assuming I'd see the amazing game people talk about - but all I saw was perhaps where the insufferable centrism of my generation of gamers must have come from. They really pulled a "black slaves were actually as evil as their oppressors so slavery was fine!!" and people ate it up.

I could play MGSV and New Vegas all day and do something crazy.

Majoras Mask is such a task that replaying it even 10 years after might be too early for some. I don't know if I'll ever play it again and I'm cool with that. One of the best of all time though.

This video made me realize Bioshock Infinite, The Last of Us and GTA V all came out in 2013. Holy cow, what a year for gaming. I still feel a sense of spectacle over Bioshock Infinite, but the last time i played it (for the 4th time) was in 2016. Now, I’m almost afraid to play it again because I don’t want to lose those feelings like you did, but i can totally understand how that may happen over time. Like you basically said, we are very different people today than we were 10 years ago.

That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be.

That is a really interesting video. I've just replayed the Ezio trilogy for the first time since their release and have been a bit surprised that my memory of AC2 was mixed up with that of ACB. Some details I remembered were actually from ACB which is superior to AC2 on some points.
I also wonder how the perception we have of a game is influenced by what we've played and experienced just before. I replayed AC2 after having finished the Witcher 3 for the first time, with the DLC. And while the game was great, it felt very long in the end. I wanted something lighter and shorter. Thus I decided to focus entirely on the story and ignore every secondary mission in AC2. I had a blast rediscovering this founding stone of modern gaming and finishing it in less than 20 hours. It has aged, it's far from perfect, but there is a great variety in the missions and, contrary to ACB and ACR nothing gets in your way to progress the story by forcing you to play a minigame or other secondary missions. Do I still think it's the greatest AC game of the series? Probably not, but I believe that being the first one to consolidate the Ubi formula, it was simpler and more enjoyable than new titles that are overloaded with irrelevant content. With less time than ten years ago, I find myself enjoying short games more than new RPGs full of crafting systems and other xp points that artificially lengthen the play time.

Bioshock Infinite reminds me a lot of The Rise of Skywalker in that they both frantically rush from plot point to plot point, seemingly in a bid to prevent the audience from having enough time to question what's happening or why because then the whole thing would fall apart. I remember liking Infinite when it first came out but quickly grew tired of the gaming press hailing it as an all-time great when, despite being good overall, it had some quite glaring flaws.

It's been very interesting to see how people's opinions on Infinite have soured over the years while Bioshock 2 has emerged from being the black sheep of the family to becoming widely considered an underrated gem.

I thought it was mediocre the first time. I didn't understand what everyone saw in it. the gameplay loop was terrible, just room to room then oh no theres warp stuff here, time to get ambushed.... rinse repeat, a story that felt convoluted. Only good thing i remember thinking was how elizabeth was done, outside that it's very meh. Bioshock 1 on the other hand.... masterpiece.

I'd say it was definitely your age that made Infinite seem good except that it got reviewed very well by adults and professional game journos and reviewers, another point against the competance and intelligence of most gaming news

I think an important factor that you didn't mention is that your intentions for playing vs replaying the games are different. When you play the game for the first time you are just trying to… have fun and experience it. Maybe there was some hype around it but you are mostly approaching a new piece of content with a fresh mind. When you replay games though, especially in your case, it seems like you are trying to validate some ideas, and hunting for the "oh wow this was great" moment, which I think colors your perception of the game. You can already see the twists coming, you already know the plot, and you are kind of looking for what you didn't know before, or reaffirming certain built-up ideas of the game.

You already mentioned games like Outer Wilds aren't designed to be replayed but I don't see how games like Majora's Mask are different and it seems like an arbitrary distinction. I personally don't get this whole replayable shtick that gamers / reviewers start to demand of single player games as I find that they lead to unnecessarily needpicky criticisms (e.g. even Outer Wilds sees that criticism sometimes). That's literally not the point of these games! People can play roguelike for example for replayability. But yes unfortunately we will never be able to wipe our memories to try to evaluate a game in 2023 with a fresh mind if we have already played it before.

But yes, some games definitely age more poorly than others. For the memory aspect of it, a funny thing is I think for two of my favorite games (Outer Wilds and The Witness), I didn't actually enjoy them that much while playing them. It's only near the end, and also thinking more about them and reading what others were saying that I started to build more appreciation. Does that mean they were bad games though? I think even if the grind was a little tough and unenjoyable (e.g. The Witness had some tough puzzles that stumped me), the post-game analysis and thoughts were part of playing the game as well.

I had a similar experience replaying Portal 2. I still love it and its an incredible game but I used to regard it as one of the best games I've ever played, and after replaying it I kinda felt a bit disappointed. I think for me it was less being able to oversee the flaws in my first playthrough (although there were some aspects of that) and more just having extremely high expectations which didn't match up with reality. I used to think Hollow Knight was also one of the best and replaying it I found that it has absolutely held that position, honestly even exceeding where it used to be. I still see the flaws of it but I think because I never let my expectations fall so out of line I can still regard it as a masterpiece.

For me that game was the first Force Unleashed. I remembered it from my teen years as this awesome jedi simulator and after finishing Jedi Survivor I had to go back to it, seeing how it was available to stream on PS Plus. Instead of pure Star Wars awesomeness, I found:
-Janky controls, 30 fps lock, and the framerate drops certainly didn't help.
-Overpowered (disarmed Vader as a toddler, pulled star destroyer out of orbit, beat both Vader and Emperor) and dark/edgy/broody main character which felt like a 14-year-old was tasked with writing a 'cool' character.
-"bad" combat where winning didn't feel like it came from improved skills, like timing dodges/parries correctly and not getting greedy with hits, but rather winning at RNG by not getting spammed and stunlocked back to the checkpoint. (Seriously fuck those purge troopers with their shields and homing rockets. I'd take the double dose of Oggdo Boggdo any day)

You want a really meaningful game? Try Nier Automata. And to the lesser extent SOMA.

is it sadistic that I all I wanna do is replay Bioshock infinite rn?

shows clip of elizabeth choking herself with players hand


I understand why her narrative is so “compelling” to gamers

I remember enjoying playing FFX a lot. For a very long time it was my favorite ff. I replayed it many times, but eventually i just started seeing all its flaws, and even everything that was positive started to look negative in my eyes. I still enjoy replaying FFIX or FFXII, but not X anymore. I guess the story and characters don't resonate with me anymore. I'm sad that it's happened, but it is what it is.
One of my favorite games is Grandia II, and i'm really afraid of replaying it, because i don't want to have different experience with it. So i'm saving those memories and feelings.

It's just maybe test of time. There are also ever-green, vital games, movies, which don't fall apart.
That's Nolan movies for me, after decade watching them again, they are even better, every time more and more, even the not so popular ones.

Critic detox 🙂

are you expecting too much from a human creation again ? this video read like " i can't appreciate things with flaws " , lol . that's a very grown-up feeling . disregardinh it to have fun is possible ! so is usinh that feeling to make something better .

I'm sorry...did you say oo- beesoft?

For me, Bioshock Infinite felt like a very average game with some cool ideas that were never followed up on or weren't used very effectively. And the ending, for me, basically said "nothing you did or do matters".

This video speaks to me on a crazy level when it comes to Dark Souls 2. When I played it half a decade ago, I loved it to death, always telling people that it was just misjudged. Played it again last year... fuck, it was so miserable.

Many games age poorly. And we all grow up and gain the ability to look critically at games and other art. That doesn't mean they can't remain old favourites. Being in love with a video game is impossible to maintain forever - instead, that moment gets frozen in time and carried forward, helping to shape the person you are today.
Just because you replay them and you don't "get" it today, doesn't change the fact that Razbuten 10 years ago was amazed by Bioshock Infinite. In my case, it was Fallout 3. It doesn't make these games any less special.

Honestly, I feel this way about TOTK. It seems like a disappointing extension or rehashing, rather than a real evolution or improvement, of BOTW, which is (was?) one of my all-time favourite games. I sunk almost 300 hours into BOTW, which I had never done before. But then I built up both games so much in my mind, and I've changed and the world has changed, that TOTK is mostly tedious "exploration" of essentially the same kind as BOTW. What was fresh and exciting is the same old thing now. It seems like weapons were nerfed mostly to have a reason for the Fuse ability, which feels like an unnecessary complication to me. I've been upset that I am not all that happy with TOTK, so thanks for giving me a framework for understanding and validating my experience. Maybe I can approach TOTK from a gentler perspective and get just a little more out of it.

I've been saying this about Infinite since it came out and I got so much heat for that back in the day lol. Idc I'll keep being the crazy person who thinks Bioshock 2 is better than Infinite because it's the truth ❤

This is interesting. I have even since a young age always had a critical over analyzing personality and have a very different perspective on this. Would spend hours breaking down games I liked and didn't and ones I decided I liked I would regularly revisit. with Legend of Zelda Windwaker was my favorite growing up and having replayed it just a few years ago I can still confidently say that. Likewise AC2 I have replayed more than any other AC game (most I have only played once) it isn't my favorite AC game though, Black flag is (like Windwaker the pirate/sea vibe just gets me), I just have had less time since Black flag to replay games. With Bioshock infinite I basically immediately rejected the many worlds quantum stuff, and the story lost me, I thought Elizabeth and Booker's relationship was well done, spectacle was amazing and gameplay was fun, I have never replayed it and don't really care too.

I also replay some games from my childhood that are mostly nostalgic for me but I am under no delusions that is what drives my enjoyment. My guess is that since all you remembered was how you felt about the game that the shock of learning this game isn't how you remembered it hit pretty hard, harder then it needed to. If you go back to Bioshock Infinite without delusions on what the game is you might still like it but wait a while before trying. With Assassins' Creed series I never followed the criticism that the gameplay was getting too stale (which may just be a me thing). The way I see it if you are getting bored of the gameplay style AC popularized take a break from those games and then return to them when you start to miss it. You probably were just criticizing mechanics that you were getting bored of not because they were the worst mechanics but just because you were bored of them and then solidified those things as all bad before returning to AC2 which you had played before you were bored of said mechanics.

Bro you are just depressed. Find some happiness in your life 😂 then maybe you'll fund enjoyment in your hobbies again.

Dont you dare EVER imply that legend of dragoon was anything but the BEST action RPG of the 90s!

You explained perfectly what I'm feeling rn playing ACII, it's all about how the game made me feel. I set too high expectations because feelings and actual gameplay turned into same thing in my memories.

Really? Not a fan of Majora's Mask? The more modern Zelda games I play the more I go back to it. I love how cohesive and full its world feels. It's small, sure, but I would MUCH rather have a small world utilized fully than a large one that's empty and barren. I think the gameplay holds up and the masks were actually well-utilized and generally super fun. I think that trying to "fix" the issues of certain aspects not being fully utilized or changing dungeons is why the remake fell so flat. I think the bottom line is, the game just isn't for you.

And know what? That's cool. Not all games should try and be for everyone. I enjoy the more somber attitude, the shorter game length, how the side quests are where all the enjoyment is, I even unironically enjoy the great bay temple now (my least favorite is ACTUALLY stone tower temple. I think the first part is actually bad). Hell I think Great Bay Temple is probably my 2nd favorite dungeon overall in the game, behind Woodfall.

If the video has you questioning if you should replay MM my suggestion? Go ahead. I replay it once or twice every year. The wedding scene still gets me. Go in knowing that it's ultimately a beautiful capsulation of flawed brilliance.

As someone who never understood the love for AC2, fucking thank you, its not a bad game, but if you play it after AC3-Unity they are so slow at some points