some people seem to think a lack of depth, attention to detail, or really any care at all is just par for the course with casual games. It isn’t. It’s par for the course with garbage

I don’t dislike most mobile / casual games because they are mobile / casual games

I dislike them because they suck

the fantasy of hunting down a beloved Pokemon and catching it is fulfilled very easily. you go to the park, you wander for an hour, you find a scyther, you catch it, you shiver with pre pubescent glee. but there’s nothing for you after that. Nobody showed up. Nobody cared. Go Catch More Scythers

interestingly the game’s primary goal of “getting you outside” is happily side stepped for cash. Pay for lures, kick back and let the Pokemon come to you. You don’t even need to wait for lunch break, the game is so brain dead you can play it while working

literally rolling for big numbers for fun

reducing Pokemon battles to RPS with no additional mechanics completely robs the individual mons of their identity. And the lack of care affects balance too

Azumarill has HUGE POWER in the main games. It DOUBLES ITS ATTACK

they literally just copy pasted mom stats with no regard for context

i can understand that legal troubles scared them into patching out tracking down randomly spawned Pokemon (the fun part), but nothing was preventing them from implementing a half decent battle system

pokemon’s target audience is kids. the main series’ battle mechanics are not that complicated

the idea of an AR game where you run around in real life catching Pokemon should have been an easy slam dunk. it barely required any actual game design to create a compelling experience

and Niantic bravely chose not to rise to the challenge, and to instead make the worst thing ever (w/ pikachu)

Why did you take down the fourth example? It seemed really emblematic of the kinda spite you're describing

I used to think a choke was an alternative music term for a bridge, because one time I was playing Guitar Hero and after hitting all but 1 note on a solo it said “Nice Choke!” on the screen

when it comes to franchises I really adore, the frustration is born from the missed opportunity. A weak title means a bunch of powerfully skilled people worked day and night for several years to make something that I don’t think was good. And that alone makes me feel pretty crappy

I love Kirby ;~;

(The boss fights will still be hard sorry)

Based

That was me with Kirby Star Allies

…Damn I really liked Dread

my friends will regularly try to talk me down from buying games we all are pretty certain will be bad. they cannot understand that i am entirely prepared to play a bad game. there's a lot of value to be found in trying bad things. also, bad things are sometimes good in unconventional ways

wait this looks unbelievably gorgeous

I generally don't like difficulty settings very much because I never know which one to pick! I'm always left wondering if I picked the right difficulty and it nags at me for the entire playthrough.

I want to lower the skill floor without requiring difficulty settings.

so my idea is that i'm gonna make it so that you get 1 swig of your potion back every time you clear a room. and i think it will improve the game extremely dramatically

DAMON AND BABY SWEEP

no

I’ll admit, I don’t play nearly enough truly INDIE indie games

Is Anatomy too popular to count? ;w;

My actual obscure pick would be Don’t Look Back, which while made by Terry Cavanagh, is a flash game. So most people have not played it