31-Day Mage Challenge: Day Five – “What is your Favorite Guilty Pleasure Game?”
4 min read
Admit it. We’ve all been there. You buy a game online because you’re too embarrassed to walk into a GameStop to buy the physical copy. It’s a matter of a game that you know you’re not supposed to like but the blatant fact of the matter is you do. By golly, you do! You don’t care if it’s critically panned! You don’t care if it’s way too kiddie! You don’t care if everyone you know hates it! You don’t care if it’s broken or has terrible gameplay! You love it, you love it, and you love it. So then…
“What is your Favorite Guilty Pleasure Game?“
 The Timely Mage
Broforce. I’m usually not a dude-bro kinda guy but that game is so far past the line it went full circle back to awesome.
The Black Humor Mage
Have you ever felt so ashamed of something that you cringe thinking about it? We all have something like that. When it comes to video games, the game I look back on as a guilty pleasure is DC Universe Online. I feel ashamed for even playing an MMO, and you all should too. I remember playing this game and thinking how boring it was, how repetitive it was, what a waste of time it was, and yet I still kept coming back. The prospect of leveling up and getting that armor piece or weapon that would complete the look of my DC inspired character reeled me in. It also had a lot to do with the consistent Skype calling from our own Well-Red Mage. It’s fun playing games with friends so I was always up for it, even though some days I did it begrudgingly. Then there were the horrible people you would run into online. We would meet some of the most wretched, vile human beings on here. I hated running into them, but at the same time I loved just messing with them. I was no better than them. This game turned me into a monster. I loved it. I hated it. Now that I have stopped playing DCUO, my life can know peace.
The Rage Mage
Hatoful Boyfriend. I thought it was “Hateful Boyfriend” when I bought it. Right up my alley… How wrong I was. Several years of addiction, rehab and trips to the ER for self-inflicted blunt force trauma later and the pigeon-dating-sim remains a PTSD fantasy that lulls me to sleep through the constant heart attacks and aneurysms. I at least learned the value of fighting in the nude.
The Green Screen Mage
Sonic Adventure 2. The Chao Gardens okay!!! They’re just so freakin’ cute! My little angel Chao was such a badass. She made all the other Chao’s cry during the races.
 The White Out Mage
I absolutely adore the vacuum Robin suits on Lego Batman, and I could spend all day just cleaning up those red, yellow and green Lego pieces. I guess if I were to admit to a true gamer that I love the Lego games I’d probably be really embarrassed. My defense is: “Nothing beats cleaning up the streets of Gotham”! There’s just something really satisfying about cleaning up a filthy room!
The Well-Red Mage
Thanks for the shout out, Black Humor! Now for my confession… I’m a closet fan of Harvest Moon games. I’ve played almost all of them since my first introduction to Harvest Moon 64. I even got into Rune Factory: Frontier and the sequel Tides of Destiny after exhausting the other Harvest Moons. At least those had dungeon crawling. Friends of Mineral Town represented an entire year of my life. It was hard to reconcile my obviously rugged masculinity with playing a chibi-sim about getting married and feeding cute animals, but hey, those games are hideously addicting! They’re not exactly games I’ll brag about playing, especially if we start to talk about the Wii games like Animal Circus… Don’t hate.
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As always when it’s mentioned, I’ll jus get this outta the way…
Boo!!! Cod sucks!!! Boo!!!
Now, as previously stated, Lord C’s ‘Broken’ so I don’t actually understand the concept of guilt (hoo boy!)
But, in terms of this question:
I own PS3 Duke Nukem Gold Edition. (Haven’t played it as no PS3) cos I love Duke. & I always will.
However, if memory serves, staff did give us some, shall we say, less than pleasant looks, when I bought Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude (PS2) yrs ago…. (I liked it!)
I have a long list of “awful” games I enjoy and I should probably state Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask as it was critically panned as an inferior sequel when I enjoyed it. My favourite would be Tomb Raider: Anniversary. I liked the improved graphics, more frequent save points, the development of the Lara Croft character and felt the gameplay was more fluid than the original game. The only problem was the way the storyline was altered to fit the game into a trilogy and the way the locations were made to look like crumbling ruins, rather than the warm looking locations from the original. Unfortunately, the game is one of the most unpopular games of the series. Another is Sonic Labyrinth, which I enjoyed, but seems to be considered the worst Sonic game ever made (possibly because it is slower and very different to the other Sonic games).
I had no idea Majora’s Mask was critically panned! It seems pretty well received amongst fans. How interesting!
I am sure it was critically panned, I remember it was unpopular (I seemed to be the only person I knew who enjoyed playing it). I think at the time the sequel to Ocarina of Time was highly anticipated and it was expected to resemble an epic game like the first one (which was considered the best game ever made). Majora’s Mask, however, prioritised the characters and setting of Clock Town, with few dungeons. Setting the game in three days probably annoyed people as well.
I remember the OoT crowd that said it was the best game ever. I loved it but that’s an overstatement. Majora’s Mask couldn’t live up to that kind of hype. I liked it too but I do think Ocarina was superior. The confusing gameplay in Majora’s Mask could get aggravating.
Do Myst and Riven count? I always remember these games as getting a lot of flak for being a serious of screenshots with no characters and limited interactions. But I loved them!
Sure, hey if that’s your answer, then that’s your answer. I remember liking Myst, but I was pretty young when I played it. Easily impressed. I think it’d be fun to revisit now.
I’ve not actually played the original Harvest Moon games, but I’ve sunk in an embarrassing amount of time into Stardew Valley. That and Football Manager games.
I want to play Stardew Valley so badly! Any word on it coming to console? Steam I cannot abide.
Yup. It was shown in the Xbox E3 Conference. Will be coming to PS4 too. ETA Q4 2016.
That just made my day.
Dynasty Warriors.
I winced just now.
I resonate with you, Well-Red Mage. Friends of Mineral Town is perhaps my favorite Harvest Moon game, and I’m also a pretty big fan. The first HM game I ever picked up from the store was also the one I was most embarrassed about: Harvest Moon 64. I remember going to many stores looking for this game. Once I finally saw it on the back glass case at a GameStop, I immediately clammed up and couldn’t even ask for the game. This was also back in an age where GameStop employees were kind of jerks and judged whatever you bought. I don’t really mind what anyone says when I buy games nowadays, but picking up that first HM game was tough. I loved HM64 though, and I’m thankful I faced my fear and got it. It’s my 2nd favorite HM game and one of my favorite N64 titles period.
Hahaha! My local GameStop still has judgmental people working there! It’s like if I don’t buy a the new Call of Duty they think I’m a loser. It’s ok, because the feeling is mutual. <_<
Funny that HM64 was my first one and Friends of Mineral Town is a favorite to both of us. Both of those are worth the shame, if that's still an issue at all. I'm married now so it isn't for me any longer.
It bothered me when I was younger, to the point where I was embarrassed to buy Nintendo games there. Nowadays, it doesn’t bother me anymore. I ask for my beloved Nintendo titles with pride!