[ShamelessC]

> As an example, I've struggled to get people to fully play one of my favorite platformers of all time, VVVVVV. And then the much vaunted Ocarina of Time bores me to tears and I can't push myself to get through it.

VVVVV appears to be a fairly low budget indie game with graphics that haven't aged very well compared to modern indie games. I'm sure it was fun and it seems it was very well received when it came out.

Ocarina of Time was a AAA game that came out during the first real mainstream transition toward 3D graphics. It effectively kickstarted the RPG and free-roam genres while still presenting a typically polished Zelda experience. It was fun when I played it (when it came out) but it has not aged very well compared to modern games. If you didn't play it when it came out you're probably not going to enjoy it - but at least you can respect its impact on gaming.

Anyway the point is that games don't age well and similar to music, people don't tend to like other people's favorite games unless they're highly aligned in the first place.

Reviews are pretty pointless as well but in general you can tell in the first 2 hours of a game if you're going to like it or not, at which point you can choose to return it or not return it.

[chungy]

VVVVVV holds up perfectly. Good level design, good physics, good gimmick at the core of its game play. The graphics were designed to be evocative of the Commodore 64 era. It's hard for that to really age when that was the intent in the first place.

Ocarina of Time bored me in 1998. It still does. It hasn't "aged poorly" in my view; it was never good in the first place. (Yes, it's my opinion. :P)

[lloeki]

> Ocarina of Time bored me in 1998. It still does

Oh my so I am not alone. I always felt like it was terrible, especially compared to the GB and SNES ones, and whatever games were out on PC/PS/DC around that time (not so much about the graphics but the game's pacing, controls, and mechanics). I feel the same about Golden Eye.

I feel like these games got a lot of success not because of what they are but because it exposed a chunk of players (Nintendo die-hards) to a type of game that wasn't previously available to them on their favourite platform.

[Reticularas]

VVVVV was released during the initial wave of indie game popularity. It may not be the most influential of that group- but it's more relevant than it probably seems from a present day standpoint

[ShamelessC]

Okay I’ll take your word for it. Like I said it appears to have been well received. Gameplay looks interesting.

[lloeki]

VVVVVV has extremely simple and polished gameplay, what makes it interesting is how the same gameplay mechanic is constantly challenged and reinvented through very clever level design. It looks like metroidvania as far as exploration is concerned but is the complete opposite in general progress, as in the only thing that locks you out from an area is pure player skill, reinvesting what you learned to go further: "oh, you can do this" instead of "oh, I unlocked this and so can now access that".

It was an instant classic for me.