Honestly I like the direction realistic direction GTA went with story, Roman dying made me sad and thr physics were awesome.

Though yeah every GTA no every open world game should have both countryside and city/cities. I would like Saints Row the Third if it had open countryside.

But back on GTA 4 honestly its not that bad man, you want bad play GTA 3 that aged really badly imo there was no story in that game.

Diablo the Third and Sacred 2 top my list. Fundamentally good games, but with some major flaws.

I didn't say it's necessarily bad, just highly disappointing. Largely because it took several steps backwards from San Andreas.

As for GTAIII, I just recently finished a play-through. It's certainly showing its age, but its still a lot of fun, and I'll always have a huge soft spot for it. It absolutely blew my mind when I first played it.

I'm going way back with my picks.

Zelda 2 and Mario 2. Both games were OK, but not as good as their sequels. Zelda 2 especially disappointed me as a kid. In the end though after playing both I went looking for something else and discovered Mega Man 2, which I loved.

It's a more realistic take, which I appreciated. Saint's Row exists for the over-the-top silly stuff. Both audiences are served, everyone is happy.

I think they were talking about SR3 rather than AC3.

It's funny, I rather like both Zelda 2 and Mario 2. Well, Zelda 2 was really tough and frustrating at times, but I liked how they did something different. And Mario 2 was just kind of weird, but still familiar enough

Yeah I understand that since I am surprised I beat this since it was tough and still deserves for being one of the first 3d open world games. (even though Everquest 1 accomplished that imo)
Thats what I liked about GTA 4 and Far Cry 2 (both released in 2008) because of their realism (even though GTA 4 was slightly more realistic when comes to physics).

But in the end GTA 5 will probably listen to fans complaints and bring back the over the top fun that was lost from San Andreas like Jets, but I am glad they brought back countryside instead of just the city. IMO every GTA Clone should have both city and countryside.

Can I ask do you think Saints Row the Third would have been better with countryside included.

(Wow this post was longer than I thought)

I really liked the experience system within AOE3 - it added to the already superb replayability of the game. I thought the first expansion of AOE3 was really disappointing though - could have been done better.

The main problem with SMB2 was that it deviated from the original in significant ways, but didn't really add anything compelling to make it worth it. The Lost levels at least were more in keeping with the original SMB.

Zelda 2, was a product of the time. I think if they were doing the same game today, they wouldn't have needed to throw in all that find secret spot X that we won't hint you need to find stuff. Other than that, it wasn't too bad. Although, I don't think I ever managed to quite beat it.

I did not like Quake 3 or any of those other games where the developers decided that they could just substitute multiplayer for a competent SP AI and a good campaign. Also, I disliked that Return to Castle Wolfenstein stealth BS and Doom3 in general.

They don't make me hate the original games, but I think they should have gone back to the drawing board on those.

Starcraft 2 did however make me hate the original game. I think what happened there is that it revealed just how much the original was lacking and how badly it's aged.

Even if the only change is getting rid of that horrible dating/friendship mechanic, it would be a far better game.

I'd be happy if it would let you whip it out in the middle of a date. Personally, that's one of my best moves. Being on a date and not being able to do that completely ruins my immersion.

lol I doubt even modders can make something like that......can they?

Yeah, I forgot about the experience system with AOE3. That actually was a nice touch; good call. What the hell am I bitching about anyway!? I still play AOE3 all of the time! I just play 1 and 2 more.