Forums / Discussion / General

I was going to post this on Media category, but I couldn't find a "General" subcategory. So I am posting my thing here.

What do you consider something so good it's bad?

With things so bad, they're good, you have things that miss the mark so hard that they become something unique and extraordinary that can be enjoyed in a different kind of way. The Room, Zelda CDi, Chargeman Ken!, all things that can be enjoyed in a meta, ironic kind of way despite being technically poor.

You are asking for the inverse, so something that hits the mark so hard that it loses anything that makes it enjoyable, despite high technical quality. Am I understanding you correctly?

Yes. EXACTLY THIS!

I'd say the closest thing to that is your commonplace mainstream slop. Formulaic, high budget productions with big-name actors and familiar IPs which tick all the boxes, and which reliably make back their budget and then some despite having no legacy and minimal cultural impact. The bread and butter of modern Hollywood and Disney. Well made products designed to be consumed and then forgotten.

The only thing I could think to add are obvious Oscar bait films, movies intended to sweep at the award shows. Typically attached with prestige directors, star studded casts, usually competent cinematography, musical scores, etc.

If I had to pick one, The Revenant. It's a beautifully shot film and a stellar performance by Tom Hardy, but I was let down by needless melodramatic fluff that was added. Made it more shallow I guess. It soured the film for me, more so since the "based on a true story" tagline was greatly embellished. Besides the opening, I've never felt the urge to ever watch it again.

Adding to the bit about Oscar bait films, I'll also add some of the worst superhero films/ sci-fi films. Maybe even add 'the Hobbit' trilogy? Mainstream slop as Nox Lucis mentioned.

It's on the opposite end of spectrum of pretentiousness from Oscar Bait, but the sheer greed and creative bankruptcy it represents is pretty bad. There's also a lot of money spent on special effects, big name actors and production values so the issue is rarely that it's shoddily made.

I'm thinking of the Avatar movie by Cameron. Being good enough to make a fortune, but so generic and bland that it literally means nothing in our collective cultural consciousness.

I didn't play Concord, but I watched someone who did and that's exactly what he said. Mechanically it was a solid game, but so painfully generic and bland that people just didn't have an excuse to play it. And I think that goes for a lot of AAA games, especially over the last decade. They look pretty, they have polished game mechanics and controls, but don't offer anything to really make them stand out. Ubisoft games are a good example, I rarely see anyone bringing up Assassin's Creed for anything except controversy nonsense.

Oh yeah, Goobieslop is an expert in that regard lol. To be fair i do like many of the Far Cry games, but they are specialists in making their games feel formulaic very quickly.

Relating to games, then I would say Skyrim. It's a beautifully handcrafted and scenic open world that immediately fill you wanderlust to explore every nook and cranny. But everything about Skyrim is so shallow and I do mean everything. From its narrative, characters, quests, mechanics, and general gameplay. It's as wide as an ocean, but deep as a pond.

I feel like that's been a regular criticism aimed at Bethesda games in general

Street Fighter the Movie the Game (the console version)

You're right, I think it's why Starfield has gotten so much shit. You take away the only thing Bethesda is competent at and you're left with nothing but absolute mediocrity and nothing to mask it with. The decision to go with procedural generated worlds was a irrevocable mistake. Not even the modding community can salvage Starfield's core issue, exploration is boring. I never liked Skyrim, but I'll admit it's neat to walk around in.

Maybe overly technical artists like Yngwie Malmsteen, Necrophagist, Meshuggah or Dream Theater whose music sounds impressive but it's so mechanical and soulless it becomes boring.

>Dream Theater
Lol, only reason I know for them because someone claims Ride the Lighting song from Fortnite: Save the World sounds like one of their songs "Pull Me Under".

U2. South Park had an entire episode about this. In spite of everything they seemingly accomplish, U2 and Bono are always shit in spite in of it.

In the world of manga, I’d probably say there’s a bunch of series that has some truly beautiful artwork and character designs but has a really bland and boring story. An example is probably Hokkaido Gals are super Adorable. Recently got an anime adaptation and its artwork is truly breathtaking and gorgeous. Like some scenes and panels are truly spectacular but as far as the story is concerned, it’s extremely mediocre and kinda bland at times. Nothing that really makes it stand out above the rest compared to other RomCom Manga with a Gyaru as the main female lead from recent years.

I watched a YouTube short talking about how one of Beatles members didn't like U2 and thought they are one of those who didn't give a damn about music. Even the lead singer mocked him.
I do think their songs are cool.

Speaking of manga, I do not like faces drawn for mangas. They look to dolly or suffer the same face syndrome. That's why I prefer faces from mangas like Fist of the North Star.

As for so good it's bad, I would say Postal 4. It's boring and humor feels Reddit. It's okay if you want to tune it down, but make it funny. There is nothing much funny in Postal 4. Even Postal 3 was funny in the way it was awkward, but still gave you a nice chuckle and a three second long laughter after watching cutscenes out of context. Even optimization was better in Postal 3 for its time.
Postal 4 has a bad optimization and I have seen even shittier games having better optimization.

I would say new Kojima IPs aren't special.

Something so good it's bad often refers to works that are so over-the-top or excessive in their quality that they become unintentionally funny or absurd. Examples include cult classic movies with cheesy dialogue or overly dramatic performances. Their unintentional charm can make them more enjoyable than many well-crafted pieces, creating a delightful paradox.

You know, I had never consciously noticed it, but text written by AI often has the uncanny valley effect. It has this certain quality of superficial eloquence, but is shallow and generic at the same time that doesn't feel quite right. It reeks of artificiality. You could say it has the qualities of being "so good it's bad", ironically enough.

@Derptastic Derp Man
@FatmanAss
This isn't even just a romcom issue anymore. A lot of newer works in general sell themselves entirely on how "cute" or "pretty" or """sPiCy""" (i hate that one especially) they are and hide the fact that there's nothing to actually look at. This in particular is why I have some trouble paying attention to modern mainstream Shounen. Sometimes the artwork in quite a few new ones tends to be less distinct compared to some of the ones of the "Big 3" era, and kinda just looks like standard emo crap. I think it says something that I've never seen anyone praise 'Kimetsu no Yaiba' for anything BESIDES the visuals – specifically the anime's and not the manga's.
Of course, this doesn't apply to every new series I find. I've come across plenty with, tho not always what I consider the most unique, aesthetics that I can at least personally vibe with. And I'm not gonna automatically hate something just because I don't exactly like the way it looks.
I just wish I didn't have to worry as much about those better ones getting canned while generic Isekrap#696334 gets greenlit for 420 million seasons…i already lost 'Cipher Academy' and 'Cycle Biyori'…man, it's all so unfair…

@TheHolyEmpress
Ai as a whole is just the epitome of surface-level, and really says a lot about many people's bland idea of "beauty". Everyone laughs at Rob Liefeld's art, but some folks tunnel vision on how """pretty""" a given Ai piece is and will crap on you for daring to notice even the most obvious Ai tells. I swear some people actually have zero standards and just want sludge poured down their gullet 24/7.

@TheHolyEmpress i'm ashamed to admit i didn't recognize at first that this "user" is an AI chatbot.

Death Stranding, Beyond Two Souls, Detroit Become Human.

very prententious.

Even I agree on this, but probably because of the gameplay.

Boomer shooters have become this due to taking inspirations from Quake, Duke Nukem 3D and Doom rather than also Marathon and Unreal.
And Gianni guy has become that guy on Twitter who is annoying.