Once in a while, a game like Baldur’s Gate 3 comes along that’s nearly perfect in nearly every way—but that “nearly” part is what keeps some games from achieving absolute perfection. No game is perfect, of course, so even the most critically acclaimed and fan-adored titles have flaws that prevent them from reaching a 10/10 rating by everyone who plays them.
Even the best games can be held back from perfection across the board by unpopular developer decisions, pacing, and world design. These could be your favorite games of all time, but something still keeps them at a near-perfect score.
10
Baldur’s Gate 3 Struggles In Its Third Act
The Classic Fizzles Out Instead Of Ending With A Bang
Baldur’s Gate 3
- Released
-
August 3, 2023
- ESRB
-
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
Baldur’s Gate 3 is possibly the closest you can come to playing a tabletop RPG in video games. The classic has memorable characters, a compelling story, and the ability to interact with the world in practically any way you can imagine. In true Dungeons & Dragons spirit, player choices shape their relationships and how they interact with the world—and vice versa.
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Baldur’s Gate 3 Is Amazing, But These 10 RPGs Do Specific Things Better
While Baldur’s Gate 3 gets many details right throughout its fantastic story, these RPGs stand out by doing one thing better in very particular ways.
But even the beloved BG3 isn’t without its faults. The game struggles to catch up in its third act, which somehow manages to feel rushed (despite it being a 100+ hour game). Screen Rant’s review of Baldur’s Gate 3 calls the game out on this:
Once players actually reach Baldur’s Gate, it feels like the storyline accelerates much faster than the cadence of the narrative would require. It’s a by-product of needing to tie together so many different loose threads scattered throughout the first two acts… While it feels absurd to insinuate a 100 hour journey was rushed in spots, that’s exactly what happens in the third act.
This unfortunate pacing issue is what keeps Baldur’s Gate 3 from being a perfect 10/10 for many fans.
9
The Last Of Us Part 2 Made An Unpopular Decision
Fans Didn’t Like Playing As The Antagonist
The Last of Us was a groundbreaking experience that took a unique stance on the zombie survival horror genre. The game elevated cinematic storytelling to a new level with incredible motion capture animations and realistic characters that displayed human flaws but were still incredibly lovable.
The sequel, The Last of Us Part 2, continued in the same vein and was a hit for all the same reasons, but it struggled to reach that same level of excellence. This was in large part due to the controversial decision by Naughty Dog to brutally kill off one of the most beloved characters in the series, then force fans to play from their killer’s perspective.
This didn’t sit well with fans, many of whom couldn’t overcome their hatred for the character they were meant to sympathize with, keeping the sequel from being rated as highly by fans as the first.
8
The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time Had A Notorious Dungeon
The Only Thing Keeping The Game From Perfection
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has a nearly perfect score of 99 on Metacritic, making it the highest-rated game of all time. However, anyone who’s played it can tell you that there’s one very specific location that keeps the title from earning that final 1%: the Water Temple. The complex dungeon was much more difficult than the rest of the game, requiring players to use pumps and pipes to raise and lower the water level to get around.
It was a challenging feat, made even more difficult by the fact that many of the people playing it at the time that Ocarina of Time was released in 1998 were kids. To this day, although the Water Temple is some fans’ favorite dungeon, it remains a notoriously difficult part of an otherwise perfect game.
Controversy Soured The Experience For Fans
Nearly all the Metal Gear Solid games are considered masterpieces, with every entry in the series achieving a 90 or above on Metacritic. While this is also true of the fifth title, The Phantom Pain, many fans felt it was “unfinished.”
Halfway through the development of Metal Gear Solid 5, the series’ creator Hideo Kojima left Konami due to a disagreement. As a result, MGS5 doesn’t bear Kojima’s name, and many fans are hesitant to love it as much as the previous entries.
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15 Years Later, Metal Gear Solid’s Most Underrated Game Has So Much To Offer
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is the most forgotten MGS title, but it’s still phenomenal to play and has tons of content to engorge yourself in.
Besides the controversy surrounding it, many fans also felt that there aren’t enough guards in the stealth segments to make them challenging, making the entire game feel less exciting than previous entries.
6
Grand Theft Auto 5 Is Excellent, But Not The Best GTA
The Least Replayable GTA To Date
Many know Grand Theft Auto 5 as one of the most influential games of all time, but that doesn’t mean that it was a perfect title. In fact, although it’s critically acclaimed and praised by players, for many, the game isn’t even the best in the GTA series.
The game’s protagonists are widely accepted as being the least interesting of the franchise, which made the game less fun to replay. And with GTA 6 still many months away from release, fans would have to do a lot of replaying to bide their time until the next installment of the franchise hits stores.
5
Mass Effect 3 Fumbled In The Last 10 Minutes
It’s Legendary For All The Wrong Reasons
For the majority of Mass Effect 3, BioWare’s sci-fi shooter delivered on the strong storytelling and character arcs that fans had come to expect of the series. It was gearing up to be the strong conclusion to the trilogy… until the last 10 minutes.
“In a controversy that became legendary, the ending of Mass Effect 3 ruined the rest of the game for many.”
In a controversy that became legendary, the ending of Mass Effect 3 ruined the rest of the game for many. All the decisions and choices players made throughout the game amounted to nothing, with the game’s ending hinging on only one final choice and three endings that didn’t deliver the payoff players had been led to expect.
Players were also left with too many questions, some of which BioWare retroactively tried to smooth out by releasing an Extended Cut a few months later. While it did its best to tie up loose ends, many fans felt the efforts were just too little, too late.
4
Elden Ring Should Have Reduced Its Scope
The Dying Was Fine, But The Recycling Was Not
Elden Ring
10/10
- Released
-
February 25, 2022
- ESRB
-
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
The notoriously challenging Soulslike from genre giant FromSoftware was so loved that it won Game of the Year in 2022, then nearly won it again with its DLC in 2024. Like other games in the genre, Elden Ring is unabashedly unforgiving—but that’s not what holds it back from perfection.
The real issue is the recycled late-game bosses and empty, unused spaces in the world that don’t seem to add anything other than more areas to explore. Many were left wishing that the world had been half the size, but with each location and encounter adding something unique to the experience.
3
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Alienated Both Current And New Fans
Not Everyone Was Onboard With Its Artistic Liberties
After years of fans begging for a Final Fantasy 7 remake or remaster, Square Enix finally delivered Final Fantasy 7 Remake in 2020. The game was the first in a trilogy, and focused entirely on creating a bustling, life-like Midgar and setting up the heroes’ upcoming journey. And while the game was beautiful and recaptured the characters and setting of the original perfectly, it took many artistic liberties that left players uncertain.
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Final Fantasy 7’s most heartbreaking death was almost going to happen to an entirely different character, and I’m so glad it didn’t.
The game alienated longtime fans for going in a new direction with the beloved title, and turned off non-fans by throwing in plot points early on that didn’t make sense to newcomers. This uncertainty knocked the excellent remake from being the perfect return to one of the most beloved games of all time.
2
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Struggles To Hit, Literally
Clunky Combat Reduces Enjoyability
The wide popularity of certain mods for The Witcher 3 reflects its one critical flaw: the combat. While the action RPG held players captive with the fantasy tale of the monster-slaying Geralt of Rivia, the actual monster slaying left something to be desired.
Combat is often clunky, with attacks and parries reacting inconsistently to input and causing fights to lack polish. That, paired with the poor human enemy AI, sours the experience of an otherwise fantastic game.
1
Red Dead Redemption 2 Was Slow-Paced To A Fault
Sluggish Movement And Storytelling Lost It Points
Many open-world RPGs owe their existence to Red Dead Redemption 2, which established the golden standard for the genre. The game is actually a prequel to the first title, setting the scene for the events that follow in RDR though memorable characters and often-heartwrenching story beats.
It’s a shame that RDR2’s pacing holds it back from being the perfect game. In fact, the game lost many players in the beginning due to its sluggish pace, both in terms of the story’s pacing and the literal walking pace. Those for whom the pacing issue wasn’t a deal-breaker stuck around to enjoy the game that’s seen as “GTA but without cars.“
In the end, RDR2 was another critically acclaimed masterpiece that fell just short of a perfect 10—much like other classics like Baldur’s Gate 3, Elden Ring, and many other nearly-perfect titles.
Source: Metacritic (1, 2)
Baldur’s Gate 3
- Released
-
August 3, 2023
- ESRB
-
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
-
Larian Studios
- Publisher(s)
-
Larian Studios
- Engine
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Divinity 4.0
- Multiplayer
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Online Co-Op, Local Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
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Full cross-platform play.
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