Obviously the former, wasted potential vs a surprising gem. An example of the latter is vampire survivors, on paper the game would suck ass but it's a pretty solid game.

>>743440556
Wasted potential hurts a lot more. Bethesda's games are a good example because they COULD make a really awesome open-world setting and it's been their gimmick for just as much as the company has been around but instead they make them casual as fuck and the writing is poor. Fallout 4 could've been a game of the decade contender but instead the writing sucks, most of the quests suck, the endgame sucks and a number of mechanics suck even though the gameplay has been vastly upgraded since Fallout 3/NV (for the most part). Obsidian handled their shtick far better than them without resorting to adding a lot of generic repeatable faction quests.

>>743440556
Latter is worse. Dustborn is a horrible fucking idea executed really well