Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Draignean]

Those NPC invaders are supposed to be people just like you as evidenced by the fact that they look exactly like how you or other people look when invading. The reason why they're so powerful is because they too have absorbed the souls of the gods and built themselves to invade other worlds and smash heads of people who haven't prepped for it like they have.

You're not supposed to be fighting a fair fight, you're supposed to be fighting someone who specializes in invading and wrecking shit of people like you.

Complaining that they're good at it is kind of like complaining that professional assassins are good at killing people.

For SOME of them. Not all of them... at least if you understand the STORY.

Some of them haven't killed any deities and still have maxed out super duper stats and for some reason have the endurance of the heavens.

Not all the NPCs are phantom invaders... and not all phantoms are god slayers storywise.

The worst this god is, from what people are telling me, Bloodborne.

Alright, which NPCs are you talking about here?

Personally, I think that having people that are as strong and fast as the player is... really nice in a game. Their AI is still terrible, which is the only reason you can beat the Old Master when you find him the first time, but the NPCs who can chug and dodge roll were some of my favorite fights.

Except for the three right before the Princes. Fuck. Those. Guys.

Also, Greatsword Consumed knights. If I had two of those guys I could go fuck up every boss in DS III. 

[Neonivek]

Personally, I think that having people that are as strong and fast as the player is

It isn't that... that isn't the issue.

The issue is... They are better than you... even when they shouldn't be. Mostly because if they didn't have a sizable advantage on you, you would stomp them into the ground rather quickly.

So you are playing 2/3rds of the game later... Ohh it is a NPC attacking you... Hits you with a mace you own... BLAM! 50% damage. You do the same! BLAM! 10% damage. (assuming they don't have a one hit kill... which is... frustratingly common for them)

It is a very... stacked mirror match.

Then there are the ones who join you... and goodness they are always so impressively more powerful than you.

Which... I believe Bloodborne being the only in the series to actually fix that issue (In that... they start off better... but over time you leave everyone behind... No guy who can sleep through the super duper world ending boss just sitting about doing nothing)

[Draignean]

Personally, I think that having people that are as strong and fast as the player is

It isn't that... that isn't the issue.

The issue is... They are better than you... even when they shouldn't be. Mostly because if they didn't have a sizable advantage on you, you would stomp them into the ground rather quickly.

So you are playing 2/3rds of the game later... Ohh it is a NPC attacking you... Hits you with a mace you own... BLAM! 50% damage. You do the same! BLAM! 10% damage.

It is a very... stacked mirror match.

Are you on NG+ or greater? Honestly, I haven't experienced what you're talking about. Typically NPC invaders/NPCs go down pretty quick. In DSIII (because I still remember people's names in that one) Dunnel killed me once before I realized his stamina sucked despite his aggression and I was being too cautious around the hanging fire, Tsorig with the Fume killed me twice because Fuck him and his Giant-ass-Sword, and the same for Havel. Maybe a bit more for Havel before I figured out that you can Dark Hand grab him absurdly easily.

Those are the only three that really stick out in my mind as feeling overwhelming the first time through.

[Neonivek]

It isn't their difficulty at all.

[Krevsin]

It isn't their difficulty at all.

I'm confused, you were talking about how difficult they were and how that bothers you before. Care to elaborate just what you mean aside from "oh this game that isn't fair to me isn't being fair"?

[Egan_BW]

Pretty sure that NPC invaders follow exactly the same rules you do, besides having to be within ~10 levels of whoever they're invading. They tend to have pretty reinforced weapons though.

[Neonivek]

Ok here is one

Press A to run faster!

Ok so most games have the ability to run. That isn't a mystery!

But then there are games where you have to action roll to go faster again and again and again... Or like Warframe you have to crouch, jump, then crouch, then jump, then crouch, then jump, then crouch, then jump... and so on. (worse that in Warframe you will get chewed out for not doing those jumps. Running is toooo slow)

Can't I just run in order to run? Or a boost? or something?

[itisnotlogical]

Ocarina of Time speedrunners side-hop everywhere because that's the fastest linear travel method, but you can safely bet that that wasn't intentional. What you describe sounds like the same thing, especially since you bring up rolling (which often seems faster but typically is just as fast or even slower than normal movement in my experience.)

[TheBiggerFish]

That's funny.  I don't even run in Warframe normally.

[Neonivek]

That's funny.  I don't even run in Warframe normally.

Expert play I believe you are never supposed to.

[itisnotlogical]

Ah. I don't watch non-glitched speedruns, so the ones I've seen only sidehop for short distances. The rest of the time they use the bomb boost to zoom across the map in half a second.


Boss battles/new encounters that aren't surprising

At least the first time, I think your reaction to a new boss, enemy or encounter should be OH GOD PLEASE NO.

Oldcom, and to a lesser extent Newcom are great at this. When you see a new enemy type, all you can do is try to fight it. Maybe you take out that Cyberdisc, not realizing that it fucking explodes. Or you discover for the first time that Chryssalids make zombies, or that Floaters can fly.

You can see this in games that have held up for decades, despite being made of really simple parts. Doom is not a complicated game, but the best Doom levels had a sense of when to surprise. Fighting two Barons of Hell in a massive pentagram-shaped arena is quite a left turn from the relatively normal sci-fi shooter beforehand. The giant stompy Cyberdemon firing barrages of rockets is terrifying and difficult to beat the first time you see it. Monster closets, although kinda cheap today, are used to great effect in almost every level to keep the player off balance, making sure that every encounter isn't "just" an encounter.

I'm starting to dislike Zelda anymore because most post-Ocarina Zelda games are built with the exact opposite goal. The boss is only ever there to make sure you know the applications of the dungeon item. If there's an enemy you can't beat yet, that's probably also the dungeon item. It's designed for anti-surprise. I think a lot of my frustrations with various Bethesda games arise from this very problem, and I'll leave that at that to avoid another Bethesda derail.

[Krevsin]

No backtracking in dungeons/anywhere

I get it, nobody likes to backtrack for hours on end trying to get out of something they've already accomplished (like say a dungeon) or having to find an item to proceed because it's tedious and you don't really get anything from it apart from wasting some time. But a dungeon that just funnels you to the items you need and then after the final boss reveals a shortcut to the exit feels oppressive, handholdy and like the developers don't think you're terribly smart and have to be shown everything.

Now my complaint isn't that all games should have backtracking everywhere and for everything or that games have become too handholdy et cetera, but rather that backtracking is a useful tool for making a location seem bigger than it actually is and instilling a sense of exploration and the joy of discovery in the player's mind. Sure, having to go back through the entire dungeon after you finished with the final boss is tedious, but it also fools you into thinking that the dungeon is much bigger than it actually is. Especially if you've cleared the dungeon beforehand (small side-peeve Dungeons With Enemies That Respawn While You're In The Dungeon), the now empty halls feeling that much more vast when there's no enemy contact to break your journey back.

It's a neat trick that a lot of modern games seem to throw out in favor of dungeons that loop back to the exit after you're done with the boss or that have no real exploration element to them, effectively reducing them to glorified amusement rides.

[SeriousConcentrate]

Unnecessarily long hitstun and 'stop having fun' moves

Let me clarify the latter. Right now I'm playing River City Ransom: Underground, and the NERDS gang members throw beakers of fire, ice, and acid when at range. If the ice beaker hits you, you're locked in an ice cube for what feels like forever but is realistically probably ten seconds. You can't mash your way out of it, it doesn't do hardly any damage, and enemies can't/won't hit you while you're frozen so it doesn't even serve the purpose of letting them get free hits. It's just there to frustrate you, especially since the other two beakers can do friendly fire but that one can't (which would actually be helpful), and it also has a really long 'active' time from when the beaker hits to when the area is safe to move through.

EDIT: Screw it, got another one from the same game. I mean I'm enjoying it, but this is a problem.

Multiple characters that are SEVERELY imbalanced

RCR:U boasts 11 playable characters; I've yet to unlock the last three and I haven't yet really played much with one of the starters (Glen the Karate Guy), but of the seven I have played, their usefulness is all over the place. Paul (the Boxer) is an absolute beast from the get-go with a fast punch and a decent grab attack, and once you unlock his punch strings there is no character better than him at annihilating entire gangs within seconds using his cross->jab->gut punch->straight haymaker to bowl a guy into a group of enemies and then using his ground punches to deal massive damage to all of the downed foes at once. Provie (the Breakdancer) is in a far, far distant second, as she has fast kicks and a decently fast knee from a clinch, but that's about it. Bruno (the Luchadore) is a lot worse than I wish he would have been. His punch animation is slow and stupid-looking, his dropkick is nearly useless, he doesn't start with any grab moves (odd for a wrestler, even a lightweight), and his normal kicks, although they are his best attack, aren't as good as Provie's. Alex and Ryan (the original duo from RCR) are really showing their washed-up age as they both just don't start with any useful abilities or combos, but they're better than Mike (the Grappler) who has extremely slow punches (although his kicks are decent) and a slow grab attack. But the worst of all is Rudy (the Wrestler) who has slow punches, slow kicks (both of which can't combo; you just throw one and no matter how much you mash you have to wait two or three seconds to attack again), weak dash attacks that knock the enemy away so there's no chance of a follow-up, and oddly no grapple moves. It is almost impossible to level the latter two up and see if they shine at all with new abilities, because you have to buy the new techniques and dying costs half your money... of which you probably only have three dollars anyway because these two are just such shit that you can't really defeat enemies. Which is disappointing, because as a wrestling fan I really wanted Rudy and Bruno to be good. At least the Little Mac/Ippo fan in me is satisfied with the handling of Paul.

[CABL]

Difficulty dissonance

The only example I've encountered so far was Skyrim, but damn, it was probably the biggest flaw of the game. I firstly played Skyrim on Adept (aka "Normal", excuse me if I'm wrong) and pretty much killed everybody on my way, except the dragons. I switched to Master after I hit the fifth level, cuz I've read that Master (or Very Hard) is the most optimal difficulty, yet it resulted in damage sponges who can take a large amount of punishment and kill the player in 2-4 swings (depending on the weapon type). Even poorly-equipped bandits could kill you easily, even in Dwemer armour. At first, it was frustrating, but then it simply became boring thanks to the uninteresting combat system and already mentioned before damage sponges.

TL:DR - Extremely easy when you are playing on Normal, but extremely frustrating when you are playing on "optimal" difficulty.

[Neonivek]

Buff and Status Effect OVERDRIVE Bosses

Ok I couldn't come up with a good title but this is fairly uncommon anyway. In videogames, typically RPGs, there exist bosses who if you buff yourself "too much" they will whip out their super duper move and immediately kill you.

These bosses might also, upon receiving debuffs or status effects, also whip out their super duper move and immediately kill you. They will never use these moves if you don't use them and they exist purely as a way to limit your options in the fight.

I should state that having counters to buffs and status effects aren't part of the Pet Peeve. Persona would have bosses whip out buff and debuff counters if you really started to rack them up. Heck Mother 2 had enemies who would use different attacks because of some status effects, but they weren't there as a intended counter.

Etrian Odyssey LOOOOOVES this mechanic...