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[Virtz]

Ok here is a huge one that just flat out bugs me... like immensely... every single time I see it. It just triggers some irrational reaction.

Walking Sections

OHH GAWD speed up! why are you forcing me to move really slowly? WHY GAME!?! WHY!?! I just want to move normally stop making me walk!

No really, I've never had this happen to me in a game where I didn't just groan and think to myself "get on with it!"

This. They're basically unskippable cutscenes of the worst kind. You can't even wait for it to go away, cause often times you're expected to keep moving to keep the cutscene going. It's the worst fucking thing.

"Oh, you don't want control taken away from you while I exposit my fantastic story? Well, here. You can walk. What? What do you mean you want to skip it? Why would you want to skip my brilliant, original story about a small rebelion taking down a clearly evil dictatorship? There's just no pleasing some people!"

According to Extra Credits, these are usually used as an alternative to loading screens - the game has time to load in the next area while you walk and talk. It only gets really annoying IMHO when combined with poor save point placement (right before the walk-and-talk sequence) with a sufficiently difficult encounter before another save point, forcing you to repeat the walk-and-talk over and over (for me, in Gears of War I).

If executed smoothly, it can be less immersion-breaking than going to a loading screen.

There are cases like that, but more often they blatantly use the slow walk just to exposit plot and setting, like in Deus Ex: Human Revolution (or maybe that was just a slow unskippable cutscene, I might be misremembering). It's pretty obviously not a thing to mask loading when they use it very sparingly across the game, usually at the very beginning and rarely ever after.

Also, I have never seen this work better than an actual loading screen or pre-rendered cutscene.

Like look at Max Payne 3, a case where they actually replaced the loading screen with cutscenes. You're replacing the simple loading screen with an overly fancy cutscene that significantly prolongs the loading time because now that cutscene and all its unique textures, sound files and animations have to load as well. Like at least make it a pre-rendered cutscene, cause that doesn't take long to load. Otherwise it's basically "yo dawg I heard you like loading".

[timferius]

Honestly? I like walking sections if it works for immersion etc. The thing I hate is more
Walking Section where I walk at a faster pace then the person I'm supposed to follow
Where you're forced to either jiltingly start/stop behind them, run around them in circles, or do weird zig-zags behind them. Usually shows up in console ports, because it's designed for the variable speeds allowed by analogue sticks.

[Delta Foxtrot]

Honestly? I like walking sections if it works for immersion etc.

I like walking sections, but for me they work a lot better if it's my walking section.

Dark Souls is a good example. It hasn't forced me to walk very sloooowly at any point so far. I do however move very slowly every now and then. Why? Because it looks gorgeous, because there's pretty vistas and because I'm scared shitless of what might jump at me when I take another step. It's immersive and really sets the mood.

And it's something that I want to do for myself rather than being forced to do it by the game.

[Sergius]

Walking Sections

OHH GAWD speed up! why are you forcing me to move really slowly? WHY GAME!?! WHY!?! I just want to move normally stop making me walk!

No really, I've never had this happen to me in a game where I didn't just groan and think to myself "get on with it!"

Let me see... some more lesser ones.

Here's a worse one:

"Follow me!"
NPC asks you to follow him/her.
NPC walks at a somewhat slow speed.
If you run, you'll overshoot the NPC as you go about 4x faster.
If you hold walk key or whatever (or stop holding the run key), you'll walk at around 50% speed of the NPC.
This continues for several minutes. Also whenever you walk too far ahead, the NPC will stay still and motion you to catch up.

[Neonivek]

Better hope they don't get stuck on a tiny rock... then you will have to go all the way back and maneuver them so they get unstuck... or in some games they are stuck forever.

[timferius]

Or if you get ahead of them, and they stare at you and yell "come over here, hurry up now!" then proceed to walk to where you were standing.

[Neonivek]

Or if you get ahead of them, and they stare at you and yell "come over here, hurry up now!" then proceed to walk to where you were standing.

Or you just fail the mission and have to go all the way back.

[Rolan7]

Far Cry 3 coop has an amusing inversion where you have to guard a pickup truck full of "malaria medicine" as it passes through a series of pirate outposts.  At first it drives kinda slowly, and the outposts are so close together that it's possible to stick with it (Naturally the driver stops and waits patiently as soon as enemies open fire on him).  But towards the end the driver is literally driving off into the nuclear sunset while begging you not to leave him. 

It's less frustrating than it sounds.  The enemies basically only take potshots at the truck, it has a huge health pool, and you can repair it so rapidly that sometimes its possible to finish before he floors the gas.  Or take the easy route and repair it while some pirates are still around so it doesn't leave.  The pirates almost always fire on the players instead of the truck, which is merciful.

Another thing which should be a peeve but just makes me laugh:  The coop netcode apparently doesn't support vehicle usage at all.  You can't ride in the pickup truck or ever get in a vehicle in coop.  What makes it funny is: AI drivers are pretty easy to kill.  This usually causes the car to slowly come to a stop in the road, wait a couple seconds, then inexplicably explode.  The passengers were apparently not briefed on this failsafe, they wait patiently or take potshots until it happens.

[Recluse]

Right now what annoys me about some games is local co-op in a PC game. If there's going to be any multiplayer I'd prefer it to be online multiplayer, not something that is really only fitting on a console. Not everyone has friends or an Xbox 360 controller. I have neither so local co-op is useless to me.

Also children using voice chat in an online multiplayer game that's rated M or AO, though that's more on my problems with people not paying attention to the ESRB ratings for games as well as my general dislike for children. I sure as hell wouldn't let my kids play a gory FPS, at least not until they're old enough for their age to match the rating said gory FPS has. Not that I plan on having children.

[UXLZ]

ESRB ratings are stupid.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

I've been playing gory FPS most my life
I may not like using my mic while online but the only thing that really makes those games M worthy is the language.
The ogre and violence isn't even close to what you hear about on the news, and when it is you can have an option to turn it off.

[notquitethere]

Right now what annoys me about some games is local co-op in a PC game. If there's going to be any multiplayer I'd prefer it to be online multiplayer, not something that is really only fitting on a console. Not everyone has friends or an Xbox 360 controller. I have neither so local co-op is useless to me.

I can't stand the reverse of that: console games which only have online multiplayer. If I have a console in the living room it's because I want to be able to play games with people there, not on the other side of the world.

[UXLZ]

Right now what annoys me about some games is local co-op in a PC game. If there's going to be any multiplayer I'd prefer it to be online multiplayer, not something that is really only fitting on a console. Not everyone has friends or an Xbox 360 controller. I have neither so local co-op is useless to me.

I can't stand the reverse of that: console games which only have online multiplayer. If I have a console in the living room it's because I want to be able to play games with people there, not on the other side of the world.

No, they can't do that. Because if they had local co-cop then that would mean 4 (presumably) different people got to play with the same copy of the game. That's reducing their profits by 75%1111

[Recluse]

ESRB ratings are stupid.

You're 17. Of course you would say that. When I was your age I thought they were stupid too.

I've been playing gory FPS most my life
I may not like using my mic while online but the only thing that really makes those games M worthy is the language.
The ogre and violence isn't even close to what you hear about on the news, and when it is you can have an option to turn it off.

The news is nothing but sensationalist garbage, especially when it comes to video games. They've been the scapegoat of the mainstream media, the conservatives and the liberals for at least the past two decades.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against violent video games. I love gratuitous violence in video games. I mean, you should see what I suggested that they put in Hatred on the Steam forums. I just don't think kids should be playing games with realistic violence or gunplay, especially the ones that aren't even fucking old enough to play the E10 ones that I keep hearing spam the mic in the games I play.

Just an opinion is all.

[UXLZ]

ESRB ratings are stupid.

You're 17. Of course you would say that. When I was your age I thought they were stupid too.

Not really harping on at you in particular, just saying what I think about ESRB ratings.

I guess it would count as a 'gaming pet peeve', though the same goes for almost everything with an 'age restriction'. I dislike things that restrict people based on arbitrary things. (In-game as well, freaking invisible walls. >_>)

The reason why I think they're stupid is because people mature at different rates. I'm all for things that allow parents to decide what their child is exposed to, because that is their prerogative, but 'age ratings' are... Well, purely arbitrary. It's different to alcohol and driving where legitimate biological factors come into play.  ESRB ratings should honestly just be a description of what the game contains (though honestly they suck at that a lot of the time anyway) to allow the parents or buyer of the game to decide.

By the way:

Spoiler: Don't Read This if you Get Riled Up/Angry/Personally Offended Easily Because You Probably Will (Seriously) (click to show/hide)

Just to let you know, that kind of thing ("of course you would say that") is incredibly condescending.
This is an identical statement, directed towards you instead of towards me. 'You're 27. Of course you'd say that.', alternatively, 'Well obviously an old geezer like you wouldn't have a know what you're talking about.'
See how it invalidates your entire opinion in a ridiculous fashion? Here are a few more examples. Somewhat more extreme, though.

'Someone who believes in God wouldn't have a clue.'

'What, you think an atheist would understand?'

'You are black, your opinion is thus invalid'

'You are white, anything you have to say is wrong.'

Of course, I highly doubt giving off that sort of attitude was your intention. Sorry if it sounds like I'm insulting you or something, I couldn't think of a better way to explain.