Print

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

[Chiefwaffles]

I hate it when a game has extremely obvious differences in quality as you play through it, being quite clearly the result of developmental trouble or simple lack of time.

Like Dragon Age Inquisition. The story missions are awesome, but they're sparse and get drip-fed to you throughout the game while extremely padded by filler quests. When there are awesome bits of the game when you know they actually *tried* to make fun, but those bits are so few in between and you're stuck playing filler everywhere else. When you know that the game could be better and you've seen how good it can actually be, but it just doesn't reach there. It feels like the game's missed extreme amounts of potential.

And this is such a common thing, too. I first remember feeling this frustration with Hi-Rez's Global Agenda, that instanced PvE "MMO" game which has been dead for quite a while. The starting mission is awesome and cinematic and is just well-designed with an actual present story. But then the rest of the game is reduced to the standard MMO PvE structure. You do PvE raids and fight against AIs without any kind of comprehensible mission design or story elements or you do straightforward PvP.
This is the first mission (Sorry for the bad quality; first link I could find). Notice how it has an actual structure and gameplay.
This is standard PvE gameplay. Notice how it's just fighting through a map littered with hostile NPCs. This is the actual PvE gameplay.
I know that games like Global Agenda are clearly not focusing on story-based PvE, but it still frustrates me. The game could be as good as that opening mission, but it isn't, and it is extremely frustrating.

Also with (vanilla, at least) Destiny. The first mission of Destiny was actually pretty fun and atmospheric, but every other mission is just bog-standard "get to point then wave defense then mini-boss" with none of the atmosphere of the first mission. You know they had the ability to actually make fun missions filled with story and atmosphere, but they didn't! You get such sub-par content when you know the developers are capable of doing something better!


It's present in so many games and I absolutely hate it. This may be my number one hated thing in the topic of games, even.

[itisnotlogical]

Gameplay styles that just don't fit

Know what's the best character idea for a fast-paced action beat-em-up with melee combat? What's that, an extremely slow-moving character that relies on projectiles with long wind-ups and very narrow firing arcs? She also has very little health and zero melee ability? Great idea, you're hired! /s

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

I hate it when a game has extremely obvious differences in quality as you play through it, being quite clearly the result of developmental trouble or simple lack of time.

Like Dragon Age Inquisition. The story missions are awesome, but they're sparse and get drip-fed to you throughout the game while extremely padded by filler quests. When there are awesome bits of the game when you know they actually *tried* to make fun, but those bits are so few in between and you're stuck playing filler everywhere else. When you know that the game could be better and you've seen how good it can actually be, but it just doesn't reach there. It feels like the game's missed extreme amounts of potential.

And this is such a common thing, too. I first remember feeling this frustration with Hi-Rez's Global Agenda, that instanced PvE "MMO" game which has been dead for quite a while. The starting mission is awesome and cinematic and is just well-designed with an actual present story. But then the rest of the game is reduced to the standard MMO PvE structure. You do PvE raids and fight against AIs without any kind of comprehensible mission design or story elements or you do straightforward PvP.
This is the first mission (Sorry for the bad quality; first link I could find). Notice how it has an actual structure and gameplay.
This is standard PvE gameplay. Notice how it's just fighting through a map littered with hostile NPCs. This is the actual PvE gameplay.
I know that games like Global Agenda are clearly not focusing on story-based PvE, but it still frustrates me. The game could be as good as that opening mission, but it isn't, and it is extremely frustrating.

Also with (vanilla, at least) Destiny. The first mission of Destiny was actually pretty fun and atmospheric, but every other mission is just bog-standard "get to point then wave defense then mini-boss" with none of the atmosphere of the first mission. You know they had the ability to actually make fun missions filled with story and atmosphere, but they didn't! You get such sub-par content when you know the developers are capable of doing something better!


It's present in so many games and I absolutely hate it. This may be my number one hated thing in the topic of games, even.

I'm pretty sure I know what it can be blamed upon.  The success of games like Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto causing knock on effects that make developers think that you need to have wide open expanses with a lot to do so players can 'play it your way' leaving the games too spread out and unfocused rather than the developers focus upon a cohesive and focused experience, and emphasis on raw hours of gameplay rather than making those hours of gameplay good leading people to pad things out.

[AzyWng]

Chicken-and-Egg Level Progression

I think this is limited to Payday 2 specifically, but that game has one mechanic that's probably the most irritating one outside of actual gameplay.

If a heist is failed, you gain no experience, offshore cash - nothing.

The problem is is that in Payday 2, the perks system means that the higher level you are, the stronger your character is. A high-level character might have the ability to restart drills by punching them, while the drills run silently and 20% faster. They might also have the ability to boost their stats just from taking hostages, and they might be able to turn those hostages into extra lives automatically.

A new player (like me) will have... none of those abilities at all.

That means that can create a snowball effect where you're just too weak to perform a heist, and are thus unable to get strong enough to perform a heist. That means you have to lean on the more experienced members of the community just to survive.

Not fun.

[CABL]

Regional language restrictions

While the restrictions are non-existent for Western countries (I think so), Ubisoft and EA games in Russia are limited to Russian and English languages, or even only Russian. It bugs me because the Russian dub tends to be rather low quality, and incomparable to usually excellent English voice acting. And so you're stuck with crappy Russian dub, with no ability to listen to quality English voice acting. Oh, I just recalled something; EA's Origin (their very own Steam) has (or had) harsh regional language restriction by IP, so if you're currently in *insert country name* as a tourist, then you'll have to play the games with the regional language.

[AzyWng]

Paying for Free-To-Pay Elements

I think this sin is specifically for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, but I may be wrong.

In MGSV: TPP, the players unlock a Combat Unit and Forward Operating Bases as they progress with the main missions. The Combat Unit can be sent out on combat deployments to earn GMP and other resources while the game is active, while the Forward Operating Bases improve how many staff members you can acquire (though they will need to be defended from players looking to steal resources and staff).

The Forward Operating Bases will need to be expanded, just like Mother Base.

Combat Deployments and base expansions all take time.

Lots of time.

Some offline combat deployments only take about five minutes, while some take over two hours. The online combat deployments are even worse - true, the timers tick down even if you've paused the game or have shut it off, but this is compensated for by making the timers often take entire days or weeks.

Base expansion isn't all that great either. True, it only takes a few hours, even for FOBs (At least for your first one). However, the Mother Base takes a few hours spent playing the game. A few straight hours.

And, of course, as with any free-to-pay game, you can purchase Mother Base coins to speed up these timers.

Free-to-pay elements in a game you already spent twenty dollars on. Thanks Konami.

[Neonivek]

Scary Tours

Ok I am getting really tired of the haunted tour genre of gaming. What is funny is I am sure people will point to Gone Home as what REALLY started this trend... Yet I think I have a more accurate idea: Twitch streamers! A game that plays itself, includes jump scares, and basic haunted imagery that can be blasted through.

I feels like the trend in videogames is to give the player as little actual agency or control in a game as humanly possible.

Scary Tours is a decent concept in a bubble but it REALLY didn't need to become its own genre. Dear Esther did not need 10 spiritual sequels as its premise barely (or rather not at all) float its own game.

[hector13]

I think I got Dear Esther for free, and it probably wasn't worth it.

[Neonivek]

I think I got Dear Esther for free, and it probably wasn't worth it.

To be fair at least no game has went down the route of "Books on tape the game" with a severe disconnect between the gameplay and story since.

Though there are games that have basically a start and an ending with no story inbetween that insist that everything you did up until then was meaningful.

[MrRoboto75]

Inaccurate Pickups

In Twisted Metal Black, the missile pickups give you either 1 or 2 missiles, depending on what flavor of missile it is.  Visually, the pickup is a rack of three missiles for each type.  I don't really care if a pickup gives me more than advertised, but it really does if it gives me less.  Like, where did the other missile go?

[Tawa]

I hate it when a complicated game has a built-in tutorial that completely fails to explain the more complicated aspects of the game, or any aspects in general that are important but the player can't see.

This is obvious in some games--the one that provoked me to make this post was Victoria II, whose tutorial isn't even updated for the game's expansions. Other big offenders include... er, most Paradox games, I guess, or Minecraft, which doesn't tell you how to make the things you need, and assumes you'll either guess them or Google it.

But it's sneakier in some others, especially ones that focus more on a good presentation. Take Pokémon, for example--the entire competitive scene is fundamentally built on mechanics you need to look up on the internet. Fire Emblem isn't a perfect fit, but its random number generator has operated on hidden mechanics ever since, IIRC, the sixth game.

[AzyWng]

Bullshit Hitboxes

I've been playing the first Metal Gear Solid (In some weird probably bootleg PC port where the still image cutscenes don't display quite right).

Now, I'd list this in the "how did you last die" thread but I think it's got a great degree of overlap with this thread:

Once you get out of the tank hangar (an early-game area), you enter your second building - this one being a storage place for disarmed nuclear warheads. Most of your weapons (save chaff grenades) are disabled since disarmed nuclear warheads are disarmed nuclear warheads. The guards can use their own guns just fine since taking away their main attack would be a little much.

Thing is, the building also seals shut and releases poison gas when an alert is triggered, and this is before you get a gasmask.

This means that your best method of killing enemies is to simply snap their necks.

Major problem, however. You have to be very close to grab an enemy's neck and then snap it. Close enough that you risk bumping into them.

When you do bump into them, you trigger an alert. Nothing can stop the alert once it's triggered - even if you grab the guard who spotted you and kill him.

That was easily the worst part of the game so far.

[itisnotlogical]

I've been playing the first Metal Gear Solid (In some weird probably bootleg PC port where the still image cutscenes don't display quite right).

Nope, it's not a bootleg (unless your copy is)! There was an official PC port of Metal Gear Solid, which was the primary way I played it for much of my childhood. Indeed, last time I tried to play it on a modern OS, the FMV cutscenes were broken. You'd be much better off playing it on an emulator or real console if you have one.

[Parsely]

Bullshit Hitboxes

I've been playing the first Metal Gear Solid (In some weird probably bootleg PC port where the still image cutscenes don't display quite right).

Now, I'd list this in the "how did you last die" thread but I think it's got a great degree of overlap with this thread:

Once you get out of the tank hangar (an early-game area), you enter your second building - this one being a storage place for disarmed nuclear warheads. Most of your weapons (save chaff grenades) are disabled since disarmed nuclear warheads are disarmed nuclear warheads. The guards can use their own guns just fine since taking away their main attack would be a little much.

Thing is, the building also seals shut and releases poison gas when an alert is triggered, and this is before you get a gasmask.

This means that your best method of killing enemies is to simply snap their necks.

Major problem, however. You have to be very close to grab an enemy's neck and then snap it. Close enough that you risk bumping into them.

When you do bump into them, you trigger an alert. Nothing can stop the alert once it's triggered - even if you grab the guard who spotted you and kill him.

That was easily the worst part of the game so far.

Yeah grabs and throws can be tough to time in MGS1 unless you practice them, but you don't need to attack guards at all in MGS1 except during the battle in the basement and the running gunfight up the tower. IIRC in the hangar you just run to the left and up the stairs to get to the elevator, and there's only one guard up on the catwalk. Watch him in first person and run up there when he's not looking. It's only one area that has this restriction in the game and the guards are easy to avoid.

IMO running past guards doesn't get hard until Metal Gear Solid 2, like the Sediment Pool or the Helipad 1st Floor on European Extreme. That shit sucks, especially before you get the SOCOM and the silencer.

[itisnotlogical]

Sediment Pool killed my desire to beat the game on anything higher than Hard, and it sure ended my all-dogtag game-over-if-spotted run.