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[umiman]

So why do all the player sidekicks get levels as well?

[Sordid]

So why do all the player sidekicks get levels as well?

Because you form Force bonds with them. Just watch the cutscene, they explain it all, if you keep in mind they're talking about the gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EtByaOxiwE
They also talk about how you dominate others and bend them to your will, which is of course a reference to the fact that the characters in your party are under your direct control.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I think the HK-47 droid is my most favorite NPC ever, and not only because of the Kalashnikov reference.

Anyway, things I dislike the most about games is when they brutally punch your expectations in the face. Stuff like Alys dying in Phantasy Star IV was very very sad, but justified as it drove a plot point forward, and gave you all the more reason to pulverize the boss bastard in a later fight.
CoD4 gave me the most disappointing moment - no matter what you do or how fast you complete the objectives, you die due to a nuke going off. If the rescue effort just seconds prior was a cutscene rather than a timed mission, it would have been more acceptable. But noOOO, it's GAME OVER if you die while rescuing the pilot or if the pilot is killed, and the fact that you're going to die regardless of your performance is really infuriating. Also, they just HAD to put in a snippet when you crawl out of the wrecked chopper and shamble around with the mushroom cloud in the background. You'd think if they gave you control at this point, you're going to be rescued. But you just drop dead after a dozen steps. Very funny. Good job subverting a few tropes, I guess, but it got me into a rather bad mood. I replayed that mission quite a few times to see if it was possible to survive, but no luck.

I'm also frequently infuriated by invisible walls and Insurmountable Waist High Fences. Especially if the former are placed in arbitrary places for no good reason other than to limit the player's ability to be creative about completing objectives. Or if the latter are used to block access to an actually useful or important area. I like Blade of Darkness in this regard, because even though there are arbitrarily inaccessible areas here and there, the game usually doesn't block you from going somewhere your character should physically be able to go. It even bases many secrets on such things.

[Sordid]

Oooh, yeah, Blade of Darkness was awesome, although its alternative to invisible walls in the form of ledges only inches higher than you can reach or jumps you just can't make (which of course you come to realize only after you plummet down a couple of times) wasn't exactly an optimal solution either IMO. Also on the minus side, the non-linear levels made it extremely easy to miss out on important upgrades and powerups, which made the following stages all the more difficult.

Anyway, arbitrarily killing of characters. I was probably one of the few people who enjoyed Unreal 2 more than the original. I dunno, the first one just didn't do it for me, but I loved the second. Except the bit where (spoilers ahoy!) near the end you watch your ship crewed with interesting and well developed characters descend to pick you up after a routine mission, only to be shot down and of course everyone on board dies. There was no warning that this was coming and I hadn't had it spoiled beforehand, so it was really one of the most emotional moments in my gaming career.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I don't remember jumps you can't quite make in BoD, except some that are obviously not meant to be jumped across. Like some in the Mines of Kelbegen, for instance.

Ooh, and yes, that moment in Unreal 2 was unexpected. But I really liked the game as a whole, so it didn't leave that much of a scar. I like some of the dialogue, like

- I should've called the Marines!
- They're few, they're proud, and they AIN'T HERE!