See, this is the shit that bugs me!

Alright there are two main things this blog is going to be about. One is only a very minor annoyance and the second is a bigger one. Lets start with the more minor annoyance.
 

Minor Annoyance:

Bigger Annoyance:

Alright there are two main things this blog is going to be about. One is only a very minor annoyance and the second is a bigger one. Lets start with the more minor annoyance.
 

Minor Annoyance:

Bigger Annoyance:

The elevators I didn't mind, either. One of the only few ways to have your party interact with one another. Sometimes I'd take the elevator over and over just to see how my party would talk to one another.

I think it was the fact that it had to load that long in the first place that was off-putting to people. 
 
(talking about the elevator thing)

You would get along with Hitmanagent47. 

I totally agree, I liked the elevators in Mass Effect, with the dialog and news broadcasts that you can actually get quests from! There was no reason to complain, it was a great way to hide load screens, but I guess people just want load screens. 
 
Plus, it was an easy way to stare at Ashley and Liara's ass.

I think you (and Bioware) took the elevator complaints too literally.

The people bitching about how 'You can't die in PoP the game suckzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!' (idiots always use Z's) really grated on me. Like you say, having the girl save you is like all the good points of dying, without any of the bad points! Would it make ANY difference if it said 'You Died' instead of showing the girls hand save you? From the fuss people kicked it, it seems like they felt that way. They were so 'hardcore' they can only play 'Extreme' games where you die, swear, and do other extreme, awesome stuff. Or something.

I didn't like the elevators in Mass Effect simply because I felt like I was going in them too much. If the game needs to hide a load with an elevator, then fine. But why would I need to do it as often then I did in in Mass Effect?  And on top of that, I had the whole game saved on my hard drive (bought it on Games on Demand) and the elevator loading was still pretty long. 
 
I don't understand the complaints about PoP, though. That game is fine. I still need to finish it, though.

My name is fwylo and I fully endorse this message.

" You would get along with Hitmanagent47.  "

" I think you (and Bioware) took the elevator complaints too literally. "

Liara's eyes get me every time. Once I saw blue, I knew.

" @Jimbo said:

" I think you (and Bioware) took the elevator complaints too literally. "

In a game that big, it's almost impossible not to have load screens. So what better way to mask them, then to have a sequence which had custom dialogue. "

Nailed it on the head dude, some of the most memorable moments in that game and it was the damn load screen.

I love Mass Effect.

" The people bitching about how 'You can't die in PoP the game suckzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!' (idiots always use Z's) really grated on me. Like you say, having the girl save you is like all the good points of dying, without any of the bad points! Would it make ANY difference if it said 'You Died' instead of showing the girls hand save you? From the fuss people kicked it, it seems like they felt that way. They were so 'hardcore' they can only play 'Extreme' games where you die, swear, and do other extreme, awesome stuff. Or something. "

People that complain out artifacting and other video quality stuff are insane. There was all that complaining about FF13 looking terrible on the 360, and I haven't seen one instance of it in 20 hours.

" Alright there are two main things this blog is going to be about. One is only a very minor annoyance and the second is a bigger one. Lets start with the more minor annoyance.
 

Minor Annoyance:

 
The Xbox 360 and its tendency to heavily compress everything. I have been playing a lot of my 360 since I recently bought the slim. I had a 360 before but only got to play Gears of War before it red ringed on me. When the slim came out I though it was time to give it another try. So far it's great, but like I said, holy shit, the amount of compression in all games is mind blowing. Playing Splinter Cell conviction, all the cutscenes are pre-rendered and so heavily compressed that there is compression artifacts everywhere. Same thing with Alan Wake, and even Mass Effect. Although Mass Effect is very minor.
 
Now this doesn't bug me too much, but it's probably because I have a very keen eye, and love judging things based on visual quality. For example I tend to compare Blu-ray movies together all the time, and figure out which ones look the best and which ones have bad transfers. I can't remember the last time a PS3 game had terrible compression artifacts, and the Blu-ray is to blame. 
 

 

Bigger Annoyance:

 
I don't understand most people and their complaints about games. For example why people complained about the elevators in Mass Effect 1 is beyond me. Why the fuck would you want to remove the elevator sequences which keep you immersed in the world, and sometimes had unique dialogue sections, with static load screens that take just as long? Do you people hate immersiveness? Or what about in Prince of Persia's case; why would you want to die, and look at a reload screen when Elika saving you was essentially the same thing, just expedited?  This annoyance really dawned on me, when I realized that I missed the elevator scenes in Mass Effect 1. They kept you immersed, and made the world seem big, because you had to travel there. But now in Mass Effect 2, you just looked at a load screen, which pretty much took just as long, but didn't add to the immersiveness. "

I miss the elevators
instead of fixing the problem they just took it out and put in a crappy load screen

Requiem for elevator-related exposition ;)

Funny how you complain about compression artifacts and then go and post a jpeg image as an example...

If we fight for the return of the elevators BioWare will have no choice but to put them in Mass Effect 3! Raise your arms, gentlemen!

The elevators would be better if you could walk around or read the codex. In fact, how about if you're going to have loading screens, you have codex pages come up during them so you can learn some backstory rather than stare at weird Tron computer cyberspace?

" You would get along with Hitmanagent47.  "

I agree on your point about the elevators.. I don't see why anybody in their right mind would complain about a loading screen with unique dialogue, and sometimes gives sidequests, and want a loading screen instead.

" @Rinkalicous said:

" The people bitching about how 'You can't die in PoP the game suckzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!' (idiots always use Z's) really grated on me. Like you say, having the girl save you is like all the good points of dying, without any of the bad points! Would it make ANY difference if it said 'You Died' instead of showing the girls hand save you? From the fuss people kicked it, it seems like they felt that way. They were so 'hardcore' they can only play 'Extreme' games where you die, swear, and do other extreme, awesome stuff. Or something. "

It's not the removal of the death, it's the removal of any kind of punishment for fucking up meaning there's no incentive to get better at the game. Especially when the game itself is so easy, it's almost removing the interactivity of the game by eliminating any real consequence. "

" People that complain out artifacting and other video quality stuff are insane. There was all that complaining about FF13 looking terrible on the 360, and I haven't seen one instance of it in 20 hours. "

" Funny how you complain about compression artifacts and then go and post a jpeg image as an example... "

I agree about the video compression thing, which annoys me sometimes. It is not limited to 360 games, though.

" I agree about the video compression thing, which annoys me sometimes. It is not limited to 360 games, though. "

The thing that made me crazy was that the conversations ended and the elevator still took 15 more seconds.  Even with installing to the hard drive, the ride times are hard coded to be as long as they are.  Also, the texture popping is still there with the install.  I do agree that the elevator thing is overblown, but they are still decently long.   Preferably, I'd rather have a shorter load screen than a long ride.
 
That doesn't mean I'm not hyped as hell for Mass Effect 3, I just don't think I will go back to ME1 for that 8th playthrough.  Until I need to prep another Save for ME1 to ME2 to ME3.  Off to the 4th ME2 playthrough!

"  Preferably, I'd rather have a shorter load screen than a long ride. 

A recent game I can think of where I looked for it was Final Fantasy XIII for the 360 and PS3. 
I sat down, hooked them both up to identical TVs (I have those in the "Gaming Den", needs a better name :P) with the settings set to the exact same thing. 
When I sat down and compared them I couldn't really believe my eyes but the 360 version compared to the other was completely ridiculous. 
I hope i wasn't the only person who could see that but then again I don't know many people who actually have the stuff to compared to games next to each other.  
 
To me it's kinda surprising to see it in any game. 
Sure I can live with it but it's hard to not see it when you're focused on it. 

" You would get along with Hitmanagent47.  "

" @MAN_FLANNEL said:

" You would get along with Hitmanagent47.  "

"

" @MAN_FLANNEL: What do you mean by that exactly? "

Well... On the PC version of Mass Effect 1... They would go through the elevator then go into a load freeze while opening the door.
 
So the elevator sequence wasn't doing it's job and just taking up more time.
 
Of course the PC version of ME1 is pretty broken in a lot of ways. (ME2 runs much more smoother and my FPS doesn't drop to the pits unlike ME1)

" @HitmanAgent47 said:

" @MAN_FLANNEL: What do you mean by that exactly? "

It would seem, you have an admirer. Among many. "

" @Claude said:

" @HitmanAgent47 said:

" @MAN_FLANNEL: What do you mean by that exactly? "

It would seem, you have an admirer. Among many. "

I don't know what the common opinion is of HitmanAgent47, but according to that thread that you linked, it seemed people were looking down on him, and if that is the case then I find it insulting that I would be compared, especially since I thought I made some valid points. "

I saw no problem with the elevators.

you tell  them liquid!

The compression is the limitations of HDDVD coming to grips with the sheer power of the XBox360 while trying to compete with the PS3 which uses the superior Blu-Ray technology.

I find that judging a game like how you say you judge the visual fidelity, to me, really brings down how much I enjoy the game because I spend too much time criticizing things. So I learned long ago to not do that and I have a lot more fun with my games. Therefore, I see no difference between my 360 and PS3 games. 

i dont know if people wanted no elevators, they just wanted low loading times.  that's understandable but also impossible in such a huge ass game.

Rewinding time when you mess up to the second before you messed up is often a faster system than just sending you back to the last place you touched solid ground. I specifically remember running into an edge at the end of one of those wall running sections, now I would have rather just spent the three seconds that it would take to rewind and undo my mistake than the thirty or more it took to play that section over again. Same thing with the bosses that got their health back. 
 
Not a bad system but I liked the time rewinding one more.