I'm all for encumbrance, inventory management, and especially level caps. I'd much rather have a handful of highly customizable levels that are well designed for (a la D&D derivatives) than have a hundred levels that all play more or less the same as some arbitrary method of lengthening gameplay (stereotypical JRPGs). I always thought having 10000 HP and doing 1000 dmg was rediculous. It's the exact same thing as having 100 hp and dealing 10 dmg. No, I don't want to spend four hours running around in circles and holding down A. Err, I mean "leveling".
Things I could do without: Quick time events: They can be done well enough to be fun. Most of the time, they aren't. If I break my fingers, I'm gonna sue!
Save points/checkpoints: If you need to punish players by making them play through an hour long sequence again in order to generate the feeling of a challenge, you are doing it wrong.
Lives: Throwback from the arcade days that we've thankfully done away with, for the most part.
Unskippable intros: Nothing is more infuriating. Really, I don't need to be reminded that I'm about to play The Sims 3.
Illogical loot drops: I'm looking at you, DA:O. There was a time when a guy equipped with armor and a sword would drop armor and a sword when he died, rather than the occasional mushroom.
Brown: Yet another stupid fad in graphic design. Right up there with the plastic wrap style of Oblivion and Doom 3. Don't get me wrong, sometimes the real world is gritty, and it can be done right. Most of the time it's fucking ridiculous.
Bullet Time/Rewind: You know, I really don't want this to go away. They're interesting features and the industry definitely has room for them. I'd just rather they not be included in every other fucking game on the market, ok?
CD checks: I really hate them. I don't mind inputting a key, but god dammit I hate having to look for a cd every time I want to play a game.
Low obstacles: Nothing is more annoying than an invisible wall, except for a two foot tall impenetrable barrier.
You know what I miss about games? "GAME OVER". Dude, you never see it anymore.
Let's see. I disagree about encumbrance. Sure, it can be annoying, but it's also really lame if you're carrying about 30 rocket launchers and 200 other weapons. I don't mind it, as long as it's fair. I think Fallout 3 handles it nicely.
Level caps are kind of necessary. They can't just let you keep levelling up forever. But hey, it's nice when you can level up lots of times in one game.
Time limits can be great. Generally I prefer not to be timed, but when down right, I enjoy them. I HATE when games give you a score at the end of each level and time is factored in. I don't like to rush through games. I like to enjoy them and look for all the hidden things I can. I shouldn't be penalized for playing a game at my own pace.
Escort missions can suck, but again, I think there are games that handle it very nicely. I thought it worked great in Resident Evil 4, for instance. AI isn't as stupid as it used to be. Remember the escort level in Goldeneye? It made me want to slit my wrists. NATALYA, YOU IDIOT! Fortunately, games have come a long way since then. Most of them, anyway.
I agree that the ability to pause cutscenes is a must. There's no excuse for not letting us do that. Also, a rewind or replay button for cutscenes would be great too.
Stupid achievements should also be included. They're still pretty common.
Oh, how about store exclusive content? Preorder this game at Gamestop and get free armor you can't unlock any other way! Dude, that stuff is so lame and it needs to end immediately. If it was early access to something, fine. But other people should still have access to it eventually.
"Cutscenes that you can't pause or skip. Emphasis on PAUSABLE CUTSCENES NEED TO FREAKING EXIST. Guide button doesn't always work (more often than not, it doesn't). "
Definitely agree! If I want to pause the game and go to the bathroom, that's MY decision, game!
I would also abolish escort missions and time limits.
This is kind of a personal thing, but races in games not revolving around races. Some people might like them, but I don't. I don't play racing games, because I'm bad at them and I don't enjoy them. So when a game requires a race mission (ie: the jak games, GTA, etc) I sometimes get so frustrated that I put them down. When games aren't geared specifically for racing, the control scheme often make it very difficult to succeed.
Unlimited Continues in arcade style games need to die. Specificly I'm talking about games where continuing starts you back right where you died. I understand why it existed back in the day but there is no reason why modern games need them.
Excellent point. There is no practical reason in this day and age that I shouldn't be able to play any console game purchased from any other part of the world on my home system. It's particularly irritating when the same rule doesn't apply to all games on a single system. If I bought a random game on import from Japan, there is a chance that it might work or it might not because publishers seem to be making up the rules as they go along. Everything should be accessible to everyone everywhere.
@FluxWaveZ said:
" Cutscenes that you can't pause or skip. Emphasis on PAUSABLE CUTSCENES NEED TO FREAKING EXIST. Guide button doesn't always work (more often than not, it doesn't). "
Another great suggestion. Last night I had to sit through the same cut-scene three times because my save point was positioned before the encounter. Every cut-scene should be skippable at least after you've seen it once. Also, answers within a dialog tree conversation should be skippable to the next dialog option. Sometimes, I am looking to rehear a specific piece of information that's buried within a conversation. I want to be able to go "next" and get to the answer I am searching for without having to listen to all the dibble leading up to it.
For my own grievance, I'd like to see an end to variable health packs. I know, health packs are quickly becoming a thing of the past in FPS games, but they still live in other genres. Often times, these packs come in many degrees of usefulness. Some restore a small bit of health while others bring you back to full. It's silly and time consuming to figure out how many small, medium or large health packs are needed to bring you back to full. Just give me one health pack that restores me back to full strength and let me move on.
One more: Taking damage means there's all kind of blood and darkness on the screen further reducing my ability to recover. I know it may be more "realistic" to cover my view with splats of blood or change the color of everything until I can barely see anything, but I hate it and think it needs to go. For years we did without that debilitating effect and it was fine. Honestly, I'd rather die with the first shot then have to endure all the muck-a-muck on screen. Game developers have taken the whole concept too far and now it's a real irritation.
I would echo the loathing of timed missions and escort quests.
I'm a methodical chap when it comes to games. I don't like having to rush through blindly so that I don't die or to get a 'better rating'. I long ago learned that I really don't give a shake of a lamb's tail about rating systems and achievements if they're going to throw time limits at me. If I'm going to play a game I want to do it at my pace so that I can get the most out of it.
To date I have only enjoyed one escort quest and only because it was such a surprise. It was a turtle in Tanaris in Kalimdor from vanilla WoW. Rather than every other damned escort quest where the npcs move at that faster than a walk, slower than a run speed, the turtle kept up with me and followed my path. No randomly spawning enemies, no pointless crawl. Just the simple realisation on the part of the turtle that if he didn't keep up with me, he was never going to get to that damn beach.
For myself, I'd put in bad controls. Controls that flip out when the camera angle changes. Sluggish aiming. Not giving me 0 as control group 10. Making me give commands twice. Spectacularly failing to jump in the direction the control stick is pointing, going off at a 45 degree angle and plummeting down, down, down (Assassin's Creed I'm looking at you). Climbing controls that refuse to acknowledge that there is a reachable hand-hold above you until you waggle the stick, or ones that insist on grabbing ledges or jumping you onto a fencepost when you just want to drop.
Oh and taking control away from the player. Nothing compounds the frustration of a cheap death more than making me unable to do anything but stare at my dead avatar for 10 seconds then allowing me to access the menu. That's not a fair death penalty, that's just damned irritating. No way to make that bad news cutscene that occurs in real gameplay time any worse than being unable to tell your minion(s) to stop doing what they're doing and get the hell back because you're watching 'a dramatic moment'. That irritating moment where you realise that you can literally grate the face of the guy you're attacking and he will still pull off that combo but if if he sneezes at you during yours, you're going to end up staggering like a drunken loon. When the boss you're fighting possesses you and makes you attack your party...and pops your cooldowns. These aren't challenging, they're just damned irritating.
" Escort Missions. Straight up. The worst part of any game is the part where you have to protect something you have no control over. Also, I guess timed missions suck as well. The main reason why I don't like Majora's Mask. "
So i'm guessing you never used the song that slowed down time, that game's time limits are not at all hindering to gameplay, its more for the story.
" Escort Missions. Straight up. The worst part of any game is the part where you have to protect something you have no control over. Also, I guess timed missions suck as well. The main reason why I don't like Majora's Mask. "
So i'm guessing you never used the song that slowed down time, that game's time limits are not at all hindering to gameplay, its more for the story. "
Oh no, I did. But that doesn't solve the problem completely. Especially if you are young and not especially good at solving puzzles.
@SadPanda: Your mention of the "Turtle" quest in WoW reminded me of one of the most irritating escort quests I can recall from that game. [ The Sleeper Has Awakened] I don't know if you've played it, but it starts in Darkshore and leads to Ashenvale. Along the way you've got to defend some bozo who keeps falling asleep. Each time he does, you need to blow the horn to wake him up. If I recall, in addition to being an escort mission it's also a timed mission.
Also, you're right. Bad camera angles are the worst. Especially when they are placed in position for "cinematic" effects. I hate when I have to push forward to run away from the camera then the game spins it around and now I am running towards the camera and I have to change the direction I'm pressing. Then, in some games, now that I am running towards the camera, I am still expected to jump from platform to platform even when I can't see the landing area. Ugh!
@PenguinDust: Never did that quest as I believe I visited Darkshore a grand total of three times on different characters just to look at the dead kraken shell beast thing. Master's Glaive I think the area was called. I believe however I shared your pain in a similar quest in Un'goro, escorting a goblin from Fire Plume Ridge who had to be revived every minute or so lest he stay passed out on the crater floor. That blessed turtle, he never complained and never gave up! God bless you!
Tutorials need to go away, especially when your PS3 breaks and you can't back-up your game files, forcing you to play every single tutorial over. (LITTLEBIGPLANET!)
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