Video game pet peeves.

What are y'all's?

Mine are:
- Sluggish menus for games that are heavily menu based (ex: All ds pokemans).
- Slow screen transitions (moving between zones, entering/exiting buildings, entering rpg battle screen)
- Bad end game sections (Unfairly hard final bosses, cliff hanger endings, etc)
- Modern games that don't start in your computer's native resolution after install.
- Loading to your loading screen (Witcher).
- Shitty main character (Pretty much 70% jrpg mains).

- poor writing 
- cuscenes
- no in-game exposition
- stupid haircuts 

• When plot starts interfering with gameplay
• Modern RPGs utilizing gameplay schemes from nearly 20 years ago
• Publishers who insist on shoving Steam down my throat, even with games purchased via retail
• Microsoft trying to run everything through XBL
• Sony's inability to understand that hardware is supposed to improve as a gaming gen wears on
• Fragmentation of features in multiplatform titles  (Platform exclusive features)
• Obnoxious/excessive use of DLC as a revenue stream
• Blaming poor sales on piracy
• In-game exclusives and versions per retailer and/or for pre-orders
  

 
Recently, it's become apparent that in most games with big, strong hero types, no one can sprint more than 60 feet without wheezing and coughing up bits of lung. 
 
How is it that elite military, who typically look as though they can bench 600 lbs, can't jog across a parking lot without a shot of adrenaline? 
 
I've had this happen in so many games lately that it's really pissing me off. 
 
This is one game paradigm that definitely belongs in the crapper.

" - no in-game exposition "

• Protagonist's absorbing 3 million bullets during gameplay, then get shot once in the shoulder in a cutscene and drop so the villain can deliver a speech or get away.  
• Lack of checkpoints, GTAIV comes to mind.  

- Disappearing bodies.
- Flimsy ragdoll physics.
- Morality sliders.
- Fan service.
- The "romances" in most RPGs.
- Isabela (DA2)
- Re-using environments.
- Games taking themselves too seriously.
- Bad voice acting.
- Poor writing.
- Too much violence (i.e. Killing over 1500 guys in Red Dead).
- Abilitease.
- The lack of a walk button (PC)
 
And much more.

"

• Publishers who insist on shoving Steam down my throat, even with games purchased via retail

"

FUCKING ONLINE ACHIEVEMENTS! 
 
Cheap enemies/ games that are easy to exploit online 
 
Freezing / locking up 
 
Sparse checkpoints

• Taking away control for the sake of bad cutscenes. 
• Unskippable intros.  
• The inability to ALT+F4 out of a game at any time.

Within games:
-Short solo-campaigns (ex; Mirror's Edge)
-Stereotypical characters (ex; JRPGs)
-Solo-campaigns that don't have conclusions but rather set up future sequels that may, or may not, ever come (ex; Too Human)
-Tired, trite gameplay mechanics (ex;  the majority of JRPGs)
 
Outside of games:
-Fan-boys (I don't think anyone likes them)
-Killing franchises with to many sequels (Activision, I'm looking at you)
-Ridiculous expectations by fans (DA2 comes to mind)
-Classism amongst gamers (ex; "Wii is shit etc. etc.")
-The theory that a 'mature' game is one with either a) nudity or b) extensive blood and violence

"

The need for violence or an antagonistic mechanic. 
 
Basically, I want a game which prominently features humanism in a non-combat based setting. Unfortunately, most people think games can "only" be fun.

"

Boss battles that are just out of place, stupid or really hard. For instance Uncharted 2 boss battle at the end was so unbelievingly frustrating to play through and such a jump in difficulty for me at least that I left the game slightly disappointed. There is also a bit on a train when you are running from a helicopter that repositions itself quite slowly and you have to dodge the  missiles right, but then later when you get in an AA gun to shot down this same helicopter  can now move super fast,dodge left and right quickly and fire double the missiles it could before.  Like wise with Killzone 2 where Radec says that he will deal with you personally and then proceeds to send 100 Helgasht troops in about five waves at you before finally fighting you personally. These games all drop in quality when they get to these shitty boss fights. I dont even mind if its sort of poorly done if its easy but if its both hard and awkward to play well then fuck you developer. 
 
Also I really do think games with blatantly awful stories should get rated much lower but thats sort of subjective I guess.

• Slooooow cameras (Bayonetta, I'm looking at you)
• Unskippable cutscenes that take place before difficult sections of gameplay that will likely require at least a few retries
• Back-to-back bossfights
• Sadistic spikes in difficulty (MEAT CIRCUS!)
• Unconvincing screaming (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH)

Probably my biggest one is poor checkpointing. Oh, and status effects that stop you from doing things: paralysis, horror, petrification, freezing, stunning, knockdown. I hate them all.

"

The need for violence or an antagonistic mechanic. 
 
Basically, I want a game which prominently features humanism in a non-combat based setting. Unfortunately, most people think games can "only" be fun.

"

" @dabe said:

"

The need for violence or an antagonistic mechanic. 
 
Basically, I want a game which prominently features humanism in a non-combat based setting. Unfortunately, most people think games can "only" be fun.

"

sounds hella gay dude.  Anyway, elite soldiers who can't run 100 m without dying. Yes it's for gameplay balance but it still seems so out of reality in this generation of "realistic military shooters". That's one reason I like Bad Company 2 with it's infinite sprint/reload. And Bulletstorm with wolverine's awesome sliding everywhere all the time. "

Games that don't allow me to save anywhere.

When I absolutely cannot beat a game at all. I will go to great lengths to prove to myself that I can't beat such a game.

Escort missions.

" Escort missions. "

most of the ones that already said. allso boss fights. you deplete his live win, cutsene with some dumb shit and presto he got full health and is more mean then before.  
 
outside of games EA trying to enforce the online pass... 
dont get me wrong i kinda unsterstand the idea, if you buy it new theres no problem, if you pirate it or buy it used, you gotta pony up a little cash to play it online. but i had a problem with it once. bought a EA game (bulletstorm) via the net since i have to play roughtly 102 us dollars for a game back home and i can buy the same game still brand new from outside my contry for about 65 us dollars including shipping.played the game but the code diddent work contacted ea they gave me a new one witch diddent work either.  
reason i got my game from usa, i live in northen europe. EA would gladly give me a new code but not one that i could use in my region. 

basicly what im trying to say when i buy a ps3 game that is region free i was allso expecting that the online code was 
come on how hard can that be. its not like it make the code harder to crack by not doing it

" @dabe said:

"

The need for violence or an antagonistic mechanic. 
 
Basically, I want a game which prominently features humanism in a non-combat based setting. Unfortunately, most people think games can "only" be fun.

"

sounds hella gay dude.  Anyway, elite soldiers who can't run 100 m without dying. Yes it's for gameplay balance but it still seems so out of reality in this generation of "realistic military shooters". That's one reason I like Bad Company 2 with it's infinite sprint/reload. And Bulletstorm with wolverine's awesome sliding everywhere all the time. "

" @blacklabeldomm said:

" @dabe said:

"

The need for violence or an antagonistic mechanic. 
 
Basically, I want a game which prominently features humanism in a non-combat based setting. Unfortunately, most people think games can "only" be fun.

"

sounds hella gay dude.  Anyway, elite soldiers who can't run 100 m without dying. Yes it's for gameplay balance but it still seems so out of reality in this generation of "realistic military shooters". That's one reason I like Bad Company 2 with it's infinite sprint/reload. And Bulletstorm with wolverine's awesome sliding everywhere all the time. "

ahh dont know if you have ever been in combat but i think if you run 100 meters with full combat gear on an open field and 50 guys shooting at you, you would proberly die to. so dont know what you expect when buying a game that tries to be somewhat realistic and thats a problem "

" @dabe said:

"

The need for violence or an antagonistic mechanic. 
 
Basically, I want a game which prominently features humanism in a non-combat based setting. Unfortunately, most people think games can "only" be fun.

"

sounds hella gay dude. 

" @Bloodgraiv3:   Now an interesting question. Silent Protagonist or Whiny bitchy Protagonist? "

Having to press a button to pick up ammo for a gun I am holding is a big one for me.  I know it sounds like a small deal but why make me mash square for 2 minutes after every fight Uncharted? 
 
I also cannot stand slow moving characters and when you can't get through a door because your team AI is standing right in the way.

Lots of things, but the only one that I consider to be completely unforgivable is invisible walls. I can appreciate that there might be a legitimate reason for ANY OTHER mechanic system or quirk, but invisible walls are disgusting.
 
Ok, the one exception that I can think of is Super Mario 64. In levels where you can fly, they had to put up barriers to prevent you from flying out of the level. I begrudgingly accept that I can't think of a better solution to that problem. But at least those ones are clearly defined by steep, unclimbable geometry below them. The invisible was compensated for by clear demarcation. so if you can clearly define where your invisible walls are, that's OK. But when I spend 10 minutes trying to enter in area in Fallout, or I try to do something in AC:B and there is a barrier that isn't on the map and doesn't appear until I'm within 10 feet, that is just unacceptable bullshit. I cannot believe that we still have these stupid things.
 
Also, I really want to know why we don't have more shooters that let you see your legs. That was one of the three things that Trespasser actually managed to do, why can't anyone else? Halo did it, and everybody LOVES copying Halo...

" @dabe said:

" The need for violence or an antagonistic mechanic. 
 
Basically, I want a game which prominently features humanism in a non-combat based setting. Unfortunately, most people think games can "only" be fun.
"

Wow, yes, this.   I know there must be some thing obstructing your progression in games so that they offer a challenge and it's just not a polygonal movie but why does it always (most often) have to be violence?  "

"Escort missions. "

"  Recently, it's become apparent that in most games with big, strong hero types, no one can sprint more than 60 feet without wheezing and coughing up bits of lung.   How is it that elite military, who typically look as though they can bench 600 lbs, can't jog across a parking lot without a shot of adrenaline?   I've had this happen in so many games lately that it's really pissing me off.   This is one game paradigm that definitely belongs in the crapper. "

Poor checkpointing and unskippable cut-scenes. It is not often that I want to skip a cutscene but when I do I should be able to since I am probably on my second playthrough anyways.

A few of mine, that pop to mind, as a tester there's a lot I can forgive but not everything esp. when it's due to the writing/direction of the game which could have made things much more interesting with little to no extra time/$ spent. 
 
*bad writing 
*unlikable npcs 
*how about using the same voice actor for all npcs of a certain type  
(saw these 3 lots in test drive unlimited2, using 5 voice actors from the sound of it for 9 challenge missions) 
*from other games there's clueless npcs or worlthess teammates who shouldn't even be on the same team as the main character if they're that useless (Rico) 
*excessive stereotypes where they could have written the character better to make the character more faceted & different than lowest common demoniator stereotype  
*not pushing the ideas of the game to add flourish or other extra things to parts of the game to just make things more badass looking 
*putting wacky things in the games (like Mk3, Unreal Tournament, ect.) where you might have a setting/mode once done that take some straight edge game & make it look like something out of Painkiller or Serious Sam in just how crazy the game can get making the player curious to play through it again to see if the one boss fight is even more intense with the mode selected (ie. boss fight now has the floor covered in ice or lunar gravity, 3x as much explosions to use/avoid, random weapon swapping every couple minutes, ect.) 

Just remember one. 
 
Hate super detailed character creators. 
 
You spend a good few hours to make an awesome dude, then you start playing the game and realize your dude has a messed up looking smile or blink or something. 
 
God damn it, just give me like 10 presets that represent the general ethnicities or something ;)

"Also, I really want to know why we don't have more shooters that let you see your legs. That was one of the three things that Trespasser actually managed to do, why can't anyone else? Halo did it, and everybody LOVES copying Halo... "

• Too little checkpoints
• Overly dramatic games with crappy stories
• Games that aren't built right (Madden? NHL 2K?
• T-bagging
• Exclusive Gamestop events
  

" @Toms115 said:

" - no in-game exposition "

Would you say that's stuff where the story is in the manual, like Ikaruga, or when you have a franchise like Dead Space which has no real interesting plotline but some huge and tangentially related expanded universe that people like Jakob187 use as an excuse? "

@dabe said:

"

The need for violence or an antagonistic mechanic. 
 
Basically, I want a game which prominently features humanism in a non-combat based setting. Unfortunately, most people think games can "only" be fun.

"

sounds hella gay dude.
 
Anyway, elite soldiers who can't run 100 m without dying. Yes it's for gameplay balance but it still seems so out of reality in this generation of "realistic military shooters". That's one reason I like Bad Company 2 with it's infinite sprint/reload. And Bulletstorm with wolverine's awesome sliding everywhere all the time.

" @Gaff said:

" Escort missions. "

I totally forgot about those.  I can't stand those.  "