I don't know if there have been a million of these topics or not, so I'm sorry if there have been, but are there things that you feel just shouldn't still be in modern games anymore but still pop up, and with annoying frequency? There are a few I really hate. Some are just annoyances, where as others are enough to make me shelf a game.
- Poorly implemented Quick Time Events - I really don't like QTEs. I'm talking about the whole press the HUGE FLASHING BUTTON/DIRECTION ARROW SHOWN ON SCREEN type of thing. I don't mind them when they're a part of a combo system in an action game, like in Dante's Inferno and the like, but I'd still rather have the option of turning the HUGE GLOWING BUTTON on the screen 'off.' When you have it memorized, there's really no need for a HUGE BLINKING ICON, taking you out of the experience and constantly reminding you that you're playing a game.
I REALLY hate the kind that aren't a part of a fighting system though, like the ones that they keep putting in modern Resident Evil games. The QTE's were the ONLY thing that stopped Resident Evil 4 from being a perfect game, IMO. The QTE in that game are as bad to me as the rest of the game is good. That's how much I HATE them. I felt like most of them were just a cheap effort to add interaction to cut scenes where as I'd rather just WATCH a 10 second cut scene.
- Long, drawn out boss fights - I'll admit, I'm an old school gamer who grew up on boss fights that could be over in mere seconds if you knew what to do, but that's not really why I hate drawn out boss fights. It's just sometimes I feel that they make them unnecessarily time consuming when there's really no reason to. If you have the patterns down, and you're dominating a fight, there's no reason to make it last 10 minutes when it can be over in like 2.
I don't even mean multi-stage bosses that go through several transformations/forms, that's fine. I'm talking about how slowly some bosses take damage. I'd rather a short difficult boss fight than a long, simple and/or tedious one.
- No indication of how much damage boss enemies have taken - This is another peeve of mine. I was playing Binary Domain last the summer and I was actually sort of enjoying it with its limited enemy types and sterile, uninspired gray/silver environments, then I reached this part where I had to fight this giant robot gorilla several times in the same stage. At what's presumably the last area in the fight I was told by an NPC to use a stationary gun turret in a warehouse (that you have to carry ammo to), and I tried, but I swear it was the most frustrating thing I'd done in any game I've played this generation. I never beat the damn thing and after succumbing to frustration just decided to shelf the game. I have NO IDEA if I'm even damaging it, AT ALL, or how much I am IF I am.
In older shooters your shots used to make a different sound or visual effect when you'd hit a vulnerable spot letting you know you were attacking the right part. This is more subtle than a a huge glowing area on an enemy, which I don't think we need anymore in games (notice I don't like huge glowing indicators in games?) but I can't tell what's going on with this gorilla fight.
- Non-skippable cut scenes - This one is self explanatory. Unlock the cut scenes and make them available in the options menu when you get to a new one, but please, make them skippable in game. I always watch them the first time, but I don't always want to the 2nd or 5th time through. Or, maybe I have limited play time and I want to cover more ground in a game before work and I can't sit through 5+ minutes of trite dialog. Just let me go back to it later already, please.
- Stupid partner/team AI - I especially hate this in escort scenarios. How hard is it to program 'get out of the line of fire, don't walk when shit's going down...'RUN', and hide behind something when bullets are flying'?
- Stupid, 'bullet sponge' enemy AI - The same way I don't want my team or the person I'm escorting to be a wind up toy, I don't want the enemies to be either. If I unload a clip into your arm or leg, maybe you should, like, I don't know, duck behind something, or move out the way at least? I don't mind this as much with shielded/armoured, or non-sentient enemies, but when you're some guy in fatigues or jeans and a wife beater (Bulletstorm), you really should duck and cover...ESPECIALLY when you see me COMPLETELY MASSACRING your buddies in the most HORRIFIC ways possible! Move; don't just wait for your turn, brah.