Your Pet Peeves *in* Games?

[musical]

I hate games with slow text scrolling. Like Zelda Ocarina of Time. Especially when I've died 100 times, and I want to skip the dialogue, but the game forces you to s-l-o-w-l-y re-read the same old stuff.

I prefer the games with adjustable text speeds.

[SoulBlazer]

Text scrolling is a minor one, although not really that much of a big deal for me.

What I do dislike is games where you can't save very often or on regular basis, or games that have borring auto battles without any real chance for player control or input, or having to scour 100 towns to find one *(!(# person to advance the plot. At least tell me which freaking TOWN to check! :angry:

[Griking]

Slow text scrolling annoys the hell out of me as well in console games. Especially RPGs. Then again, perhaps I'm spoiled from playing computer RPGs most of my life.

[FantasiaWHT]

-Any game where I can literally read a book during battles
-Games that give me 10,000 save points because they think I suck and i might scream in frustration like a sissy if I "lose" 10 minutes of work.
-RPGs that never put you in the threat of dying
-RPGs that treat everything outside of the allmighty storyline as a distraction to be gotten through as quickly as possible (always have enough money, always strong enough to advance). In otherwords, almost every RPG made in the last 8 years :P

[Azazel]

I hate games with too much text like Sword Mana or games that are msotly just story without much gameplay like Xenogears. I also hate 3D games where you can't adjust the camera angle.

[SKVermin]

Dragging giant stone blocks onto coloured squares on the floor.

Oh yeah, and crates...

[tholly]

i hate when you can only do something once in a game, and if you miss it, you can never get it again and can never get 100% completion without redoing the entire game....

ex... Metroid Prime and scanning the enemies so their info goes into your records....if you miss certain enemies, you can never scan them again and you wont get a complete game....

[Dangerboy]

I *want* to save anywhere. I'm not a pussy, but when you can only game inbetween everythign else in your life, having to be a freaking hour late just to find a save spot to something because you didn't want to lose the ast 3 hours of gameplay becomes a serious issue.

Sloppy control is probably my biggest pet peeve, right there with time wasting puzzles that have no real basis in the game's make up (read: most eidos games).

Jason

[slip81]

Slow text, and a non adjustable camera are both big ones, but the thing that bugs me the most is when you can't advance through cut scenes. Nothing is more annoying to me that playing a game for an hour or so, 45 minutes of which is cut scene and then accidentally dying and having to sit through another 45 minutes of what I've just seen, man that sucks. Sqaure Enix are you reading this?

[Perkar]

what pisses me off?

ridiculously hard jumps in games (a la castlevania adventure or super ghouls n ghosts). giving no real in-air control of jumps (see previous to games) also tends to piss me off.

[aremid23]

I dislike cameras that don't cooperate.

And I don't mind being able to save often. Between working and everything else, it's nice to be able to stop what I'm doing, save, and come back later to it.

[Crush Crawfish]

I dislike games with cliched endings. I want a game where the heroes actually fail to save the world. Why? I dunno.

[aremid23]

I dislike games with cliched endings. I want a game where the heroes actually fail to save the world. Why? I dunno.
You are not alone. I've often wondered this very idea. Although as a gamer, I'm not sure if I would feel like my time was wasted, or not, it would be interesting.

[Garry Silljo]

Batman Dark Tomorrow had 2 endings and both invovled failure to save the world. There is no end to that game where the hero wins. Then again, the game was so bad, that I think the developers where just reaffirming that if by playing that game, everyone loses.

[dreams]

I dislike games with cliched endings. I want a game where the heroes actually fail to save the world. Why? I dunno.
You are not alone. I've often wondered this very idea. Although as a gamer, I'm not sure if I would feel like my time was wasted, or not, it would be interesting.

Technically, any time you die you technically fail to save the world. You could just not pick up the game and there you go. :D I understand what you mean though. I think I would feel a bit empty inside if that ever happened though. It would kill the replay value at least in my mind.

My biggest pet peeve in a game is when the plot twists are too predictable. Granted that some are always going to be predictable, but at least blindside me with others. Tales got me good on this. I saw a couple ones coming, but one in particular just floored me. I loved it!

[Dreamscape]

I hate escort missions, because most of the time the person you are escorting can't protect themself, and they end up dying and you fail the mission.

[aremid23]

My biggest pet peeve in a game is when the plot twists are too predictable. Granted that some are always going to be predictable, but at least blindside me with others. Tales got me good on this. I saw a couple ones coming, but one in particular just floored me. I loved it!
I absolutely loved Tales, but I had one of the major twists figured out from the beginning. It was still pulled off well, though, so I'm happy. :D

/end thread hijacking

[Richter]

Dragging giant stone blocks onto coloured squares on the floor.

Oh yeah, and crates......add to that: barrels

i hate games that wont let me change the button configuration, or at least give me different layouts to choose

[SMB]

Turok, where you have to listen to that dam girl talk for 10 minutes and you cant skip. And constant ingame loading

[FantasiaWHT]

Ports from cartridge games to CD or similar media that have loading times constantly...

Final Fantasy Chronicles/Anthologies being a prime example

[NE146]

Mine is pretty common.. cutscenes, and attempts to make games "cinematic".

I mean in NES Ninja Gaiden it was great, but it has since worn thin on me.. a lot.

Sorry, I just don't like 'em :)

[Dahne]

In 3D games, my worst enemy is always, always the camera.

[Dahne]

I dislike games with cliched endings. I want a game where the heroes actually fail to save the world. Why? I dunno.

Final Fantasy 6. :D Though it isn't the end.

[musical]

giving no real in-air control of jumps also tends to piss me off.
Vice-versa, I DON'T like games that allow you to change direction in mid-air (Mario). Okay yes I like Mario, but that aspect has always bothered me. You're a humanoid character, not a bird. In the real world when you jump off a cliff, you can't just turn around in mid-air. You drop to your death. Realistic jumps should be like Pitfall-style jumps...when you leave the ground, you're committed.



POWERSLIDES:I also don't like racing games that allow you to "slide" around corners. On dirt, yes, but on macadam? No Way. When the car loses traction, and the tires are squeeling, you're screwed. Time to kiss the wall.


ENDINGS: Games could end like many movies and novels do: Half survive. Half die. I'd be happy with that. One thing I liked about FF10 is that it was NOT a happy ending. 3 key characters ended up dead (okay ghosts).


STUPID PUZZLES: I'm in the middle of playing Wild Arms 3, fighting monsters, exploring, enjoying the story. And suddenly I have to stop all that, and go find a stupid cat. I've literally wasted HOURS on this damn cat, and it has *nothing* to do with the *reason* I bought the game (fighting/exploring/story). STUPID PROGRAMMERS. I don't buy RPGs to waste time chasing a stupid pussy around... so why the helll did you put it there?!?!? STICK TO THE CORE GAME. Don't add dumbass kiddie stuff like "chase the kitty" or "dress Cloud like a girl". I want battles/exploration/story. That's what I paid for. Save that other trash for the next Sims game.


TOO MUCH REALISM:
Get out of bed.
Dress.
Eat.
Work.
Repeat.

That's not a game. That's my boring life. I don't play games to live *another* boring life. I play games to escape it, experience excitement, and do stuff I can't do for real (like race NASCAR).

[Aussie2B]

-Any game where I can literally read a book during battles
-Games that give me 10,000 save points because they think I suck and i might scream in frustration like a sissy if I "lose" 10 minutes of work.
-RPGs that never put you in the threat of dying
-RPGs that treat everything outside of the allmighty storyline as a distraction to be gotten through as quickly as possible (always have enough money, always strong enough to advance). In otherwords, almost every RPG made in the last 8 years :P

^
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My answer

Although, I don't mind many save points (or even saving at any point) if the game is actually HARD. Is it too much to ask for some challenge and gameplay in my RPGs? Star Ocean: Blue Sphere lets you save anywhere (except inside towns I think), but in that game, you NEED to save after every few battles because it gets so freakin' hard.

[Aussie2B]

POWERSLIDES:I also don't like racing games that allow you to "slide" around corners. On dirt, yes, but on macadam? No Way. When the car loses traction, and the tires are squeeling, you're screwed. Time to kiss the wall.

Depends on the game for me. In say, Mario Kart 64, I think it's done in a perfectly fine manner; however, in something like F-Zero X, it's taken way too far. While it's the only way to get the best times in that game, sliding through nearly every track not only has a cheating sort of feel to it but it's just plain dull. I want to legitimately race, not take advantage of some weird glitch/technique. The developers intentionally included it, but sometimes I feel it would have been better had they not.

[musical]

Ooops, thought of another one:RESIDENT EVIL: S-L-O-W-L-Y OPENING DOOR/LADDER/STAIRS:
I agree this was a good solution to "disguise" the PS1's slow loading times, but why do they dontinue using this on the N64 carts and PS2 DVDs??? The room-to-room loading times are virtually non-existent with modern media.

This "style" should die. It just wastes the player's time. (And looks cheesy.)




[Mario Kart 64, I think it's done in a perfectly fine manner; however, in something like F-Zero X, it's taken way too far.
Mario Kart is a cartoon-style game, so anything goes. F-Zero X is basically magentic, so again, it's okay. No rubber... no traction to "lose"... different rules apply. (Ditto with Star Wars Racer.)

I was objecting to PowerSlides in games like Daytona USA which claim to be recreating reality. These are "normal" cars with rubber tires riding on macadam. They powerslide around corners, but *in the real world* they would hit the wall.

[Dahne]

Don't add dumbass kiddie stuff like "chase the kitty" or "dress Cloud like a girl".

I always thought that part of FFVII was fun...It was also optional though, at least most of it.

[Aussie2B]

I think the point in which I was running all over the ship in Chrono Cross as a bunch of kitties was when I realized I despised the game. o_O Well, besides the aesthetic aspects, that is. I'm not against fruitiness, but that part was just... stupid.

[Jibbajaba]

I think my pet peeve in a game would have to be when the game becomes more of an interactive movie. When I cant play the game because I have to watch too many cut scenes, etc. I bought MGS2 when it came out but I quit playing it because of that.

Chris

[kai123]

I hate having to find keys. It is the single most boring objective you can give a game.

[lucavi]

besides all the other good ones i'll have to add when game developers make finding a secret character/super item so inexplicably complex that the only way to do it is to shell out another $15 to buy the srategy guide to it. i think everything in a game should be able to be done at least somewhat realistically by someone without having to look it up.

but my biggest peeve of all time is the f*cking strategy guide for ff9 that when you look up something it just tells you to go online to find the answer!!! what was the goddamn point of me getting the guide in the first place!?!?!?

[Cauterize]

In 3D games, my worst enemy is always, always the camera.

That is sooooooooooooooooo true!
and the reason why id play a 2d over a 3d!

[musical]

Don't add dumbass kiddie stuff like "chase the kitty" or "dress Cloud like a girl". I always thought that part of FFVII was fun...It was also optional though, at least most of it.

I wasted 5 hours on it. I hated it. I didn't buy FF7 to play cross-dresser. Damn &^%!$ !@*$ programmers. Stick to the fighting/xploring/story-telling. Save the dress-up for Sims. (Or else make it an automatic sequence for comic relief.)

RPGs often have crap like that. Re-arrange crates. Find keys. Visit Sphere Temples. WHY??? This crap has *nothing* to do with RPGs main purpose (fighting/exploring).

Grrrr.

[The_EniGma]

in ff7 when u are trying to get to somewhere and u keep getting an annoying battle and in MGS when you are trying to get that sniper rifle you have to go all the way back

And how Half life and varients were too dark (fixed this prob with turning up brightness L:)

[Sotenga]

Awesome topic, musical. :)

I say this, as I have one heaping HUGE peeve to get out of the way. This only applies to certain games, mostly arcade games from the mid 80's. Nonetheless, it really pisses me off to the highest of degrees.

Here it is: When you are forbidden to continue in the later stages of the game. That just adds to the frustration factor in any game, be it Shinobi, Rastan, Time Soldiers, ESWAT... gah, that's all I can think of for now, but if it's ever happened to you, you'd agree that it really... really... REALLY sucks. :angry:

[SKVermin]

Dragging giant stone blocks onto coloured squares on the floor.

Oh yeah, and crates...

...add to that: barrels



Barrels are just rounded crates. :D

And I wanted to add one that I forgot earlier: jumping puzzles... particularly those with instant death for failure.

[rbudrick]

I dislike games with cliched endings. I want a game where the heroes actually fail to save the world. Why? I dunno.

In Phantasy Star 2, an actual planet is destroyed. now that isn't the end of the game, but pretty tragic nonetheless. However, did this game have a happy ending? I'm not so sure it did....I mean, we know that they fought for their lives in the end, but wtf really happenned? Biggest cliffhanger ending EVER. 15 years later and we're still not sure, afaik. Then again, I never did play 3 and 4, just heard they didn't give any answers...

-Rob

[fahrvergnugen]

PHANTASY STAR 2 SPOILERS: Mouseover black/black text.

I took the wink of light when the ark orbited out of view to mean that the entire station had blown up, earthmen & hero party all dying.

My biggest pet peeve has got to be "things that break the illusion." This is complicated, but I can give you examples. Say, the flashlight game mechanic in doom 3, or clipping issues showing an arm through a wall or moving the camera into the back of someone's head. Maybe the camera gets stuck on a wall. Things like this that really yank me out of the moment and remind me that I'm playing a game, breaking the immersiveness of the experience.

[Aussie2B]

I HATE pointless backtracking. It's a problem in many types of games, but it seems especially bad in certain Metroid-style games. If there's actually a reason to go through a place again, that's cool, but if I gotta walk through an entire area I just finished because I found a key to a locked door on the other end, I get annoyed.

Also, I hate games that have annoying stuff in the foreground. All this Phantasy Star 2 talk reminded me of the stupid pipes in the game that would quite frequently hide your characters, treasure chests, pathways, etc. What stupid designer thought that was a good idea?

[MegaDrive20XX]

Enemies that do way too much damage to your life meter.

Insane or impossible jumps

Games with poor control response..if I press the button to jump..I expect it to jump damn it!

Hidden levels/Areas that can be accessed via difficult paths from another level (Like Donkey Kong Country)

Crazy character AI that will never let you win.

Games that have slow text to make you re-read something that you have already seen.

When you can't skip cut scenes.

When you die and come back...you have to endure the same dialogue over again...

[ECWSandmanECW]

Repetive Missions (Simpsons Hit & Run)

[Chooky]

There's something that I see more and more in recent games that really pisses me off. When you first get the game, you can only choose the pathetically easy default difficulty. It's only after you play through the game once that you can actually access a difficulty that provides you with any sort of challenge. It seems like it's becoming mandatory in action games nowadays, but I really wish it would go away.

[Azazel]

All games need to have something that you can skip text, movies or both fairly easily.

[PATMAN]

i think i speak for everyone when i say INVISIBLE WALLS

[SMB]

When the voices dont match up with the characters mouth.

[GameNinja]

This doesn't happen as much in new games but in games like dragon warrior when people are in your way and you have to wait until they move to get around them.

[FantasiaWHT]

When the voices dont match up with the characters mouth.

uh huh...

[Milk]

Games that don't allow you to pause at certain points. How many times have you been caught with your parents yelling for you to do something, and your only response is "Wait!" because you can't put the game down yet?

[FantasiaWHT]

My wife's pet peeve is

"Hang on, let me find a save point!"

My wife and I were visiting her parents for a weekend once, and Kyle, brother-in-law's serious girlfriend, Missy, was visiting for the weekend. Kyle was off working at his job, and Missy was just staying in. She's never been a real seroius gamer, but she had been taken COMPLETE in by Kingdom Hearts.

My mother-in-law calls down the hall "Missy, dinner's ready!" and she shouts back "Just let me find a save point!" and my wife and I double over laughing because it's such a common thing at our house but we've never heard it there hehe.

[Gapporin]

My main pet peeve is cliched RPG storylines. If I ever play another RPG that is set in medieval times, or involves dragons in some way, I'm gonna slap someone.

[SegaAges]

puzzles in any action game, i really hate that.

of course, the crates and barrels.

i hate it when the game gives you know room to do things for yourself (aka too linear for its own good). There are many games (Enter the Matrix) which are so linear to the point where you can't go anywhere, and you have to follow an arrow. GTA did it with a big map, how hard would it be to expand the levels that are not all that big.

button mashing games. a good example is soul calibur. i am talking about the original dc version. i got good enough to beat it on the hardest setting, but one of my buddies hits the buttons having no clue what they are doing, and rips me apart, and then they try to play on the hardest setting and got stomped.

[Cmosfm]

1. Backtracking...I do NOT want to go back through the same areas over and over just to get an item.

2. Find X item missions in a huge world with no clue of where to go, so you have to talk to a specific person in a specific area an...well....you get the idea.

3. PC games where you have to download a patch just to correct a stupid mistake on the developers part. I.e. Doom 3's flashlight patch and Painkiller's Old Monastary glitches.

4. Most games here - not being able to pause during cutscenes, dialog, etc. I know I play lots of games here at work, and when a cutscene is playing and a customer walks up I like to be able to hit a button and go. But instead I either just have to close the laptop and miss all the important info or restart from my last save just to see it all again.

5. Games that either have specified save points or games that allow ALL the saving to be done manually. Sucks when you can't find a save point and you're ready to quit, but have to play another 30 mins. Also sucks when you cut a game off and realized you didn't pause and save.

[evildead2099]

SegaAges: Soul Calibur is not generally considered a button-masher. Button mashing may lead to a few victories over hapless AI, but you'ill be destroyed by experienced opponents if button mashing is your primary tactic. If your doesn't know which attacks work best for certain situations, its all a matter of blocking or evading his/her attack and countering accordingly.

[Avatard]

Ugh..

Nintendo walls (invisible walls). Not being able to ever go to areas I see.
Dying for no apparent reason and it happens over and over again (LotR 3, falling bridge). Near impossible jumps placed at the end of a long level. The very existance of Marble Madness. Mario's fireballs work underwater, wth!

And BUYING 99 POTIONS IN FF ONE AT A TIME!!!! GRRRR!

[RJ]

What's wrong w/ Marble Madness???

[Avatard]

I think its the 3rd board thats just impossible. And thats a game that really should have infinite lives. I mean, who cares if they give you an edge, is it really THAT important in life to have beaten that game?

[Pedro Lambrini]

Pretty much everything tha's been mentioned in this thread! Call me fussy, but I like refinement in my games and this means choice in the way that I do things so here's my complied list:

Non-configurable buttons (I'm not stupid - I can choose my own button layout)
Slow scrolling text (I want to read at my pace)
Save Points just before Cut-scenes (Just bad design)
Save points in the first place! (I want to save NOW! I do have a life outside gaming, you know!)
Cut-scenes you can't skip (Again, bad design and thoughtlessness)
Nigh-impossible jumps (Single biggest reason for giving up on games!)
Non-adjustable cameras in 3rd person games (After Mario 64 all 3rd person games designers should've learned this lesson)

It's my leisure time and I should be able to use it the way I want not the way some half-arsed programmer thinks I should use it!