Someone in the "too much unlocking" thread mentioned how too often games pratically require that you shell out $15 extra dollars on top of the game to buy the guide so you actually know what you're supposed to do. I agree totally...
And there is a reason for that, and you may think I'm nuts or something, but I believe it's because the games are too damn big. Yeah I said it... someone fucking had to. Look at Zelda: Ocarina of Time or *any* Nintendo 64 game made by Rare. Big games... ooooh, ah. Lots of stuff to collect. Whoopie.
As far as I'm concerned, the bigger the game (in terms of size and not hours required to complete... actual area here), the more down time the game has, and that down time comes from wandering around aimlessly. You only have a vague idea of where to go and what you're supposed to do, but often times you've missed something in the 500 miles of game space that you've traveled and you need to experience that event before you can move forward in the game.
It's scary actually that someone can find entertainment in walking around IN A VIDEO GAME and doing NOTHING. It's a sign that the newer generation is just too easily amused and have set the bar for entertainment low. God bless Metroid Prime, because I want a linear quest by god. I want to be told where to go and how to get there without the aid of guide. A good game should be like a good book: When you get done with the page, you turn it. And god bless Vice City for giving you something to do while you walk around aimlessly: cap innocent citizens.
The worst offender ever has to be Donkey Kong 64. This game was just awful on so many levels. It had the potential to be good, but there was just way too much downtime and backtracking... by time you got to where you were supposed to be, you were already bored. That's pretty much my stance on most modern epics. Bigger is not better. That's what I tell everyone when they say "Why do you even bother buying old Atari and Nintendo games?" Because those games are fun and most of the new shit that comes out is utter crap.
Then you have what thankfully hasn't turned into the new fad: randomized maps and dungeons. People talk about how "it's a different experience everytime." Well folks, we had books like that when I was 10. Turn to page 63 or page 31. And they sucked then, and this concept sucks now. Some people call it a masterpiece in design, but I am going to flat out say that it's laziness on the part of the production team. Instead of finely crafting an epic story with memorable dungeons and levels, they just throw together some generic textures and switch around the locations of items, bosses, etc. You're not getting a new experience... you're getting the same exact experience as you did before: wandering around aimlessly killing the same shit and looking for the same things. This is a bug that thankfully looks like it's been squashed.
Another thing that I can't stand: alternate endings. You play a game and it takes you 60 hours to beat the fucker and you get a weak ass ending becaues you didn't do it fast enough. It makes me want to track down the fucker who thought up that idea and hang him by his thumbs while evil goatee wearing midgets tickle-torture him with banana leafs. Most of the time, the game is so boring that you have to drink a six pack of pepsi just to stay awake. Total horse shit.