Whatever, I personally just don't like it. I think games should just have good names to represent them. I wouldn't play something called Bioshit, or No-Life, or Ass Effect, so likewise I don't feel compelled to play soemthing that uses numbers in place of letters and words for it's title.
I can agree with that, but boycotting the game completely is just a bit extreme, don't you think? It still looks awesome, you can just put tape over the box or something.
Pfft.
I refuse to play games that have "The" in the title. I'm so sick of particularizing or generically framing words.
Anyway.
Mass Effect. The X button scrolls through text, but also confirms the generic response to NPCs.
FPS's and Shooting games where you can't look directly up. (Lost Planet and Metroid Prime 3)
Also, unskippable tutorials can die in a fire
This is why I couldn't play Assassin's Creed. The first hour and a half of the game is one long unskippable tutorial.
In the Metroid Prime games you can't look directly up because your character is wearing a huge fucking helmet. Have you ever tried to look directly up when wearing a helmet that goes down to your neck (such as a football or motorcycle helmet)?
While I'm sure most folks in this thread realise it, but not displaying extremities in an FPS is a way for the game to save on processing power. A game cannot predict when a player might see them so it will either not have anything or draw them all the time. But when extremities are drawn all the time, it does take away from framerate perhaps, or AI ability, or something.
While I personally don't mind forced tutorials, as long as they are integrated into the game it isn't such a big deal. Think the original Splinter Cell. Not every game has the same mechanics for play so tutorials help.
I will however agree with 'checklist' tutorials. Press A to shoot. Press Y to dive. Double press X to do the Hokey-Pokey. You know, if you splurged a little more on a manual, I could read it and find that out, thanks.
I will however agree with 'checklist' tutorials. Press A to shoot. Press Y to dive. Double press X to do the Hokey-Pokey. You know, if you splurged a little more on a manual, I could read it and find that out, thanks.
That's nice in theory, but Mass Effect has shown that no matter how well you document every play mechanic in your manual, if you have no in-game tutorial of any quality, the vast majority of people will never even think of looking in the manual and will miss huge obvious things that are really helpful.
See, that's what Freespace 2 did right. When you protected the carriers and warships they could handle themselves but they needed you to keep torpedoes from slipping in under their defence while they were busy hammering on other capital ships. Weaving through the beams and the flak in order to keep your bead on the bombers was fun as hell, while avoiding the frustration of the developers taking the easy route of forcing you to defend a dinky freighter against 10+ warships with accompaning escorts.
And I was thinking more of the escort missions in StarLancer.
The later escort missions were some of the most frustrating things I've ever seen and shooting down the torpedoes was definitely not fun.
I was just playing COD4 and I thought of two. I hate when NPCs can do shit you can't. Like take cover, for real. In COD, your squad can take cover, blind fire and even breach doors(which I hate because they always get to run in first and everyone is dead by the time I get in the fucking room.) I want to do this shit!
Also, I hate "peeking" in an FPS. You know, using Q and E to peek out from a corner. Why? Because, you have to be in the exact right position for it to work effectively. You can't be to close to the corner or your body will stick out. You can't be too far or you won't even be able to see around the damn corner.
Whatever, I personally just don't like it. I think games should just have good names to represent them. I wouldn't play something called Bioshit, or No-Life, or Ass Effect, so likewise I don't feel compelled to play soemthing that uses numbers in place of letters and words for it's title.
I can agree with that, but boycotting the game completely is just a bit extreme, don't you think? It still looks awesome, you can just put tape over the box or something.
Pfft.
I refuse to play games that have "The" in the title. I'm so sick of particularizing or generically framing words.
Anyway.
Mass Effect. The X button scrolls through text, but also confirms the generic response to NPCs.
FPS's and Shooting games where you can't look directly up. (Lost Planet and Metroid Prime 3)
Also, unskippable tutorials can die in a fire
This is why I couldn't play Assassin's Creed. The first hour and a half of the game is one long unskippable tutorial.
In the Metroid Prime games you can't look directly up because your character is wearing a huge fucking helmet. Have you ever tried to look directly up when wearing a helmet that goes down to your neck (such as a football or motorcycle helmet)?
I've never played Lost Planet so I can't comment.
Maybe not, maybe. Regardless of the physics and such, it's screwed me up in several instances. Bad thing about Lost Planet is that there isn't any type of "Game MetaVerse Explanation" for it. The dev just didn't let you do it.
Quests in MMOs. They are just flat out killing the genre in my opinion. I like doing the occasional quest or two in an MMO, but I don't want the whole fucking game based around it! Just let me get in a group to kill shit, where people might actually socialize with one another, instead of just joining a group, finishing a specific quest, and then everyone leaves because, lol, they're done! Bullshit.
Quests in MMOs. They are just flat out killing the genre in my opinion. I like doing the occasional quest or two in an MMO, but I don't want the whole fucking game based around it! Just let me get in a group to kill shit, where people might actually socialize with one another, instead of just joining a group, finishing a specific quest, and then everyone leaves because, lol, they're done! Bullshit.
I dunno, that's what you did in FFXI and it was pretty fucking boring.
I will however agree with 'checklist' tutorials. Press A to shoot. Press Y to dive. Double press X to do the Hokey-Pokey. You know, if you splurged a little more on a manual, I could read it and find that out, thanks.
That's nice in theory, but Mass Effect has shown that no matter how well you document every play mechanic in your manual, if you have no in-game tutorial of any quality, the vast majority of people will never even think of looking in the manual and will miss huge obvious things that are really helpful.
I expect that since ME is made by the same people who did the first KOTOR, that the beginning of the game is a bit 'hand-holdy'. If it is anything like KOTOR, then at least the tutorial is somewhat incorporated into the story at-large.
I was thinking more along the lines of 'boot camp' style tutorials. 'Greetings soldier! Press A to run. Pull Right trigger to fire weapons. Click Left stick to crouch. Test what you've learned against these stationary paper targets. Congratulations! You pass. Now, here are some wolves we'd like to throw you to...' That kind of thing. If all the tutorial is going to do is run down a list of what the buttons do, I can (hopefully) find it in the manual. It isn't my problem if other players refuse to or just plain forget to.
Also, I hate "peeking" in an FPS. You know, using Q and E to peek out from a corner. Why? Because, you have to be in the exact right position for it to work effectively. You can't be to close to the corner or your body will stick out. You can't be too far or you won't even be able to see around the damn corner.
Wait, what? You'd rather have to jump out entirely in order to see around a corner? I get pissed off when you CAN'T do that in an FPS.
I will however agree with 'checklist' tutorials. Press A to shoot. Press Y to dive. Double press X to do the Hokey-Pokey. You know, if you splurged a little more on a manual, I could read it and find that out, thanks.
That's nice in theory, but Mass Effect has shown that no matter how well you document every play mechanic in your manual, if you have no in-game tutorial of any quality, the vast majority of people will never even think of looking in the manual and will miss huge obvious things that are really helpful.
I expect that since ME is made by the same people who did the first KOTOR, that the beginning of the game is a bit 'hand-holdy'. If it is anything like KOTOR, then at least the tutorial is somewhat incorporated into the story at-large.
I was thinking more along the lines of 'boot camp' style tutorials. 'Greetings soldier! Press A to run. Pull Right trigger to fire weapons. Click Left stick to crouch. Test what you've learned against these stationary paper targets. Congratulations! You pass. Now, here are some wolves we'd like to throw you to...' That kind of thing. If all the tutorial is going to do is run down a list of what the buttons do, I can (hopefully) find it in the manual. It isn't my problem if other players refuse to or just plain forget to.
There is no in-game tutorial in Mass Effect, or at least not the way you're thinking. During the first mission, at certain points the game will suddenly pause, and a block of text pops up explaining an action, like how to fire, or take cover. They do the job well enough, but they're not "seamlessly integrated" by any means.
The problem with Mass Effect is that there's quite a bit to know, and they barely teach you any of it in game. It's not just a simple matter of RTFM. I read the manual. It's the first thing I do for any game. The problem is without context, even the best written manual might as well be written in gibberish. Yeah, it says on page 24 that the RB button fires the Mako cannon, but I don't know what the Mako is yet, and it's potentially hours before you reach the first section with it. And to top it off, I don't have a photographic memory, so I'm not going to remember that 1 sentence. Meanwhile, all of the combat thus far has taught you that RT fires, LT zooms, and the sticks move. So when the Mako controls much in the same way, it's not immediately obvious that there's a button that fires a cannon shot.
The Wolfman on
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
The convention that if the universe knows you are their only hope for salvation, the only possible thing that can save them and you still get fuckall support. I get shops still taking your monies. What I don't get is your country or whatever deciding to leave you all on your own, with no support in the form of weapons, manpower or just fucking money. And then, at some arbitrary point later in the game, you fight alongside some of the dudes you are striving to protect, in order to protect something, usually a town, and those fuckers have equipment that makes your own look like fucking peashooters. And they have ammo. And medpacks. And what the fuck nots. You? They can't even be bothered to give you ammunition. Those fucks. Doesn't exactly make me want to save them.
For me it's Fire Emblem's lack of generic units. I find it really limits my overall strategy, and it's annoying when I want a character of a certain class but the only one available is a tool. And that I get 15 Knights and 2 Archers. And that if my important Mage unit gets a series of really horrible level-ups I'm kind of screwed out of that option.
Also, SRPGs where you're given the option to take a dozen units into a battle, and then once you get into that battle you realize it was pointless since you can win it with 6. FE is like this, too; you get the option to take in all these units, but if you do they mostly just get in the way. And since the enemy is only going to pick on certain units, chances are half of them will get through the battle without even fighting, and then won't level-up, etc.
PC FPS games without a console bug me, too. Or ones that do have a console, but everything is locked.
Super weapons in C&C games. I remember playing FFAs with my friends where at the 5 minute mark the whole left side of my screen would just sprout count-down timers, which I knew were all for me.
Oh god yes. In general, I fucking hate being on a timer, especially one that drains my life. This is also why I stopped playing Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones pretty much at the first Dark Prince section. Solving puzzles while my health is slowly draining? Fuck that game. A real waste, because the regular Prince parts were good.
And alas, I will probably never finish Phourglass, except maybe if I'm on vacation with only my DS and I'm really really bored.
Random battles. Stop it, guys. This was ok on the NES and I guess the SNES, which had limited power, but in modern RPGs there is no fucking excuse for this antiquated design decision.
Unskippable cutscenes. It's fucking 2007. Stop masturbating over your own game and let us skip the cutscenes when we're on our third playthrough (oh hi Mass Effect).
Inability to save anywhere in portable games. Please die, FFIII.
I'll second levelling in SRPGs, although maybe not for quite the same reason.
I just hate that your troops need to either land a killing blow to get experience (completely killing Disgaea for me. I mean really, I got to the point where you meet Gordon, and gave up. So annoying.), or do something to gain experience. What's wrong with shared experience? Is it so wrong to want to level a pure healing character without having to cast "twiddle thumbs" every turn, or try to hang out near someone who can do some damage in the hopes of a combo attack?
All you really have to do in Disgaea is take advantage of the mentoring system to teach your healer offensive magic (or teach your offensive mage healing magic). It's not particularly user-friendly, but it's there.
I definitely fiddled around with all that, but it really killed my enjoyment for the game. I hate the very idea of holding back my ungodly powerful Laharl so my squirt of a healer could land a spell and get the kill. The game would have been so much more fun for me if all experience was just shared, but that's probably just me. FFT had a similar problem, but at least in that game you could teach your healers a weak Squire ability that let them at least do something every turn without wandering into combat.
Oh god yes. In general, I fucking hate being on a timer, especially one that drains my life. This is also why I stopped playing Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones pretty much at the first Dark Prince section. Solving puzzles while my health is slowly draining? Fuck that game. A real waste, because the regular Prince parts were good.
Wait, waste? Just because you don't like something doesn't mean that it's bad. I haven't played the PoP games, but generally I like being forced to think on my feet. I kind of disliked the Temple of the Ocean King, but only because it was repetitive, not because it had a clock.
I don't know, I've noticed that here on PA there are a lot of people that choke the second that a timer shows up on the screen, even if it's an extremely lenient timer like the one in Majora's Mask.
Oh god yes. In general, I fucking hate being on a timer, especially one that drains my life. This is also why I stopped playing Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones pretty much at the first Dark Prince section. Solving puzzles while my health is slowly draining? Fuck that game. A real waste, because the regular Prince parts were good.
Wait, waste? Just because you don't like something doesn't mean that it's bad. I haven't played the PoP games, but generally I like being forced to think on my feet. I kind of disliked the Temple of the Ocean King, but only because it was repetitive, not because it had a clock.
I don't know, I've noticed that here on PA there are a lot of people that choke the second that a timer shows up on the screen, even if it's an extremely lenient timer like the one in Majora's Mask.
Uhh well if a lot of people think it's bad then maybe it should be a consideration? Timers just fucking suck. Every once in a while, sure, but when it's a central game mechanic it just is not fun. I don't want to be rushed in a Zelda game. Especially because, haha, if you fail? That's right, those 20 minutes you just spent in the Temple are GONE. Do it all over again! Yay! And in The Two Thrones, I died during the first puzzle segment. So yeah, fuck that game and fuck designers who think arbitrary timers are fun. They aren't. If you can't think of a better way to make your game more challenging than to add a timer that kills you, then you need to go back to game design 101.
Oh god yes. In general, I fucking hate being on a timer, especially one that drains my life. This is also why I stopped playing Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones pretty much at the first Dark Prince section. Solving puzzles while my health is slowly draining? Fuck that game. A real waste, because the regular Prince parts were good.
Wait, waste? Just because you don't like something doesn't mean that it's bad. I haven't played the PoP games, but generally I like being forced to think on my feet. I kind of disliked the Temple of the Ocean King, but only because it was repetitive, not because it had a clock.
I don't know, I've noticed that here on PA there are a lot of people that choke the second that a timer shows up on the screen, even if it's an extremely lenient timer like the one in Majora's Mask.
Uhh well if a lot of people think it's bad then maybe it should be a consideration? Timers just fucking suck. Every once in a while, sure, but when it's a central game mechanic it just is not fun. I don't want to be rushed in a Zelda game. Especially because, haha, if you fail? That's right, those 20 minutes you just spent in the Temple are GONE. Do it all over again! Yay! And in The Two Thrones, I died during the first puzzle segment. So yeah, fuck that game and fuck designers who think arbitrary timers are fun. They aren't. If you can't think of a better way to make your game more challenging than to add a timer that kills you, then you need to go back to game design 101.
To be fair, Majora's Mask had the best timer ever.
Oh god yes. In general, I fucking hate being on a timer, especially one that drains my life. This is also why I stopped playing Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones pretty much at the first Dark Prince section. Solving puzzles while my health is slowly draining? Fuck that game. A real waste, because the regular Prince parts were good.
Wait, waste? Just because you don't like something doesn't mean that it's bad. I haven't played the PoP games, but generally I like being forced to think on my feet. I kind of disliked the Temple of the Ocean King, but only because it was repetitive, not because it had a clock.
I don't know, I've noticed that here on PA there are a lot of people that choke the second that a timer shows up on the screen, even if it's an extremely lenient timer like the one in Majora's Mask.
I ended up finding the Temple of the Ocean King really obnoxious too, and I fucking loved MM. The timer was more secondary for me over, like you said, the dungeon feeling tedious and repetitive. With the stealth nonsense thrown in over it, it just ended up feeling like a gigantic roadblock in an otherwise pleasant game.
I'll second levelling in SRPGs, although maybe not for quite the same reason.
I just hate that your troops need to either land a killing blow to get experience (completely killing Disgaea for me. I mean really, I got to the point where you meet Gordon, and gave up. So annoying.), or do something to gain experience. What's wrong with shared experience? Is it so wrong to want to level a pure healing character without having to cast "twiddle thumbs" every turn, or try to hang out near someone who can do some damage in the hopes of a combo attack?
All you really have to do in Disgaea is take advantage of the mentoring system to teach your healer offensive magic (or teach your offensive mage healing magic). It's not particularly user-friendly, but it's there.
I definitely fiddled around with all that, but it really killed my enjoyment for the game. I hate the very idea of holding back my ungodly powerful Laharl so my squirt of a healer could land a spell and get the kill. The game would have been so much more fun for me if all experience was just shared, but that's probably just me. FFT had a similar problem, but at least in that game you could teach your healers a weak Squire ability that let them at least do something every turn without wandering into combat.
Did you start to use the healer/mage combo later in the game? I've found it to be one of the easiest classes to level up, since there's a few maps where you can hit large groups with their type weaknesses.
My Laharl has typically been nothing fantastic, but that's more because I never tend to favor him.
Oh god yes. In general, I fucking hate being on a timer, especially one that drains my life. This is also why I stopped playing Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones pretty much at the first Dark Prince section. Solving puzzles while my health is slowly draining? Fuck that game. A real waste, because the regular Prince parts were good.
Wait, waste? Just because you don't like something doesn't mean that it's bad. I haven't played the PoP games, but generally I like being forced to think on my feet. I kind of disliked the Temple of the Ocean King, but only because it was repetitive, not because it had a clock.
I don't know, I've noticed that here on PA there are a lot of people that choke the second that a timer shows up on the screen, even if it's an extremely lenient timer like the one in Majora's Mask.
Uhh well if a lot of people think it's bad then maybe it should be a consideration? Timers just fucking suck. Every once in a while, sure, but when it's a central game mechanic it just is not fun. I don't want to be rushed in a Zelda game. Especially because, haha, if you fail? That's right, those 20 minutes you just spent in the Temple are GONE. Do it all over again! Yay! And in The Two Thrones, I died during the first puzzle segment. So yeah, fuck that game and fuck designers who think arbitrary timers are fun. They aren't. If you can't think of a better way to make your game more challenging than to add a timer that kills you, then you need to go back to game design 101.
I really think you should give it another go. It's probably the best out of the 3, and the timer is really quite lenient.
AI companions who move slower than you. See every Oblivion escort mission ever.
Really, it's better then the other way.
The SMART way to do it is give them variable speed. But if they've only got 1 speed, you want it slower then you so they don't get ahead of you and you can't catch up.
I hate long ass credits, like 15 minutes long that can't be skipped and you need to get through to unlock something or see a special ending or that occur everytime you beat the game. Sure, it's nice to give some credit to these people for all the work they did, but there's a reason people get up and leave after movies without watching them. It's boring shit that no one wants to see.
AI companions who move slower than you. See every Oblivion escort mission ever.
Really, it's better then the other way.
The SMART way to do it is give them variable speed. But if they've only got 1 speed, you want it slower then you so they don't get ahead of you and you can't catch up.
Sorry, I really meant the ones that are following the player.
I hate long ass credits, like 15 minutes long that can't be skipped and you need to get through to unlock something or see a special ending or that occur everytime you beat the game. Sure, it's nice to give some credit to these people for all the work they did, but there's a reason people get up and leave after movies without watching them. It's boring shit that no one wants to see.
What is even worse is when you get something for waiting though the credits and not skipping it. Fable was like this. If you skipped through the credits, you just went to the damn starting menu.
I hate long ass credits, like 15 minutes long that can't be skipped and you need to get through to unlock something or see a special ending or that occur everytime you beat the game. Sure, it's nice to give some credit to these people for all the work they did, but there's a reason people get up and leave after movies without watching them. It's boring shit that no one wants to see.
What is even worse is when you get something for waiting though the credits and not skipping it. Fable was like this. If you skipped through the credits, you just went to the damn starting menu.
I'm a sucker for credits. I'll always happily sit through them, especially since 9 times out of 10 there's always 1 final scene after them. In fact, I can't stand games that don't have credits. Bioshock recently did this. After the ending, it just dumps you back to the title screen. I basically need them as a way to wind down after completing the game.
With that said, Fable's credits were goddamn ridiculous. When your 5 minute long symphony opus song plays from start to finish... 5 times over, that's a sign to speed shit up and start cutting stuff. We really don't need developer notes to their families tacked on. I really don't think your grandma is going to beat the game and see that you wished her well.
The Wolfman on
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
Making something challenging, not because the task itself is difficult, but by making it really long, and having a single mistake insta-kill you and making you restart from the beginning.
Also, having a boss fight where its basically required to die at least once to figure out how to kill it.
Games that have you play a certain way for the entire fucking game, only to change it all for the final boss fight. Worst examples I can think of are Lost Planet and Beyond Good and Evil.
Making something challenging, not because the task itself is difficult, but by making it really long, and having a single mistake insta-kill you and making you restart from the beginning.
This. So fucking annoying.
Also, I stopped playing Heavenly sword because of QTEs. I suck at QTEs, really badly.
I shouldn't have to refight my way through 3 waves of enemies at a Boss if I mess up one button push.
The problem I have with Gordon Freeman is that he's embroiled in a fight to save the world but he never remarks about anything that happens around him, which is fine for some but I just feel that it hurts my appreciation of the story when my character apparently is to blase' to give a shit that ten years have passed in a very short time, from his perspective, and suddenly dumped into a 1984 style society ruled by aliens.
I'll admit that's a bit of a problem, but I think it's a legitimate design choice, for a fairly clear reason, that works well. Valve followed the same pattern they'd established in HL, which was essentially Gordon Freeman and the player are the same entity.
Consider the alternatives: having a disembodied voice constantly saying "what the hell's going on, Kleiner? Alyx, why are monsters running around? Eli, why am I in Eastern Europe?" followed by loads of unnecessary exposition, text appearing on screen for you to select what you want to say, maybe characters just randomly explaining story points in response to anything the player might be wondering about.
All of which would basically detract from the realism. I actually think it's more absorbing for my character not to be talking than saying stupid things or asking obvious questions. Like I said, better to have it this way than yet another sarcastic or whiny hero throwing around one-liners.
I'm on the other side of the fence here, I think it gets mighty silly when your character doesn't give a crap in the situation he's in. I've never felt how I "am" Gordon, all I feel is that I'm shuffling around an automaton to handle different tasks to whoever is talking to me at the moment.
Don't get me wrong, I like Halflife 2 and I'll probably enjoy episode 1&2 once I can muster up the cash for them but I don't buy the schtick that HL2 uses in order to explain away why the protagonist is a mute. It worked in Halflife, since Gordons goal was to get the hell out of Black Mesa, which kept the necessary interactions to a minimum. Once Halflife 2 rolled in we got a gameworld that was so much more alive, but that also showed the inherent weakness of the whole mute protagonist mechanic. Hell, I'd love to see a Bloodlines style dialogue interface where you never hear your character but you can at least have a more meaningful exchange than just pressing "use" on a character. Just don't think that I'm looking for some kind remake of Gordon into "Ash" Freeman, because I can live without those kind of characters in the HL universe.
Sorry for the ranting but as you can tell I really enjoy the Halflife games which, I guess, makes me even more sensitive to their little flaws. :P
Maybe I'll come around to this once I can get my hands on episode 1&2?
(shame/off: So if anyone feel the urge to donate their episode 1 copy to me they are more than welcome :P )
Yeah, and racing games. Such lazy game design, making me go round a track in a car. Seriously, fuck them.
Infact, fuck every game based on the D&D ruleset too. Make you're own god damn rules.
And don't even get me started on sports games, using the rules from the actual sport? That's just lazy.
I'm not serious, this argument is stupid. Many people enjoy card games but don't have the time to collect or play with friends. It doesn't make it lazy game design because it's based on something you don't like. I'd kill for a portable version of Magic: the Gathering on ds or psp.
Also, I hate "peeking" in an FPS. You know, using Q and E to peek out from a corner. Why? Because, you have to be in the exact right position for it to work effectively. You can't be to close to the corner or your body will stick out. You can't be too far or you won't even be able to see around the damn corner.
Wait, what? You'd rather have to jump out entirely in order to see around a corner? I get pissed off when you CAN'T do that in an FPS.
I'm more pissed off that for some reason Rainbow six 3 had the most awesome lean ever, and every game since hasn't come close. Even CoD4 still has the archaic slide sideways lean. And to make things worse they removed the awesome lean and replaced it with Gears of War style cover system, and personally I'd prefer to just have the lean, being dragged out of first person every time I want to take cover annoyed the hell out of me.
Not being able to climb shit. Seriously, I know I can't jump onto a 4 foot high platform, but if I'm right fucking next to it, I can sure as hell drag myself up there no problem.
Not being able to climb shit. Seriously, I know I can't jump onto a 4 foot high platform, but if I'm right fucking next to it, I can sure as hell drag myself up there no problem.
Mantling people. Should be in every game.
I have to say that this becomes pretty funny in most RPG's when you can summon monsters the size of a small moon, capable of leveling an entire continent, weild weapons that are at least twice your size and cast magics that pretty much tells reality to shut the fuck up and go sit in the corner. But all this power means shit, once you encounter your true nemesis, the common garden fence! This usually means at least a 2+ hour detour just to circumvent this fearsome foe.
Not being able to climb shit. Seriously, I know I can't jump onto a 4 foot high platform, but if I'm right fucking next to it, I can sure as hell drag myself up there no problem.
Mantling people. Should be in every game.
This annoys me the most in RPGs. There's a 2 foot tall wall blocking a treasure chest so I have to backtrack to find another route. It's silly, especially when you it shows special attacks with the character easily jumping 50 feet into the air.
World Of Warcraft - I want to stop playing this game so damn bad. Theres a whole world of games out
there, but its the best, Ive tried so hard, dragging all my RL friends to gamestop to buy LOTRO. I even played Tabula Rasa for awhile, but I always come back. WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! which brings me to my other point.
Bad MMOs - Im crossing my fingers for warhammer
This may not be game design, but im tired of console exclusives. the only reason xbox even got started is micrisoft gave bungie a huge check. I want to play mass effect but im not droping 300 dollars when I could buy a new graphics card for that. PC is so much better for gaming and it does so much more.
Also i wish people would stop bitching about martyrdom in COD4, dont give me that team killing bullshit. the same idiot who has marterdome for close quarters boxing his own team in is the same idiot who throws a grenade out the window only to have it rebound off the wall. marterdome is for keeping people away fom an objective for a couple seconds, its for FFA when you dont care about others. personally, i think its a waist of a perk. a
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In the Metroid Prime games you can't look directly up because your character is wearing a huge fucking helmet. Have you ever tried to look directly up when wearing a helmet that goes down to your neck (such as a football or motorcycle helmet)?
I've never played Lost Planet so I can't comment.
XBL - Follow Freeman
While I personally don't mind forced tutorials, as long as they are integrated into the game it isn't such a big deal. Think the original Splinter Cell. Not every game has the same mechanics for play so tutorials help.
I will however agree with 'checklist' tutorials. Press A to shoot. Press Y to dive. Double press X to do the Hokey-Pokey. You know, if you splurged a little more on a manual, I could read it and find that out, thanks.
That's nice in theory, but Mass Effect has shown that no matter how well you document every play mechanic in your manual, if you have no in-game tutorial of any quality, the vast majority of people will never even think of looking in the manual and will miss huge obvious things that are really helpful.
And I was thinking more of the escort missions in StarLancer.
The later escort missions were some of the most frustrating things I've ever seen and shooting down the torpedoes was definitely not fun.
Also, I hate "peeking" in an FPS. You know, using Q and E to peek out from a corner. Why? Because, you have to be in the exact right position for it to work effectively. You can't be to close to the corner or your body will stick out. You can't be too far or you won't even be able to see around the damn corner.
Maybe not, maybe. Regardless of the physics and such, it's screwed me up in several instances. Bad thing about Lost Planet is that there isn't any type of "Game MetaVerse Explanation" for it. The dev just didn't let you do it.
I dunno, that's what you did in FFXI and it was pretty fucking boring.
I was thinking more along the lines of 'boot camp' style tutorials. 'Greetings soldier! Press A to run. Pull Right trigger to fire weapons. Click Left stick to crouch. Test what you've learned against these stationary paper targets. Congratulations! You pass. Now, here are some wolves we'd like to throw you to...' That kind of thing. If all the tutorial is going to do is run down a list of what the buttons do, I can (hopefully) find it in the manual. It isn't my problem if other players refuse to or just plain forget to.
Wait, what? You'd rather have to jump out entirely in order to see around a corner? I get pissed off when you CAN'T do that in an FPS.
There is no in-game tutorial in Mass Effect, or at least not the way you're thinking. During the first mission, at certain points the game will suddenly pause, and a block of text pops up explaining an action, like how to fire, or take cover. They do the job well enough, but they're not "seamlessly integrated" by any means.
The problem with Mass Effect is that there's quite a bit to know, and they barely teach you any of it in game. It's not just a simple matter of RTFM. I read the manual. It's the first thing I do for any game. The problem is without context, even the best written manual might as well be written in gibberish. Yeah, it says on page 24 that the RB button fires the Mako cannon, but I don't know what the Mako is yet, and it's potentially hours before you reach the first section with it. And to top it off, I don't have a photographic memory, so I'm not going to remember that 1 sentence. Meanwhile, all of the combat thus far has taught you that RT fires, LT zooms, and the sticks move. So when the Mako controls much in the same way, it's not immediately obvious that there's a button that fires a cannon shot.
Also, SRPGs where you're given the option to take a dozen units into a battle, and then once you get into that battle you realize it was pointless since you can win it with 6. FE is like this, too; you get the option to take in all these units, but if you do they mostly just get in the way. And since the enemy is only going to pick on certain units, chances are half of them will get through the battle without even fighting, and then won't level-up, etc.
PC FPS games without a console bug me, too. Or ones that do have a console, but everything is locked.
Super weapons in C&C games. I remember playing FFAs with my friends where at the 5 minute mark the whole left side of my screen would just sprout count-down timers, which I knew were all for me.
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Oh god yes. In general, I fucking hate being on a timer, especially one that drains my life. This is also why I stopped playing Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones pretty much at the first Dark Prince section. Solving puzzles while my health is slowly draining? Fuck that game. A real waste, because the regular Prince parts were good.
And alas, I will probably never finish Phourglass, except maybe if I'm on vacation with only my DS and I'm really really bored.
Random battles. Stop it, guys. This was ok on the NES and I guess the SNES, which had limited power, but in modern RPGs there is no fucking excuse for this antiquated design decision.
Unskippable cutscenes. It's fucking 2007. Stop masturbating over your own game and let us skip the cutscenes when we're on our third playthrough (oh hi Mass Effect).
Inability to save anywhere in portable games. Please die, FFIII.
I definitely fiddled around with all that, but it really killed my enjoyment for the game. I hate the very idea of holding back my ungodly powerful Laharl so my squirt of a healer could land a spell and get the kill. The game would have been so much more fun for me if all experience was just shared, but that's probably just me. FFT had a similar problem, but at least in that game you could teach your healers a weak Squire ability that let them at least do something every turn without wandering into combat.
Wait, waste? Just because you don't like something doesn't mean that it's bad. I haven't played the PoP games, but generally I like being forced to think on my feet. I kind of disliked the Temple of the Ocean King, but only because it was repetitive, not because it had a clock.
I don't know, I've noticed that here on PA there are a lot of people that choke the second that a timer shows up on the screen, even if it's an extremely lenient timer like the one in Majora's Mask.
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Uhh well if a lot of people think it's bad then maybe it should be a consideration? Timers just fucking suck. Every once in a while, sure, but when it's a central game mechanic it just is not fun. I don't want to be rushed in a Zelda game. Especially because, haha, if you fail? That's right, those 20 minutes you just spent in the Temple are GONE. Do it all over again! Yay! And in The Two Thrones, I died during the first puzzle segment. So yeah, fuck that game and fuck designers who think arbitrary timers are fun. They aren't. If you can't think of a better way to make your game more challenging than to add a timer that kills you, then you need to go back to game design 101.
To be fair, Majora's Mask had the best timer ever.
Seriously.... the goddamn moon.
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My Laharl has typically been nothing fantastic, but that's more because I never tend to favor him.
It was really cool and if felt like something different in the Zelda dungeons.
Plus it was neat being able to find unique new ways to get through it with each new item.
I really think you should give it another go. It's probably the best out of the 3, and the timer is really quite lenient.
Now the ending? That was fucking annoying.
Really, it's better then the other way.
The SMART way to do it is give them variable speed. But if they've only got 1 speed, you want it slower then you so they don't get ahead of you and you can't catch up.
Sorry, I really meant the ones that are following the player.
What is even worse is when you get something for waiting though the credits and not skipping it. Fable was like this. If you skipped through the credits, you just went to the damn starting menu.
laziest fucking VIDEO game design.
I'm a sucker for credits. I'll always happily sit through them, especially since 9 times out of 10 there's always 1 final scene after them. In fact, I can't stand games that don't have credits. Bioshock recently did this. After the ending, it just dumps you back to the title screen. I basically need them as a way to wind down after completing the game.
With that said, Fable's credits were goddamn ridiculous. When your 5 minute long symphony opus song plays from start to finish... 5 times over, that's a sign to speed shit up and start cutting stuff. We really don't need developer notes to their families tacked on. I really don't think your grandma is going to beat the game and see that you wished her well.
Also, having a boss fight where its basically required to die at least once to figure out how to kill it.
Games that have you play a certain way for the entire fucking game, only to change it all for the final boss fight. Worst examples I can think of are Lost Planet and Beyond Good and Evil.
Also, I stopped playing Heavenly sword because of QTEs. I suck at QTEs, really badly.
I shouldn't have to refight my way through 3 waves of enemies at a Boss if I mess up one button push.
PSN = Wicker86 ________ Gamertag = Wicker86
So you're saying that a video game that bases it's gameplay off a system that resembles card games in real life, is lazy?
Wha?
Don't get me wrong, I like Halflife 2 and I'll probably enjoy episode 1&2 once I can muster up the cash for them but I don't buy the schtick that HL2 uses in order to explain away why the protagonist is a mute. It worked in Halflife, since Gordons goal was to get the hell out of Black Mesa, which kept the necessary interactions to a minimum. Once Halflife 2 rolled in we got a gameworld that was so much more alive, but that also showed the inherent weakness of the whole mute protagonist mechanic. Hell, I'd love to see a Bloodlines style dialogue interface where you never hear your character but you can at least have a more meaningful exchange than just pressing "use" on a character. Just don't think that I'm looking for some kind remake of Gordon into "Ash" Freeman, because I can live without those kind of characters in the HL universe.
Sorry for the ranting but as you can tell I really enjoy the Halflife games which, I guess, makes me even more sensitive to their little flaws. :P
Maybe I'll come around to this once I can get my hands on episode 1&2?
(shame/off: So if anyone feel the urge to donate their episode 1 copy to me they are more than welcome :P )
Infact, fuck every game based on the D&D ruleset too. Make you're own god damn rules.
And don't even get me started on sports games, using the rules from the actual sport? That's just lazy.
PSN = Wicker86 ________ Gamertag = Wicker86
Mantling people. Should be in every game.
Edit: I was beat'd
PSN = Wicker86 ________ Gamertag = Wicker86
there, but its the best, Ive tried so hard, dragging all my RL friends to gamestop to buy LOTRO. I even played Tabula Rasa for awhile, but I always come back. WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! which brings me to my other point.
Bad MMOs - Im crossing my fingers for warhammer
This may not be game design, but im tired of console exclusives. the only reason xbox even got started is micrisoft gave bungie a huge check. I want to play mass effect but im not droping 300 dollars when I could buy a new graphics card for that. PC is so much better for gaming and it does so much more.
Also i wish people would stop bitching about martyrdom in COD4, dont give me that team killing bullshit. the same idiot who has marterdome for close quarters boxing his own team in is the same idiot who throws a grenade out the window only to have it rebound off the wall. marterdome is for keeping people away fom an objective for a couple seconds, its for FFA when you dont care about others. personally, i think its a waist of a perk. a