Invisible walls. Even Quest 64's desert had a better solution. Magical turn-around. Oh my god. Morrowind's endless ocean was even better. At least those make sense in a fantasy based environment.
Rail shooters. WHO would stand there and just get eaten/maimed? If I'm out of bullets I'd run!
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?
As I guy who loves SRPGs, I feel your pain.
Characters should get xp for their actions (healing, fighting, dancing (I'm looking at YOU, FE), not for being the ones who landed the killing blow.
My PSP has narrowly avoided my 8th story window quite a few times because of Etna crit striked that enemy I was saving for Luna.
But you do get experience for fighting/healing/dancing...? You don't get as much as you do for killing someone, but you'll get some as long as you do damage. Because enemies counterattack, I'd even argue that's it's actually safer for it to be done this way, as you can give weaker units a guaranteed last blow for a lot of experience instead of leaving them open to counterattacks. And the most recent games have added in bonus experience to let you get late-joiners and weaker units up to pace anyway, so I'm not sure why FE keeps being brought up on this front.
[edit]Unless you're giving FE as an example of a series that does this, in which case please ignore me.
I'll say it over and over: unskippable tutorials. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time had about 30 minutes of unskippable tutorials before you could get into the fucking game, and by that point I just wanted to punch the game in the nuts.
RPG's with a set number of enemies in the game. Their was some superhero game like that, so the only way to really max your character out was to do the level 100% awesome without fucking up, and the OCD in me would just try it over and over. It's awful.
Don't force me to fight a bunch of identical enemies for no other reason than to advance through an area. This is especially annoying when the only fucking reason you're sticking around to kill said enemies is because the game threw up some random, arbitrary barrier around you and the enemies that will not disappear until you've killed them. I'm looking at you Twilight Princess, Okami, Soul Reaver!
For fuck's sake, make me want to kill these enemies for some reason. Whether it's because they will kill my ass if I don't take care of them first, or RPG experience and item grinding. Hell, maybe they just called my mother a nasty name, and that makes me want them dead. Something besides an arbitrary force field.
Basically, if I would simply run past the enemies rather than fighting them if there wasn't a force field in my way, then the game fails on a serious level. It's especially unfortunate in the three games I mentioned above, because they are otherwise stellar games!
Soul Reaver 2, to be specific. I have to agree though; fighting the vampire hunters earlier in the game was pretty easy, considering you have the option of fleeing. Once the demons are introduced, the game just goes downhill (gameplay wise).
RPG's with a set number of enemies in the game. Their was some superhero game like that, so the only way to really max your character out was to do the level 100% awesome without fucking up, and the OCD in me would just try it over and over. It's awful.
Also, this. Arx Fatalis is such a great game, but it's limited by the fact that there are only so many things you can kill (you can always summon a bunch of demons and giant rats, but I don't know that that gives you any experience).
My most hated game-mechanic thing, or better game mode is: Racing against the clock.
The game then turns into some kind of rhythm game, or an equivalent of Battle toads for the NES. No - if I want to race, I don't want to remember the location of every seed boost arrow, the lengh of that particular slide, and the degree which determines the stick tilting I have to do after the 4 virtual km of the track. Its even worse if the game decides to throw random shit at you like regular traffic (I am looking at you Burnout and Need for Speed Porsche). Especially Burnout, which is a game devoted to destruction - but now you aren't allowed to put a scratch in the paintwork, or you are missing the 0.002 seconds which grant you the gold medal. Why even award the player with bronze or silver? Gold is the color which unlocks the stuff.
Secondly, did you ever watch motor sport which features a race over a long distance that consists basically of one car racing? I don't think I had the pleasure. Even if time is involved, there are at least a few other cars on the track, otherwise this would be as interesting as watching paint dry.
So why do I mention Need for Speed Porsche? While being a good game, it had absolutely horrendous "mission modes" which often forced you to deliver a car to section XY - which basically meant racing against the clock. There was lots of AI controlled traffic. Horrible AI traffic -> the AI driver often decided to break if you drove behind them. BTW, did I mentioned, you weren't allowed to put a single scratch on the car while driving it in these missions? fake edit: and the timelimit was more than harsh.
WWI, maybe. But yeah, no one wants to play an FPS where your only weapon half the time will be a heavy pre-rifle gun that takes 15 seconds to load after each shot.
Right now I'm playing through Twilight Princess, and there's two things that really bother me.
1. Temporarily invincible mobs. I hate waiting for a monster to get up before I can attack him.
2. Segments with limited control. This game is awesome, but I hate it when I go into wolf form. Hey, great, I can hardly see, I can't use any of my items, and I'll get to collect bugs before I can get back to the fun segment of the game. Awesome.
Beck on
Lucas's Franklin Badge reflected the lightning back!
2. Segments with limited control. This game is awesome, but I hate it when I go into wolf form. Hey, great, I can hardly see, I can't use any of my items, and I'll get to collect bugs before I can get back to the fun segment of the game. Awesome.
Very reminiscent of Majora's Mask as a Deku in the beginning. Ugh.
you have a fuck-awesome game/art design but cant develop a better fighting system?
What if the fighting system, with the cards. Is good and quality.
tough to say. example?
ive seldomly played a CRPG that pulls me apart from the gameplay. lost kingdom 1 and 2 did something fucking beautiful with card based fighting system.
kingdom heart's: chain of memories for the gba went the active route as well despite the gba's limitations.
there's just an impreventable sigh that comes from me when i hear something like "MARVEL VS CAPCOM: CARD-BATTLE ADVENTURE!"
2. Segments with limited control. This game is awesome, but I hate it when I go into wolf form. Hey, great, I can hardly see, I can't use any of my items, and I'll get to collect bugs before I can get back to the fun segment of the game. Awesome.
Very reminiscent of Majora's Mask as a Deku in the beginning. Ugh.
I guess it's a good thing that you didn't have to do a single thing that was made difficult due to your limits until after you could put the Deku Mask on at will, then.
The game then turns into some kind of rhythm game, or an equivalent of Battle toads for the NES. No - if I want to race, I don't want to remember the location of every seed boost arrow, the lengh of that particular slide, and the degree which determines the stick tilting I have to do after the 4 virtual km of the track.
I'm so fucking tired of "simon says" minigames in modern games. It's like developers are too fucking lazy to come up with something different. The Shenmue games pulled this of great but Mass Effect took this to the extreme and didn't even reward you with cool scenes as in Shenmue, but instead had the mingame strictly for picking locks and cracking up storage bins. Once you have "hacked" your 50th safe, you pretty much hate the whole mechanic.
I'm so fucking tired of "simon says" minigames in modern games. It's like developers are too fucking lazy to come up with something different. The Shenmue games pulled this of great but Mass Effect took this to the extreme and didn't even reward you with cool scenes as in Shenmue, but instead had the mingame strictly for picking locks and cracking up storage bins. Once you have "hacked" your 50th safe, you pretty much hate the whole mechanic.
I'm so fucking tired of "simon says" minigames in modern games. It's like developers are too fucking lazy to come up with something different. The Shenmue games pulled this of great but Mass Effect took this to the extreme and didn't even reward you with cool scenes as in Shenmue, but instead had the mingame strictly for picking locks and cracking up storage bins. Once you have "hacked" your 50th safe, you pretty much hate the whole mechanic.
It's all very well saying you don't want dead bodies to fade away, but technically that's a bit of a bastard. You cant easily (or at all) code people to animate stepping over them, and dead bodies that used rag doll physics will still be rendered as 'skinned' objects, so they are stretching your GPU a bit to draw them even without being animated.
Given these two issues, I'd rather have them fade away than endure crappy animation and a 10 FPS drop in frame rate.
I'm so fucking tired of "simon says" minigames in modern games. It's like developers are too fucking lazy to come up with something different. The Shenmue games pulled this of great but Mass Effect took this to the extreme and didn't even reward you with cool scenes as in Shenmue, but instead had the mingame strictly for picking locks and cracking up storage bins. Once you have "hacked" your 50th safe, you pretty much hate the whole mechanic.
Let me just extend that to any repetitive mini-games.
Seriously, after about the ninth time, the hacking in Bioshock became the most irritating thing ever.
"Arrr. I'm a badass supersoldier in a badass supersuit! I can activate my superspeed and sprint for a whole 2 seconds! I can activate superstrength to punch through things that are scripted to be destructable and jump kinda high! (no, I don't know why superstrength makes me jump higher but not run faster or reduce recoil). No, I don't have super eyesight, hearing, accuracy. I can't pickup cars or dual-wield assault rifles. I don't even have funky sight modes. In short, I'm a really cool concept implemented by unimaginative bastards who were too busy masturbating over their graphics engine."
I'm so fucking tired of "simon says" minigames in modern games. It's like developers are too fucking lazy to come up with something different. The Shenmue games pulled this of great but Mass Effect took this to the extreme and didn't even reward you with cool scenes as in Shenmue, but instead had the mingame strictly for picking locks and cracking up storage bins. Once you have "hacked" your 50th safe, you pretty much hate the whole mechanic.
Let me just extend that to any repetitive mini-games.
Seriously, after about the ninth time, the hacking in Bioshock became the most irritating thing ever.
Yeah, same thing with lockpicking in Oblivion. Lockpicking in Splinter Cell however I really enjoyed, the hacking minigame they added in later ones not so much. I think the lockpicking was great because it was only barely a minigame and it was so visceral, you moved the stick around until you felt it was in the right spot and then wiggled it slightly to lock the barrel into place. It didn't feel too removed from reality and it was extremely simple so it ended up being a minigame that actually ADDED to the immersion rather than detracted from it like so many previously mentioned ones do.
Right now I'm playing through Twilight Princess, and there's two things that really bother me.
1. Temporarily invincible mobs. I hate waiting for a monster to get up before I can attack him.
2. Segments with limited control. This game is awesome, but I hate it when I go into wolf form. Hey, great, I can hardly see, I can't use any of my items, and I'll get to collect bugs before I can get back to the fun segment of the game. Awesome.
In my opinion, those early twilight sections were one of the best parts of the game. Hmm.
So why do I mention Need for Speed Porsche? While being a good game, it had absolutely horrendous "mission modes" which often forced you to deliver a car to section XY - which basically meant racing against the clock. There was lots of AI controlled traffic. Horrible AI traffic -> the AI driver often decided to break if you drove behind them. BTW, did I mentioned, you weren't allowed to put a single scratch on the car while driving it in these missions? fake edit: and the timelimit was more than harsh.
Carrera 4S in the Alps. Get it from the 'docks' to the ski resort in two mins, no dents:twisted:
I'm so fucking tired of "simon says" minigames in modern games. It's like developers are too fucking lazy to come up with something different. The Shenmue games pulled this of great but Mass Effect took this to the extreme and didn't even reward you with cool scenes as in Shenmue, but instead had the mingame strictly for picking locks and cracking up storage bins. Once you have "hacked" your 50th safe, you pretty much hate the whole mechanic.
Let me just extend that to any repetitive mini-games.
Seriously, after about the ninth time, the hacking in Bioshock became the most irritating thing ever.
Yeah, same thing with lockpicking in Oblivion. Lockpicking in Splinter Cell however I really enjoyed, the hacking minigame they added in later ones not so much. I think the lockpicking was great because it was only barely a minigame and it was so visceral, you moved the stick around until you felt it was in the right spot and then wiggled it slightly to lock the barrel into place. It didn't feel too removed from reality and it was extremely simple so it ended up being a minigame that actually ADDED to the immersion rather than detracted from it like so many previously mentioned ones do.
Agree with all of this. QTEs are okay when used sparsely and reward you with cool scenes, but not for EVERY FUCKING LOCKED THING IN THE GAME. Fortunately, in Bioshock I hacked maybe all of twice in the entire game, every other time I used buyout or autohacks since they are plentiful. At least they give you methods of circumventing those horrid minigames in Bioshock and Mass Effect, but they are still awful.
Incomplete games with the "LOL TRILOGY" explanation.
This complaint is disabled by the existence of Soul Reaver 1 and 2 and Legacy of Kain: Defiance.
General disappointments:
Console menu system on a PC port - I have a mouse, why the hell do I have to use the arrow keys to select menu options? It's not 1995 anymore, please take an hour and make it mouse-accessible.
No controls customization - are you serious? Maybe people don't want to use your stupid default control scheme.
Requiring pointless grinding to beat a boss - yeah, no thanks. The minute I feel like I'm wasting time playing your game is the minute I stop playing it.
Unskippable opening videos when you start a game. Like I somehow forgot (or care, for that matter) what company made this game and which video card company sponsored it.
For TF2:
The spawn time is a great thing for the game, it works and such, except for small games. With all of the supposed factors that go into determining your spawn time, why not factor in the number of players? If it's 3 on 3 because the server's nearly empty, I shouldn't have to (or need to, for balance's sake) wait for 20 seconds after every death. At that point your team is unforgivably fragile.
The original cp_granary.
Every inane change they've made to cp_granary.
"Arrr. I'm a badass supersoldier in a badass supersuit! I can activate my superspeed and sprint for a whole 2 seconds! I can activate superstrength to punch through things that are scripted to be destructable and jump kinda high! (no, I don't know why superstrength makes me jump higher but not run faster or reduce recoil). No, I don't have super eyesight, hearing, accuracy. I can't pickup cars or dual-wield assault rifles. I don't even have funky sight modes. In short, I'm a really cool concept implemented by unimaginative bastards who were too busy masturbating over their graphics engine."
Turned out so generic. Sigh.
You can punch through just about everything short of concrete, and the super strength does reduce gun sway. The binoculars are super eyesight and hearing, and you've also got super accuracy (put a sniper scope on the AK-47 knockoff and you can hit people from far, far away).
I guess you could want more, but I didn't see the suit as being the whole point of the game. It just added a few extra options to all the firefights and let you do some cool stuff. What you're really saying is that you wanted a different game that you'd enjoy more, not an objectively better one.
And I liked the Bioshock hacking minigame all the way through to the end I got sad when i researched security bots so much that I didn't have to hack them, because I enjoyed doing it manually. I must be weird.
Mainly because I have just started watching the second series of Dexter, but I think Michael C. Hall would make a great Gordon Freeman, apart from maybe being a bit young (do we even have specific canon on how old Gordon is, or is the reason I imagine him to be 40+ just because of how older scientists talk to him?)
Mainly because I have just started watching the second series of Dexter, but I think Michael C. Hall would make a great Gordon Freeman, apart from maybe being a bit young (do we even have specific canon on how old Gordon is, or is the reason I imagine him to be 40+ just because of how older scientists talk to him?)
Mainly because I have just started watching the second series of Dexter, but I think Michael C. Hall would make a great Gordon Freeman, apart from maybe being a bit young (do we even have specific canon on how old Gordon is, or is the reason I imagine him to be 40+ just because of how older scientists talk to him?)
He was in his mid-late 20s, I believe, in HL1.
It states the exact age explicitly.
Edit: Manual for the PS2 version says 27.
Well in the PC version he's 26 and a half. So we'll use the PC version.
Mainly because I have just started watching the second series of Dexter, but I think Michael C. Hall would make a great Gordon Freeman, apart from maybe being a bit young (do we even have specific canon on how old Gordon is, or is the reason I imagine him to be 40+ just because of how older scientists talk to him?)
He was in his mid-late 20s, I believe, in HL1.
It states the exact age explicitly.
Edit: Manual for the PS2 version says 27.
Well in the PC version he's 26 and a half. So we'll use the PC version.
Mainly because I have just started watching the second series of Dexter, but I think Michael C. Hall would make a great Gordon Freeman, apart from maybe being a bit young (do we even have specific canon on how old Gordon is, or is the reason I imagine him to be 40+ just because of how older scientists talk to him?)
He was in his mid-late 20s, I believe, in HL1.
It states the exact age explicitly.
Edit: Manual for the PS2 version says 27.
Well in the PC version he's 26 and a half. So we'll use the PC version.
:P
Point is, 40+ he is not.
Haha, indeed.
I don't think they should give him a voice actor. It's too late to throw a voice actor into the game now.
Mainly because I have just started watching the second series of Dexter, but I think Michael C. Hall would make a great Gordon Freeman, apart from maybe being a bit young (do we even have specific canon on how old Gordon is, or is the reason I imagine him to be 40+ just because of how older scientists talk to him?)
He was in his mid-late 20s, I believe, in HL1.
It states the exact age explicitly.
Edit: Manual for the PS2 version says 27.
Well in the PC version he's 26 and a half. So we'll use the PC version.
:P
Point is, 40+ he is not.
Well, considering that he's been
in stasis for 10+ years it's no wonder that he haven't aged. Hell, Alyx's dad even remarks on how Gordon haven't aged a day since he last saw him.
EDIT: spoiler added, although I'm not sure how useful it is considering that pretty much every review touches upon that fact but hey, all I needed was to add a few lines of text so no problems.
Mainly because I have just started watching the second series of Dexter, but I think Michael C. Hall would make a great Gordon Freeman, apart from maybe being a bit young (do we even have specific canon on how old Gordon is, or is the reason I imagine him to be 40+ just because of how older scientists talk to him?)
He was in his mid-late 20s, I believe, in HL1.
It states the exact age explicitly.
Edit: Manual for the PS2 version says 27.
Well in the PC version he's 26 and a half. So we'll use the PC version.
:P
Point is, 40+ he is not.
Well, considering that he's been in stasis for 10+ years it's no wonder that he haven't aged. Hell, Alyx's dad even remarks on how Gordon haven't aged a day since he last saw him.
I know that people like statutes of limitations, and all that, but Orange Box JUST came out, which for those of us who aren't big PC gamers, and didn't pick up HL2 on the OXbox, means that certain things AREN'T widely known.
I don't think they should give him a voice actor. It's too late to throw a voice actor into the game now.
Well, they could let the player meet him while being in control of another character. I like to think that he actually does talk and what we see and hear while being in control of him is not supposed to be a perfect rendition of reality. Because in that case, we'd also have to accept that his arms become invisible when he drives a car.
Posts
Rail shooters. WHO would stand there and just get eaten/maimed? If I'm out of bullets I'd run!
[edit]Unless you're giving FE as an example of a series that does this, in which case please ignore me.
What if the fighting system, with the cards. Is good and quality.
RPG's with a set number of enemies in the game. Their was some superhero game like that, so the only way to really max your character out was to do the level 100% awesome without fucking up, and the OCD in me would just try it over and over. It's awful.
Soul Reaver 2, to be specific. I have to agree though; fighting the vampire hunters earlier in the game was pretty easy, considering you have the option of fleeing. Once the demons are introduced, the game just goes downhill (gameplay wise).
Also, this. Arx Fatalis is such a great game, but it's limited by the fact that there are only so many things you can kill (you can always summon a bunch of demons and giant rats, but I don't know that that gives you any experience).
The game then turns into some kind of rhythm game, or an equivalent of Battle toads for the NES. No - if I want to race, I don't want to remember the location of every seed boost arrow, the lengh of that particular slide, and the degree which determines the stick tilting I have to do after the 4 virtual km of the track. Its even worse if the game decides to throw random shit at you like regular traffic (I am looking at you Burnout and Need for Speed Porsche). Especially Burnout, which is a game devoted to destruction - but now you aren't allowed to put a scratch in the paintwork, or you are missing the 0.002 seconds which grant you the gold medal. Why even award the player with bronze or silver? Gold is the color which unlocks the stuff.
Secondly, did you ever watch motor sport which features a race over a long distance that consists basically of one car racing? I don't think I had the pleasure. Even if time is involved, there are at least a few other cars on the track, otherwise this would be as interesting as watching paint dry.
So why do I mention Need for Speed Porsche? While being a good game, it had absolutely horrendous "mission modes" which often forced you to deliver a car to section XY - which basically meant racing against the clock. There was lots of AI controlled traffic. Horrible AI traffic -> the AI driver often decided to break if you drove behind them. BTW, did I mentioned, you weren't allowed to put a single scratch on the car while driving it in these missions? fake edit: and the timelimit was more than harsh.
My brother has that game. He doesn't know what drove him to want it, but it's there now.
I tried it for the hell of trying it. Lo and behold, best weapon in the game is the revolver. Everything else is useless.
Shit game all around.
1. Temporarily invincible mobs. I hate waiting for a monster to get up before I can attack him.
2. Segments with limited control. This game is awesome, but I hate it when I go into wolf form. Hey, great, I can hardly see, I can't use any of my items, and I'll get to collect bugs before I can get back to the fun segment of the game. Awesome.
Very reminiscent of Majora's Mask as a Deku in the beginning. Ugh.
Enemies that fade away when they die.
Or sink into the ground like Call of Duty 1
ive seldomly played a CRPG that pulls me apart from the gameplay. lost kingdom 1 and 2 did something fucking beautiful with card based fighting system.
kingdom heart's: chain of memories for the gba went the active route as well despite the gba's limitations.
there's just an impreventable sigh that comes from me when i hear something like "MARVEL VS CAPCOM: CARD-BATTLE ADVENTURE!"
I guess it's a good thing that you didn't have to do a single thing that was made difficult due to your limits until after you could put the Deku Mask on at will, then.
http://www.audioentropy.com/
This would be why I've never finished Mega Man 8.
"Jump Jump! Slide Slide!"
I blame Warbears.
Given these two issues, I'd rather have them fade away than endure crappy animation and a 10 FPS drop in frame rate.
Let me just extend that to any repetitive mini-games.
Seriously, after about the ninth time, the hacking in Bioshock became the most irritating thing ever.
"Arrr. I'm a badass supersoldier in a badass supersuit! I can activate my superspeed and sprint for a whole 2 seconds! I can activate superstrength to punch through things that are scripted to be destructable and jump kinda high! (no, I don't know why superstrength makes me jump higher but not run faster or reduce recoil). No, I don't have super eyesight, hearing, accuracy. I can't pickup cars or dual-wield assault rifles. I don't even have funky sight modes. In short, I'm a really cool concept implemented by unimaginative bastards who were too busy masturbating over their graphics engine."
Turned out so generic. Sigh.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
In my opinion, those early twilight sections were one of the best parts of the game. Hmm.
Carrera 4S in the Alps. Get it from the 'docks' to the ski resort in two mins, no dents:twisted:
General disappointments:
Console menu system on a PC port - I have a mouse, why the hell do I have to use the arrow keys to select menu options? It's not 1995 anymore, please take an hour and make it mouse-accessible.
No controls customization - are you serious? Maybe people don't want to use your stupid default control scheme.
Requiring pointless grinding to beat a boss - yeah, no thanks. The minute I feel like I'm wasting time playing your game is the minute I stop playing it.
Unskippable opening videos when you start a game. Like I somehow forgot (or care, for that matter) what company made this game and which video card company sponsored it.
For TF2:
The spawn time is a great thing for the game, it works and such, except for small games. With all of the supposed factors that go into determining your spawn time, why not factor in the number of players? If it's 3 on 3 because the server's nearly empty, I shouldn't have to (or need to, for balance's sake) wait for 20 seconds after every death. At that point your team is unforgivably fragile.
The original cp_granary.
Every inane change they've made to cp_granary.
You can punch through just about everything short of concrete, and the super strength does reduce gun sway. The binoculars are super eyesight and hearing, and you've also got super accuracy (put a sniper scope on the AK-47 knockoff and you can hit people from far, far away).
I guess you could want more, but I didn't see the suit as being the whole point of the game. It just added a few extra options to all the firefights and let you do some cool stuff. What you're really saying is that you wanted a different game that you'd enjoy more, not an objectively better one.
And I liked the Bioshock hacking minigame all the way through to the end
How horrible this would be.
He was in his mid-late 20s, I believe, in HL1.
It states the exact age explicitly.
Edit: Manual for the PS2 version says 27.
Well in the PC version he's 26 and a half. So we'll use the PC version.
:P
Point is, 40+ he is not.
Haha, indeed.
I don't think they should give him a voice actor. It's too late to throw a voice actor into the game now.
EDIT: spoiler added, although I'm not sure how useful it is considering that pretty much every review touches upon that fact but hey, all I needed was to add a few lines of text so no problems.
I know that people like statutes of limitations, and all that, but Orange Box JUST came out, which for those of us who aren't big PC gamers, and didn't pick up HL2 on the OXbox, means that certain things AREN'T widely known.
ESPECIALLY those of us playing through HL1 first.
PLEASE spoiler this stuff.