Tiny, insignificant details in games that really bother you

BrawlMan

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Interesting sentiment. Question now is: how many people would actually spend the time memorializing random corpses to make it worth the devs' effort to make those corpses substantially interactable when they really just want to to appreciate the narrative gravitas and continue the game? I mean, once you cut them down... what would you do with them? Leave them to bake in the sun? Bury them? Drag them into a pile and cremate them? Drag them into a fashion as to spell the word "penis" like 99% of immature gamers would do? Then what does any of that add to the core gameplay outside of perhaps a "Sentimental" achievement/trophy?
The player doesn't have to do it themselves exactly. The player cuts them down, and the rest is done in the cutscene or fade to black. Show a small little burial grave to imply the fact, and there you go; instant fix. That works good enough for me.
 

happyninja42

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Interesting sentiment. Question now is: how many people would actually spend the time memorializing random corpses to make it worth the devs' effort to make those corpses substantially interactable when they really just want to to appreciate the narrative gravitas and continue the game?
I don't know, I know that one would. And that the people who made the game, were smart enough to consider a not insignificant number of people might decide to randomly bow to corpses if they added a bowing option, so maybe we should plan for that level of empathy and humanity in our playerbase. So I don't think it's that different of a slice of the playerbase that would also want to chop down people who are left hanging in trees. I know I try it in every game where they do it, and I have some method of getting them down, at least as far as classic movie/stories. Like shooting the rope with an arrow or whatever.

I mean, once you cut them down... what would you do with them? Leave them to bake in the sun?
I mean they're ALREADY baking in the sun, but they are also bumping into my horse as I travel on the path, and are, theoretically, the loved ones of the various civilians that are sometimes placed WITHIN VISUAL RANGE OF THE BODIES. So you know, probably not the greatest of things, to see your sister or brother, hanging from a tree while animals peck at her eyes, every morning when you go down to the river to get water for cooking.....

Bury them? Drag them into a pile and cremate them? Drag them into a fashion as to spell the word "penis" like 99% of immature gamers would do? Then what does any of that add to the core gameplay outside of perhaps a "Sentimental" achievement/trophy?
What does any of the various aesthetic elements any game has, add to the core gameplay? GoT in particular is built around atmosphere, aesthetic. Loving the land, and it's beauty. So much so, there are MULTIPLE mechanics about just taking it all in, and writing poetry, or playing a flute to become one with the animals. So if the game feels it's worth a gamers time to sit down and compose poetry to get one of a billion headbands (I personally don't but whatever), I don't see why "showing respect for the dead, and burying them" is fundamentally more frivolous than that. Fuck there are 100's of banners, scrolls, and other flavor text things that do nothing but give you codex entires, or a single dude you can go spend a LOT of time sitting there, listening to him, tell stories of the various clans you find the banners for. So, I fail to see how this would be any more of a "waste of the player's time" than that.

Jin's entire ethos is that "Honor is Defending and Fighting for Those Who Can't Defend Themselves" that's literally his definition of Honor, when asked by his uncle. It's his driving motivation to do ANYTHING in the game, base and DLC. It comes up as his admonishment to others being selfish in a time of conflict on multiple occasions. It's all about establishing a tie between Jin and the people and places around him, and how he has set himself as their protector and champion. Hell, there is a cutscene where he helps someone bury one of the many bodies that the Mongols left all over to rot in the fields. So even HE thinks it's something he should be doing. At multiple points, when there is someone dead, they take time to have a burial, or mention it. Sometimes an actual cinematic where Jin speaks to one of the surviving people for the dead, others where it's just mentioned offhand.

I mean you don't have to do mechanics for every component. Just have a contextual button for when I get close enough, and then do a fade to black, and load in the "burial mound" assets instead of the "hanging corpses" one.

As to it having an achievement or not, I don't really care about that. There is no achievement for bowing to the dead, but I still do it on a regular basis when I feel it's appropriate, or I'm just feeling over empathetic that play session. I would personally just enjoy cleaning up that aspect of the warzone. And given how many games are built entirely around cleaning up things, making messy/fucked up things, clean/working again, to give someone the option to actually bury the various bodies, I think there is a significant number of players who would enjoy that, achievement or no.
 
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Xprimentyl

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I don't know, I know that one would. And that the people who made the game, were smart enough to consider a not insignificant number of people might decide to randomly bow to corpses if they added a bowing option, so maybe we should plan for that level of empathy and humanity in our playerbase. So I don't think it's that different of a slice of the playerbase that would also want to chop down people who are left hanging in trees. I know I try it in every game where they do it, and I have some method of getting them down, at least as far as classic movie/stories. Like shooting the rope with an arrow or whatever.


I mean they're ALREADY baking in the sun, but they are also bumping into my horse as I travel on the path, and are, theoretically, the loved ones of the various civilians that are sometimes placed WITHIN VISUAL RANGE OF THE BODIES. So you know, probably not the greatest of things, to see your sister or brother, hanging from a tree while animals peck at her eyes, every morning when you go down to the river to get water for cooking.....


What does any of the various aesthetic elements any game has, add to the core gameplay? GoT in particular is built around atmosphere, aesthetic. Loving the land, and it's beauty. So much so, there are MULTIPLE mechanics about just taking it all in, and writing poetry, or playing a flute to become one with the animals. So if the game feels it's worth a gamers time to sit down and compose poetry to get one of a billion headbands (I personally don't but whatever), I don't see why "showing respect for the dead, and burying them" is fundamentally more frivolous than that. Fuck there are 100's of banners, scrolls, and other flavor text things that do nothing but give you codex entires, or a single dude you can go spend a LOT of time sitting there, listening to him, tell stories of the various clans you find the banners for. So, I fail to see how this would be any more of a "waste of the player's time" than that.

Jin's entire ethos is that "Honor is Defending and Fighting for Those Who Can't Defend Themselves" that's literally his definition of Honor, when asked by his uncle. It's his driving motivation to do ANYTHING in the game, base and DLC. It comes up as his admonishment to others being selfish in a time of conflict on multiple occasions. It's all about establishing a tie between Jin and the people and places around him, and how he has set himself as their protector and champion. Hell, there is a cutscene where helps someone bury one of the many bodies that the Mongols left all over to rot in the fields. So even HE thinks it's something he should be doing. At multiple points, when there is someone dead, they take time to have a burial, or mention it. Sometimes an actual cinematic where Jin speaks to one of the surviving people for the dead, others where it's just mentioned offhand.

I mean you don't have to do mechanics for every component. Just have a contextual button for when I get close enough, and then do a fade to black, and load in the "burial mound" assets instead of the "hanging corpses" one.

As to it having an achievement or not, I don't really care about that. There is no achievement for bowing to the dead, but I still do it on a regular basis when I feel it's appropriate, or I'm just feeling over empathetic that play session. I would personally just enjoy cleaning up that aspect of the warzone. And given how many games are built entirely around cleaning up things, making messy/fucked up things, clean/working again, to give someone the option to actually bury the various bodies, I think there is a significant number of players who would enjoy that, achievement or no.
I guess I'm just over the whole "make something possible just because we can" thing. So many games nowadays are very shallow, adding effort to create "depth" in areas where it would have been better spent elsewhere. I say it all the time: INSIDE ruined it for me, a game that did so much to captivate me with so little as a isometric 2D side scroller, it made horse testicles in a AAA outing like Red Dead 2 feel patronizing.

I know there are myriad ways they could have implemented a mechanic such as you suggest, but unless the game is stunningly immersive overall (and I've not played it, so you tell me,) such a thing feels paltry. I forget; what game is it that had a scene where you "press X to pay respects" at a funeral or something? That sort of thing does nothing for me personally, role playing in a scripted narrative.
 
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happyninja42

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I guess I'm just over the whole "make something possible just because we can" thing. So many games nowadays are very shallow, adding effort to create "depth" in areas where it would have been better spent elsewhere. I say it all the time: INSIDE ruined it for me, a game that did so much to captivate me with so little as a isometric 2D side scroller, it made horse testicles in a AAA outing like Red Dead 2 feel patronizing.

I know there are myriad ways they could have implemented a mechanic such as you suggest, but unless the game is stunningly immersive overall (and I've not played it, so you tell me,) such a thing feels paltry. I forget; what game is it that had a scene where you "press X to pay respects" at a funeral or something? That sort of thing does nothing for me personally, role playing in a scripted narrative.
Like I said, GoT in particular, puts a LOT of effort, in the mood of the world you are in. Incredibly tiny details that are nothing but pretty things, that establish basically 2 things.

1. This place is very beautiful when the Mongols aren't fucking it up.
2. Jin is highly tied to the land, and motivated to protect it on every level.

There is a quest in the base game, where you find that the mongols have been killing foxes. Foxes are very sacred to the Japanese, so your quest is to get revenge for the messengers of the spirits. There is another mission lilke that, in the DLC, but it's deer. Another sacred animal, that is justification enough for Jin to go kill a camp of mongols, so they stop desecrating these sacred animals. You can spend time just...sitting down and looking at the world around you. Play a flute while you walk around. The DLC introduced a minigame where you play a flute to rededicate desicrated shrines to the various animals, and they literally walk up to you and you pet them as a result. It's ALL framed around a respect and love for nature, and for the people that live in the land. It's ALL the same to Jin. They are ALL worthy of respect, and protection. This is reinforced over and over with dialogue, game mechanics, atmosphere, and quests directly related to such things. You say you haven't played the game yet, so just, trust me on this, it's a heavy element to the overall aesthetic of the game. Which is why, I feel, in GoT at least, it's a glaring flaw in their design, to just...ignore that kind of thing, and not let me address it. Especially when it's brought up as a priority for Jin in other ways.

Now, if the game is like the older God of War titles, or other various edgey edgelord games, then no, I don't expect the ability to cut down corpses and pay respect to them. I expect they will probably be treated like clay pots in any Zelda game, and I'm expected to slice them open, like a macabre pinata, for loot. But GoT is not that kind of game, so it stands out to me. Particularly because they put so much effort in making me feel invested in the people, and the locations I visit.
 

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Like I said, GoT in particular, puts a LOT of effort, in the mood of the world you are in. Incredibly tiny details that are nothing but pretty things, that establish basically 2 things.

1. This place is very beautiful when the Mongols aren't fucking it up.
2. Jin is highly tied to the land, and motivated to protect it on every level.

There is a quest in the base game, where you find that the mongols have been killing foxes. Foxes are very sacred to the Japanese, so your quest is to get revenge for the messengers of the spirits. There is another mission lilke that, in the DLC, but it's deer. Another sacred animal, that is justification enough for Jin to go kill a camp of mongols, so they stop desecrating these sacred animals. You can spend time just...sitting down and looking at the world around you. Play a flute while you walk around. The DLC introduced a minigame where you play a flute to rededicate desicrated shrines to the various animals, and they literally walk up to you and you pet them as a result. It's ALL framed around a respect and love for nature, and for the people that live in the land. It's ALL the same to Jin. They are ALL worthy of respect, and protection. This is reinforced over and over with dialogue, game mechanics, atmosphere, and quests directly related to such things. You say you haven't played the game yet, so just, trust me on this, it's a heavy element to the overall aesthetic of the game. Which is why, I feel, in GoT at least, it's a glaring flaw in their design, to just...ignore that kind of thing, and not let me address it. Especially when it's brought up as a priority for Jin in other ways.

Now, if the game is like the older God of War titles, or other various edgey edgelord games, then no, I don't expect the ability to cut down corpses and pay respect to them. I expect they will probably be treated like clay pots in any Zelda game, and I'm expected to slice them open, like a macabre pinata, for loot. But GoT is not that kind of game, so it stands out to me. Particularly because they put so much effort in making me feel invested in the people, and the locations I visit.
Damn straight! 👍🏿
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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I guess I'm just over the whole "make something possible just because we can" thing. So many games nowadays are very shallow, adding effort to create "depth" in areas where it would have been better spent elsewhere. I say it all the time: INSIDE ruined it for me, a game that did so much to captivate me with so little as a isometric 2D side scroller, it made horse testicles in a AAA outing like Red Dead 2 feel patronizing.

I know there are myriad ways they could have implemented a mechanic such as you suggest, but unless the game is stunningly immersive overall (and I've not played it, so you tell me,) such a thing feels paltry. I forget; what game is it that had a scene where you "press X to pay respects" at a funeral or something? That sort of thing does nothing for me personally, role playing in a scripted narrative.
For reference, Rockstar not only added physics to coin bags, but to actual coins as well.
 

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Right near the start of Infamous you have a section where you are fighting some thugs on a bridge. It's very easy to knock the thugs off into the water... where they will lay writhing on its surface instead of sinking into it like it's actually water. It's a very strange detail to miss and surely wouldn't have been difficult to fix.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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Traitor confirmed? -

Or developer oversight?

We may never know.

Hmm hmm hmmm hmm hmmm hmm hmmm hmm hmm hmm indeed.
 

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I've been playing Days Gone recently and in the game you are tasked with burning zombie nests. The fact that zombies make nests in this game is freaking cute. Anyway, to do this, you need kerosine to craft petrol bombs which can be hard to find if the game decides it. However, to keep your motorbike running the game has respawning, seemingly bottomless petrol cans laying around the game world. My question being, in a pinch, why can't Deacon St John use some of this magical fuel to make petrol bombs?
 

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Onechanbara Origin has platforming section that lasts 2.5 seconds on the 6th stage. Why they even bothered is beyond me. You expect more, but thankfully, it never goes there. The collision can be a bit finicky too. Also, D3 and Tamsoft charging a budget game like this at $60 ($75 for the deluxe edition) are jackasses and will bite them in the butt. I got the Deluxe Edition on sale at $44.99, but the sale ended on the 7th of this week. The sale happened for the first time on this game, and it's been out for a year now. I don't know when it will happen again, but only buy this game on sale. The bonus features are crap and the DLC missions reuse too many assets. These bonus missions should have been in the game from the start and not DLC. This is by far, the worst case of DLC practice for the series.
 

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It bothers me in MGSV where Snake can run like the wind and even leap and climb pretty welll, but a knee-high incline of rocks is something he just can’t get past when there isn’t a climbing prompt. He just slides back down like it’s made of ice. Really Kojima? That’s something that could’ve easily been patch I’d think.
 
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Similarly, a waist high 2ft long tunnel wide enough to slide through if it were level with the floor should not be able to prevent a fearless adventurer from crawling through it.

Especially when they've already been on both sides of the tunnel.
 
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In Kingdom Hearts 2, when you go to Atlantica (The Little Mermaid), rather than continuing with the underwater combat mechanics of the first game, you're required to perform in several rhythm-game musical numbers, spread out throughout the main game's storyline.
Okay, fair enough. The Little Mermaid was the start of the Renaissance and music plays a big part in the movie's plot. Also KH1 Atlantica kinda sucked anyway, so it's good they went for something else.

If you pause in the middle of one of these rhythm game sections, you aren't given an option to just unpause when you want to continue again - your only options are 'Retry' or 'Quit'.
Why? Every other rhythm game with a pause function lets you unpause, either expecting you to miss a few notes or rewinding so you can pick up the rhythm again. Why do I have to start all the way over if I was forced to pause by situations beyond my control like a phone call?

By the time I finished the fifth and final song, I had to mute my TV because I couldn't take listening to that intro or any of the rest of it anymore. At least it's optional to the main story.
Also, Tony Anselmo (Donald Duck) can't sing, especially not in the Donald voice.
 
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Dalisclock

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Also, Tony Anselmo (Donald Duck) can't sing, especially not in the Donald voice.
To be fair, can we really expect anyone to sing with the Donald Voice and not sound terrible? I have no idea if it's been tried in cartoons but I'm trying to imagine it and can't come up with anything that doesn't sound horrid.
 
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So I recently "finished" Need For Speed: Heat. I put "finished" in quotation marks because, while I've finished the main story and the offroad challenges, and specced out a car (the Ford GT) almost to the 400 Performance Rating limit and can finish 1st in pretty much every race just through sheer straightaway speed, there's one type of racing I turned my back on- drift racing.

Now, I'm not a fan of drifting in racing games- I prefer sheer speed, clear straightaways- but I can do it. The problem is that "drift events" in this game are more like "controlled fishtailing events". It doesn't seem to be enough to take corners with clean turns (the courses aren't long enough for that); you have to practically wipe your car's ass across every millimeter of the course to get a score high enough to win. And I just can't keep control, or my patience, long enough to do it.

How do you racing-game enthusiasts put up with crap like this?
 

The Rogue Wolf

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So I'm kind of coming off of my Need for Speed: Heat kick, seeing as how I've won all the story races and there's nothing to do but buy and kit out cars (ask me about my 232 MPH, 1.8-second 0-60 '63 VW Beetle), but one of the cars has really gotten my ire- the Pagani Huayra. Aside from the fact that police chatter calls it a "Bugatti Supercar", the main problem it has is that it can't get out of second gear in automatic. Seriously! The engine will over-rev at second gear for upwards of a second before it shifts- and if you're stuck going uphill in that gear, it'll keep revving and not accelerating almost indefinitely unless you work some magic with the accelerator to force it. And this is the most expensive car in the game!
 

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The last third of the original Crysis game just bothers me entirely. It's not fun, and you're constantly fighting damage sponge enemies. It's such an annoyance, that I didn't even bother finishing the game. I stopped and went straight to Crysis 2.
 

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Enemies in games that are said to use echolocation and are excuses for stealth sections. Like, this thing can hear so well it can tell where things are by the reflections in soundwaves, but the protagonist is somehow clomping past them in loud boots and they don't notice. It's weird how frequently this is used in games. It should be nearly impossible to sneak past something like that, heck I can't even take a step without my cat instantly figuring out where I am.