Your "What were they thinking." Moment while you were playing a game.

[Casual Shinji]

I think I have yall beat.

The MJ and Miles sequences in Spider-man. What the FUCK were they thinking???

I can understand making us play as them, especially Miles during his dad's death, but these inane instant fail stealth sections? Especially when the game already has stealth sections? Insanity. Doesn't help that MJ can go fuck herself on a rusty spade.

This is a staple of old school 3D platforming that Insomniac still seems to hold on to. The 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' technique that you can find in Spyro, Jak and Daxter, and Ratchet and Clank. Was Sonic the first franchise to pull this?

 

[Dalisclock]

This is a staple of old school 3D platforming that Insomniac still seems to hold on to. The 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' technique that you can find in Spyro, Jak and Daxter, and Ratchet and Clank. Was Sonic the first franchise to pull this?

I think instant fail stealth sections have been around fucking forever...and they've pretty much never been done well. It's especially terrible in games not designed around stealth and even worse when it's a game were you've been merrily cutting mooks down left and right but...oh man, that one mook with a pistol got the drop on you and now GAME OVER.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Spider-Man can do this, and does do this, but I have no idea why they felt the need to force you to play as some powerless shmuck, and have you crouch behind boxes, multiple times.
This isn't what people play Spider-Man for, and the devs need to have a little more faith in their gameplay loops. This is exactly the

That's really what makes it so bad. The game has amazing (heh) gameplay as Spider-man, so why the hell did they think this was needed? They don't even really work as game length extenders, because they're fairly short. The one time I thought it was done well was when you were playing as MJ and working with Spidey, because it gave you the unique perspective of seeing what you look like as Spider-man from the ground, kicking ass all over the place. I don't know yet if there will be another section like this, but all of the non-Spidey sections should have been like it.

This is a staple of old school 3D platforming that Insomniac still seems to hold on to. The 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' technique that you can find in Spyro, Jak and Daxter, and Ratchet and Clank. Was Sonic the first franchise to pull this?

I wasn't gaming yet when those games were popular, so it's not really familiar to me. But if their intention was to make me appreciate the regular gameplay more, they failed terribly. I was only ever pissed during these sections.

 

[MrCalavera]

Fallout 4: why can't we all just get along? All you assholes needed to do was talk to each other like at least once. On MDMA if possible.

They tried. But all they could say was "Yes", "Yes(but sarcastic)", "No" and "Bye".

 

[Phoenixmgs]

Drake and Sully's meeting in the flashback sequence of Uncharted 3. I know it's meant as a 'look how much of a dad Sully really always has been to Drake' and as sort of an apology by Naughty Dog for how little Sully was featured in Uncharted 2, but it puts Sully in an extremely sinister light. He takes a 14 year old impressionable youth, who is already down on his luck and prone to criminal behaviour, and instead of maybe getting his own life in order to do best by this kid, or at least try to take him somewhere where he's well taking care of, he just nurtures him to become an actual criminal with blood on his hands. Yeah, wow, what a wholesome relationship these two have, right?

Instead of just leaving their relationship as it was - two dudes who work in a similar field and got along well enough to actually form a friendship - Amy Henning had to make more of it than it ever was, creating a rather disturbing undercurrent as a result. It also flies in the face of the first game, where Sully gets presumably killed early on and Drake just merrily continues on with his adventure like it's no big deal, and then becomes suspicious of Sully's allegiance when he finds him alive again latter on.

It makes no sense. Neither do the dumbass spiders, by the way. Another 'what were they thinking' moment in Uncharted 3.

Hell, you can label pretty much any plot-point from UC3 as "what were they thinking". Also, add to the fact that apparently their relationship is so close that Drake has the power to pull Sully along on any adventure when in UC2, he bowed out mid-game because he was too old. Don't even get me started on the pirate ship shenanigans that make no sense. Also, the game tried to have a serious theme for a light-hearted adventure romp and failed horribly.

Even the multiplayer was totally FUBARed by Naughty Dog by listening to all the fan feedback during the summer beta, which was as good as an online Uncharted game could get. When the game released they changed so much of the multiplayer and it was just a shitshow of people running around each other blindfiring.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Hell, you can label pretty much any plot-point from UC3 as "what were they thinking". Also, add to the fact that apparently their relationship is so close that Drake has the power to pull Sully along on any adventure when in UC2, he bowed out mid-game because he was too old. Don't even get me started on the pirate ship shenanigans that make no sense. Also, the game tried to have a serious theme for a light-hearted adventure romp and failed horribly.

Don't forget the bad guys who want the power to cause fear eventhough they.. already... have that. It's never even explained what they plan to do with that brass casing they fish out of the water in the lost city. Are they gonna try to crack it open? And how would that spell danger for the Earth? Are they gonna put it in water supply of some major city? What?

Uncharted 1 very early on makes it clear what actual treasure it is that the heroes are after (El Dorado: The Golden Man), and later on what consequences it's going to have (high likelihood of zombie dandruff sweeping across the world). In Uncharted 2 the whatever stone gets mentioned within the first hour, becomes the thing everyone chases after, and then gets its true purpose revealed as we head for the climactic finale (immortality and what this means for a warmongering lunatic like Lazaravic). In Uncharted 3 the treasure doesn't get dropped till we're way past the halfway point, and its threat is incredibly vague. It's evil cuz there's a djinn in it, which we don't even get see any sign of, and it poisons the water with fear-inducing qualities; a thing the bad guys already have access to.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Drake and Sully's meeting in the flashback sequence of Uncharted 3. I know it's meant as a 'look how much of a dad Sully really always has been to Drake' and as sort of an apology by Naughty Dog for how little Sully was featured in Uncharted 2, but it puts Sully in an extremely sinister light. He takes a 14 year old impressionable youth, who is already down on his luck and prone to criminal behaviour, and instead of maybe getting his own life in order to do best by this kid, or at least try to take him somewhere where he's well taking care of, he just nurtures him to become an actual criminal with blood on his hands. Yeah, wow, what a wholesome relationship these two have, right?

Instead of just leaving their relationship as it was - two dudes who work in a similar field and got along well enough to actually form a friendship - Amy Henning had to make more of it than it ever was, creating a rather disturbing undercurrent as a result. It also flies in the face of the first game, where Sully gets presumably killed early on and Drake just merrily continues on with his adventure like it's no big deal, and then becomes suspicious of Sully's allegiance when he finds him alive again latter on.

It makes no sense. Neither do the dumbass spiders, by the way. Another 'what were they thinking' moment in Uncharted 3.

I'll raise you Uncharted 4's "By the way he has a brother now, and also a completely different backstory".

 

[Dalisclock]

I'll raise you Uncharted 4's "By the way he has a brother now, and also a completely different backstory".

Also his brothers escape story was easily falsified....by literally typing the drug lords name into google.

"So Sam, you know that Drug lord that allegedly helped you bust out of prison and then threatened to kill you if you didn't go find this treasure(and you conveniently shared a cell with for reasons)? Well, he's been dead for 6 months. It took me a 10 second google search to find a dozen reputable news stories about this"

Drakes Brother was a clear retcon, for sure. I gave it a pass because I felt it worked overall, to give Drake a very good reason to give into his urge to go adventuring again instead of just "I know I promised my wife I'd settle down and be domestic but I've still got wanderlust and screw her anyway".

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'll raise you Uncharted 4's "By the way he has a brother now, and also a completely different backstory".

Ugh yeah, that turns into a larger and larger pine cone for me to swallow on each subsequent playthrough of that game. I can sorta give it a pass, because I know the story was handed over to a different creative team while in production, and Druckmann and Straley obviously wanted to take it into their own creative direction but were still tied down to certain elements, like Sam Drake being a thing. The Sam Drake issue I feel could've been fixed if they first of all didn't make them blood brothers - a thing that puts a lot more importance on their relationship and should've made the impact of Sam's death way more traumatizing - and secondly if they'd had Sam die at the end of the mansion flasback. Maybe (presumably) killed by the cops. Something that would've then still had an impact on Drake, but where he'd still be young enough to have come to terms with it to an extent that it doesn't clash with his persona in the previous three games.

Honestly though, the reveal of Drake's mother pisses me off WAY more. The whole 'your mother was the most brilliant achealogist, it's in your blood' shit makes me want to spittle everytime I think about it. The one thing Uncharted 3 deserves credit for - revealing Drake to just be some nobody orphan who measured himself some false legacy of a cocky treasure hunter in order to feel like he's important and has worth - and Uncharted 4 just urinates this legitimate legacy BS all over it. Blegh!

 

[BrawlMan]

I'll raise you Uncharted 4's "By the way he has a brother now, and also a completely different backstory".

@Dalisclock & @Casual Shinji. It's why I consider Uncharted 4 story bad fanfiction. I just know after completing the campaign, I never felt the need to go through it again. As far as I'm concerned there are only three Uncharted games.

 

[FakeSympathy]

In pokemon games, the insistence on the forced tutorials of how to battle and catch wild pokemons

Like, the genre has been know for almost three decades now. Don't you think people would've figured this out, especially with equally popular anime?

They might argue "but it's for younger generations of kids to get into the series!" And I would argue Battling and catching pokemon is something so basic, almost anyone can pick it up from the get go

 

[Bedinsis]

In pokemon games, the insistence on the forced tutorials of how to battle and catch wild pokemons

Like, the genre has been know for almost three decades now. Don't you think people would've figured this out, especially with equally popular anime?

They might argue "but it's for younger generations of kids to get into the series!" And I would argue Battling and catching pokemon is something so basic, almost anyone can pick it up from the get go

Do they remain forced?

I disagree on the general point of calling it basic enough not to warrant a tutorial, but forcing the player to go through the tutorial is something they can let go of.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Any game that messes with your weapon load out without asking for player permission. RDR2 is a big offender of doing this for some missions (even mid-mission ffs) and it should’ve been fixed in the first patch.

Still there however, even long after they’ve probably stopped patching story mode.

I can understand if you go into a mission without a weapon and it auto-equips something mission-specific, or notifies the player that a certain weapon is required for them to equip themselves, but sometimes I’d be riding with a repeater in-hand and the game would say “Nope” when I get off my horse after a small cutscene plays. Other times like during a mission challenge that required only using sidearms or handguns defending Shady Belle the game would switch to a scripted rifle after a cutscene.

Um, no. Of all the various flaws in the game, this kinda bs bothered me most, as it detrimentally affected how I played the game.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

Any game that messes with your weapon load out without asking for player permission. RDR2 is a big offender of doing this for some missions (even mid-mission ffs) and it should’ve been fixed in the first patch.

Ha, Max Payne 3 has Max putting down the weapon you're using in a cutscene, then pulling out a standard pistol, and you lose that weapon...

 

[Dalisclock]

Ha, Max Payne 3 has Max putting down the weapon you're using in a cutscene, then pulling out a standard pistol, and you lose that weapon...

You see, Max's raging alcoholism and suicidal self loathing requires him to discard any good weapons he has to use a pistol so then he can be even more depressed and self loathing about the sheer enormity of his difficulties because any attempt to better his situation or have any degree of progression or satisfaction would be futile.

At least that's what I took away from MP3.

As you can guess, I did not particularly enjoy Max Payne 3 and by god, I wanted to. I was quite fond of the first two and did go into MP3 with an open mind. I was just disappointed by where they went with it.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

• Parasite Eve: 3rd Birthday........Fuck you, Square for killing off a beloved character and franchise in the worst insulting manner possible!

You know, I've never played the other 2 Parasite Eve games. Didn't even know what they were before playing this one. So maybe that's why I like it a decent bit. Replayed it multiple times, even. But then I did some digging and see people who played the other games and almost always come out disliking The 3rd Birthday. Guess it's one of those things were you have a much better chance at liking it without playing the previous titles?

 

[Trunkage]

Fallout 4: why can't we all just get along? All you assholes needed to do was talk to each other like at least once. On MDMA if possible.

That’s the exact problem I had with New Vegas. You have a big robot you could force them to sit down and talk... but it got none of that. Imagine, as an epilogue, you stand between the a legion, nor and House, minor players along with the like the Great Khans, and nutting out a peace treaty like in Skyrim. It would actually feel like you had an impact on the Mojave

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Any game that messes with your weapon load out without asking for player permission. RDR2 is a big offender of doing this for some missions (even mid-mission ffs) and it should’ve been fixed in the first patch.

Still there however, even long after they’ve probably stopped patching story mode.

I can understand if you go into a mission without a weapon and it auto-equips something mission-specific, or notifies the player that a certain weapon is required for them to equip themselves, but sometimes I’d be riding with a repeater in-hand and the game would say “Nope” when I get off my horse after a small cutscene plays. Other times like during a mission challenge that required only using sidearms or handguns defending Shady Belle the game would switch to a scripted rifle after a cutscene.

Um, no. Of all the various flaws in the game, this kinda bs bothered me most, as it detrimentally affected how I played the game.

The worst is when a game unequips your gear during a mission and then when you get your gear back it doesn't all get automatically reequiped and you have to go through your inventory looking for all the stuff you were wearing and holding.

Cyberpunk kept pulling this shit and it was annoying.

 

[Chupathingy]

In the first four Spyro games you press square to charge and circle for flame breath. In A Hero's Tail the developers made circle flame breath and square charge.

Why

 

[NerfedFalcon]

So, so, so many times during Resident Evil 6, almost more than times when I wasn't thinking that. But if I have to pick just one example, the snowmobile section in Jake 2. Requiring a lot more precision than the snowmobile controls allow for, and going the wrong way (except when it isn't) or slowing down at all (except when you have to) leads to an instant death and restart the entire thing. Oh, and if your co-op partner messes up, you have to restart the entire thing. I don't know if the AI can mess it up, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they can.

That's far from the only example, but it was one of the worst-executed parts of the game, and definitely the most out of place. Even the motorcycle and Harrier sections felt less jarring, if only because RE5's turret section set a precedent for vehicle sections with lots of shooting. A vehicle section with no shooting, instant death around every corner, and really, really imprecise controls was just the absolute worst thing in the game.

Honorable mention: The Agent.