Bad Game Elements

[FunkEngine12]

I'm sure everyone out there has things that they hate to see in games. Things that have become really popular, even when they are poorly implemented or just plain annoying. Here's where you can complain about those as much as you like.

For me, I think my most hated element is the whole "Blood-Splatter-on-Screen = Death" thing. I know it's petty, but it really gets under my skin. For one, it's annoying and clutters up the screen. For another, even though it's most popular with "Realistic Shooters", it's really not any more realistic than those Health Meter things you all decided were outdated.

 

[subject_87]

I have to agree, definitive health meters are way better IMO. Escort missions and quick-time events, to name two, are some of the game elements I would be happy to throw into a furnace forever.

Also, this is more of a pet peeve than a real issue, but I find it odd that Powered-Armor Space Marines can take several rounds to the torso with no problem, but one knife stab is an instant kill. Explain that.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

[HEADING=2]"Save Anywhere."[/HEADING]

It really does remove a lot of risk from games. I should know, I abuse it myself. And you know that you have, too!

Don't like how a situation went in Mass Effect? Reload and try it another way. Fail at pick-pocketing a person in Fallout 3? Reload right behind them and try again until you succeed. Fuck up a fight in some PC shooter? Quicksave/quickload! There's something wrong with that.

Autosaving at certain points, checkpoints, and save points are fine with me though. Even the non-PC version of quicksaving from a lot of PS1/DS RPGs is good. Where you can save, but when your reload the "quicksave", it is deleted immediately. You still have the "main" save. This just lets you resume where you left off.

Okay...maybe "save points" can go, if implemented poorly. But "save anywhere" can go and fuck off.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I have to say it's save points. I hated it in GTA IV. I can't just quickly put down GTA IV. I have to drive my happy ass halfway across the fucking city to get to a house before I can save and exit.

Even though the game autosaved when you finished a mission, finished "hanging out", went on a date, or most other things that you'd normally wish to save after?

 

[jamradar]

I dont know if this counts but. Games where the enemy npc's have perfect aim with weapons and can get a perfect headshot with a pistol from 500 miles away, and when the enemy has perfect grenade tosses 100% of the time.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I dont know if this counts but. Games where the enemy npc's have perfect aim with weapons and can get a perfect headshot with a pistol from 500 miles away, and when the enemy has perfect grenade tosses 100% of the time.

Far Cry flashbacks...ARGH!

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I have to say it's save points. I hated it in GTA IV. I can't just quickly put down GTA IV. I have to drive my happy ass halfway across the fucking city to get to a house before I can save and exit.

Even though the game autosaved when you finished a mission, finished "hanging out", went on a date, or most other things that you'd normally wish to save after?

They never loaded for me. I had to make a hard save or I'd lose progress.

Than in that case, yes. Yes, it does suck.

 

[mirror's edgy]

Any sewer level lasting over 15 minutes
Bad 3rd person action game camera control
Very unclear mission/ level/ story objectives that leave you wandering back and forth
Crowbared in use of DS touchpad or sixaxis
Music that is annoying or totally uninteresting
Current gen graphics complaint: is your level too bright or too brown? Too bad

 

[Yggdraz0r]

I dont know if this counts but. Games where the enemy npc's have perfect aim with weapons and can get a perfect headshot with a pistol from 500 miles away, and when the enemy has perfect grenade tosses 100% of the time.

This, aswell as some other things that have been stated.

Altough on one hand I think Saving often is ,atleat for me, necessary. Mostly because I have a weird hatred towards repetition. But on the other hand I can also clearly relate why being able to save everywhere is a nuissance, and breaks immersion. In some games it just fits, and adds to the atmosphere, or adds some kind of pressure. Most notably in a game like Resident Evil or a Singularity where your only saves are autosaves. And you don't even know when they will come!

Lord Nue: Could you give an example? Like Borderlands? I can't recall a game losing gameplay points for having a weird art-department.

Edit: And in the regard of GTA IV, having no checkpoints in a multi-staged mission, really pisses me off. Especially as the mission gets harder the longer it goes on mos of the time.. so yeah, mix my repetition clause in there and I'm still surprised my xbox360 controller is still alive.

 

[vallorn]

I dont know if this counts but. Games where the enemy npc's have perfect aim with weapons and can get a perfect headshot with a pistol from 500 miles away, and when the enemy has perfect grenade tosses 100% of the time.

Far Cry flashbacks...ARGH!

i thought we all agreed that was due to his hideous shirt acting as a beacon to bullets and grenades.

 

[BRex21]

Things like the level up photo in Dead Rising or Bioshock those are really freaking annoying. I hate those minigame hack systems that seem to be getting stuck in everything these days, like mass effect or Bioshock again.

 

[oreopizza47]

Don't know if it's been said, but Escort Missions are the bane of my existence. I hate fake difficulty of all forms, but Escorting takes the cake. It's the reason why I haven't finished my game of RE4; don't want to deal with Ashley.

 

[Janus Vesta]

Quick time events. Everyone hates them, which is probably why they're dying down.

Removing control from the player for any reason. I hate when an enemy hits me and my character just stands there for 3 seconds while I can't control him, seeing his health bar drain as enemies hit him. Or in CoD3 when control is wrenched away from you to show you how the story is unfolding. Yes, I see my allies talking over there, there's no need to grab my head and force me to look at them.

 

[mirror's edgy]

One more- first person swimming. Has it EVER been executed well??

 

[Atmos Duality]

Quick Time Events.

If you want to take all sense of immersion, difficulty, and accomplishment out of a game, use QTEs.
They are a cheap cop-out gameplay mechanic designed for showboating.
It doesn't matter how often or sparsely you use them, they cheapen the experience.

 

[spartan1077]

The blood on the screen and a cover system. When a game is trying a little to be realistic, cover ruins the game for me. It takes me completely out of it to see my character staring at me while I see everyone everywhere.

 

[Singularly Datarific]

Boron. It just doesn't make good games, that and Caesium.
On Topic:
I'm kinda sick of cover based system: waiting for the enemy to cycle his shooting and not shooting patterns, popping up, shooting them, coming back down, and reloading your gun, wash rinse repeat, etc.
It just makes everything slower paced and not quite as much fun in some cases.

 

[Mr. Omega]

I WOULD say escort missions, but Enslaved proved that it can be done ok, and Dead Rising 2 made them able to at least be something resembling competent.

QTEs. People say God of War did it well, but you know what? IT SUCKED IN GoW AS WELL! It just didn't hurt the game. It was the worst part of a great game.

Checkpoints that are FAR to lenient. Case in point: Bioshock. A little bit of room for error is fine and all, but when you remove ALL the risk, it just takes away something.

Cover-based combat. It was fine at first, but now EVERY SINGLE SHOOTER IS USING IT. EVERY! SINGLE! SHOOTER!

Regenerating health when it makes no sense. Halo was fine, the health didn't regenerate, just the sheilds. But I want to know the game where it started to move sheilds out of the equation and just make it so health itself regenerated.

I can think of more, but I'm busy at the moment.

 

[Halo Fanboy]

[HEADING=2]"Save Anywhere."[/HEADING]

So true. Save anywhere has even retroactively sabatoged good old games. Its like credit feeding in a run and gun, it takes all the fun out of it.

 

[Yggdraz0r]

I dont know if this counts but. Games where the enemy npc's have perfect aim with weapons and can get a perfect headshot with a pistol from 500 miles away, and when the enemy has perfect grenade tosses 100% of the time.

This, aswell as some other things that have been stated.

Altough on one hand I think Saving often is ,atleat for me, necessary. Mostly because I have a weird hatred towards repetition. But on the other hand I can also clearly relate why being able to save everywhere is a nuissance, and breaks immersion. In some games it just fits, and adds to the atmosphere, or adds some kind of pressure. Most notably in a game like Resident Evil or a Singularity where your only saves are autosaves. And you don't even know when they will come!

Lord Nue: Could you give an example? Like Borderlands? I can't recall a game losing gameplay points for having a weird art-department.

Edit: And in the regard of GTA IV, having no checkpoints in a multi-staged mission, really pisses me off. Especially as the mission gets harder the longer it goes on mos of the time.. so yeah, mix my repetition clause in there and I'm still surprised my xbox360 controller is still alive.

Well I'm thinking more indie games or even shadow of the colossus "My game is art therefore it doesn't have to have good gameplay or anything" line of thinking where because their game is art, or has some sort of 'meaning' to it, they don't have to put effort into making the controls not suck or make the game fun to play.

Well In regard of Shadow of the Colossus, I remember reading an article that the designer of SotC said he was actually happy that people thought his game was Art.
I can not recall any game that has been designed with the intention of being art.

Health Regen in Just Cause 2 is rather lenient aswell. Altough if you were to die rediculously fast everytime there, it would certainly take part of the fun.