Biggest immersion killers.

[Sixties Spidey]

Halo Wars. Just when you start getting very deep into the game, that fucking captain will speak... Ugh. Eh, still the best Console RTS out there though

 

[Pain_Inflictor]

Long loading times after a very hectic part in a game, especially in killzone 2. Massive battle!!!!!!!! loading!!!!!!!!!!...ugh.

 

[742]

yeah, i think bad voice acting is probably the worst one. i prefered the NPC interaction in morrowind to oblivion. i turned off the TV whenever people started talking in SOTN. no voice acting is better than bad voice acting.

 

[Cinder Block of Oppression]

In Skate 2, when the one dude kept going 'Dude, you suck. But the good news is, it's a video game.'

I hate it when games that are supposed to feel real break the fourth wall for no reason. Silly games, I can understand.

 

[Piotr621]

Bad voice acting, and playing 'guess what the game designer was thinking', where you can almost find no way to get past a puzzle, and then discover it was something really abstract like using a fish to open a door.

Yea that happened to me as well once. Those of you who played HL2 EPS2 will remember a scene in which you were presented with a "grenade" puzzle in order to get access to supplies. Did not work out that I had to use grenades 'till I saw the infinite grendae box.

 

[Zersy]

You know how it is. You find yourself playing a game, getting slowly sucked into it, when all of a sudden there is a door barring your way that won't open up no matter what you do, or a ruin that blocks your way in all directions, or all of a sudden not being able to jump over a small 1 foot high structure and BANG you're all of a sudden very aware that you are playing a video game. What would be your biggest immersion killer?

A HUD system

they always remind me that i'm playing a GAME !!

A game that's truly immersive makes the hud seem like part of your senses, man!

But for me, immersion breakers...bugs, invisible walls, clipping issues, and bullshit stuff like not being able to take all the stuff off the person you just ganked.

But isn't useally because your characters not that strong to carry all the stuff from the person you just killed ?

 

[Calax]

probably the "achievement unlocked" and "loading" screens when in the middle of an action. I mean if you were ending a game and all the achievements you got that level popped up I'd be happy, but when it pops up at the top of your screen it gets annoying. Loading in the middle of the a level is also annoying, but I'm willing to let it slide if it's SPECIFICALLY designed to be a loading position (like you're using rapid transit or just finished a certain scene... basically transition periods)

Another thing is when the characters just stand stock still when talking. I've never known a human to stand perfectly still when talking.

And finially when you're playing a game and all of a sudden a screen pops up telling you exactly how to do everything and you have to dig through text screen after text screen while playing the main game... that's what tutorial mode is for you nutters!

 

[Dommyboy]

Anything NPC related in STALKER Clear Sky. Also the random action music that plays in combat and sometimes doesn't stop. The only thing Clear Sky did right for immersion was make night time actually dark.

 

[TZer0]

Removed.

 

[Bertruam]

Escort missions. Nothing breaks the flow like playing the mission five times becuase that little bastard sits there and gets torn apart.

 

[Pennyy9]

Everything comes to mind, from repetitive conversations and character customization end editor in Oblivion, to achievement unlocked! The only game I have ever seen that does not do this either Shadow of the Colossus or ICO, made by the same people. That, and (I'm really gonna go to town on oblivion here) I can steal something behind a closed door, but they still know I took it. I look like a freaky, suspicious lizard, okay, but cut me some slack in the fact that the store-keeper has laser-vision. Invisible walls are the bane of my existence. Give me a game that plays overworld-style like Assassins Creed, but is in all other aspects Star ocean. I think my 15 lb sledgehammer can break open that lock, kinda like it can In real life, and I don't wanna have to hunt down a deathclaw hiding out in Canada to find the key just because developers need it to be that way. I simply say: Realism is for reality.

 

[mangus]

online guides.

 

[Log Lady]

Things that require targeting. In Half-Life I can't count how many times I'd gravity gun up a bit of debris instead of an exploding barrel. Also, it always gave me an "Oh, right, the HUD" moment when I realized I needed my little target cursor right over the particular bit of wood I was trying to smash with my crowbar.

When a camera gets knocked around or stuck on the scenery.

 

[freebiewitz]

Immersion killer for me would be the stupid bots, Im running to save the world against highly trained terrorist, I spot a few and I throw a grenade..... only to have the highly trained terrorists to turn around start shooting and ignore the grenade completly.....

 

[antipunt]

Stupid stupid stupid puzzles. Find this lever half in this impossibly dark location, and then find this other impossible to find level half that's completely in the other direction. And btw, no minimap or fast travel yay!

*delete game*

 

[Elurindel]

You know how it is. You find yourself playing a game, getting slowly sucked into it, when all of a sudden there is a door barring your way that won't open up no matter what you do, or a ruin that blocks your way in all directions, or all of a sudden not being able to jump over a small 1 foot high structure and BANG you're all of a sudden very aware that you are playing a video game. What would be your biggest immersion killer?

A HUD system

they always remind me that i'm playing a GAME !!

A game that's truly immersive makes the hud seem like part of your senses, man!

But for me, immersion breakers...bugs, invisible walls, clipping issues, and bullshit stuff like not being able to take all the stuff off the person you just ganked.

But isn't useally because your characters not that strong to carry all the stuff from the person you just killed ?

Depends on the game. It could just be that they decided that the weapon isn't dropped when killed, as they decided to make it a bot-only, unlimited ammo thing. Case in point: Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines. People rarely, if ever dropped crossbows, and Bach didn't drop his awesomesauce sniper rifle.

 

[the_casual]

gears of war, the suns gone down and i've just realised that if i step out into darkness, the krill will truly fuck me up. unfortunately, i also realise dom isn't such a fast learner, as i watch him mindlessly running into dark areas getting mauled time after time. the useless gimp.

resident evil 4, el ganados are advancing on me, pitchforks at the ready. i'm blasting away with my shotgun at the ugly yokels, suddenly i hear that dreaded click. out of shells. panic sets in, before i remember i can handily pause time and look in my attache case of my handgun. really kills the mood for me, especially if i've just got one grenade to lob.

 

[Skalman]

Not hearing what characters in-game are saying because of ambient sound, music or environmental noise.
Crap plot.
Crap voice acting.
Crap story.
Cheesy music.
Cheesy lines.
Cheesy moments.
A moment which abandons all form of logic for the sake of furthering an already logic-lacking plot.
Necessity of subtitles because it's hard to hear/interpret the spoken dialogue.

BTW, does anyone even read all this?

You just described my issues with Mirror's Edge, and yes, I read all of it.

Okay, so I too was a little disappointed in Mirror's Edge, but the voice actors weren't bad, nor was the lines spoken. I don't remember having trouble hearing dialogue, but I might've just forgotten. The music however, was spectacular.