Cheapest Thing in a game.

[Acier]

This can apply to nearly anything (story, gameplay, graphics) that can be considered cheap in a game.
Mine relates to Mass Effect (btw one of my most beloved games.)

Spoiler

God, just the whole storyline in general felt a bit contrived, but very well executed. But dear GOD the "twist"? I feel embarrassed to call it that. The whole conduit business just made me rage. When I first heard the uber sekrit recording and they were talking about it, I just naturally assumed it was a conduit. But no, everyone was like "OMG GIANT SUPA WEAPON" and it went on for the whole of the game and I eventually bought in. And lo and behold when you reach the conduit,
It's
a
fucking
conduit
I didn't feel clever for coming up with it I felt ashamed I had bought into the plot like than and cheated that I didn't get a real plot twist (And no, the whole ship-being sentient thing doesn't count, saw that from a mile away) Like honestly, the thing that bugs me, is since it's an extinct race with an unknown language, they could have picked any word and it would have sounded credible. But no,just give it away in the beginning and make us think there's something more.
/rant

So what levels, plot points, or executions in games felt "cheap" to you? Let us bound in our rage.

 

[Master Kuja]

Any boss that has an insta-own one hit kill move that it unleashes just when you're about to snatch the win after a long, hard battle.

On a related note, any boss that you can't actually kill, due to it being a scripted event that they kick your arse after you deal enough damage to their health, only, you've used up all your healing items because you were unaware of this fact.
See: Beatrix from Final Fantasy 9.

 

[Sassafrass]

I'm going to say Yunalesca from Final Fantasy X.

WHY MUST YOU ZOMBIFY MY PARTY THEN, AFTER I REMOVE THAT STATUS BEFORE YOU CURE THEM TO DEATH, CAST MEGA DEATH THEREFORE KILLING THEM ALL???
/rage

And as Cuthburton said, the noob tube complainers.
There are ways around it. Like shooting them before they shoot you.

 

[iggyus]

Any boss that has an insta-own one hit kill move that it unleashes just when you're about to snatch the win after a long, hard battle.

On a related note, any boss that you can't actually kill, due to it being a scripted event that they kick your arse after you deal enough damage to their health, only, you've used up all your healing items because you were unaware of this fact.
See: Beatrix from Final Fantasy 9.

Pretty much this. Jinpachi in Tekken 5 was a mofo like that, one hit and half your health was gone. Winning that battle was pure luck.

 

[Kuchinawa212]

I don't know maybe save your girlfriend plot.
Or the "it was all a dream" ending. But I haven't seen that in a while

 

[NeutralDrow]

Well, you could buy a small club in Might and Magic 2 for one gold piece...

 

[Acier]

Well, you could buy a small club in Might and Magic 2 for one gold piece...

That's beyond cheap my friend


THATS A BARGAIN

 

[NeutralDrow]

Well, you could buy a small club in Might and Magic 2 for one gold piece...

That's beyond cheap my friend


THATS A BARGAIN

Not especially. Most characters start with better weapons than that, and you can't even sell them back for money (you can sell them, you'll just get a whopping 0 gold for it).

Really, it is beyond cheap: it's worthless.

 

[Acier]

Well, you could buy a small club in Might and Magic 2 for one gold piece...

That's beyond cheap my friend


THATS A BARGAIN

Not especially. Most characters start with better weapons than that, and you can't even sell them back for money (you can sell them, you'll just get a whopping 0 gold for it).

Really, it is beyond cheap: it's worthless.

When I read club I thought of this

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Night_club_in_Kharkov.JPG


although by the looks of it still kinda looks like a rip off either way.

Oh my, now I'm embarrassed on the internet.

 

[CD repo man]

The (i know everyone's been complaining about it, but what's one more?) finale of Borderlands. "YAY...wait...what?" That was my understanding of the ending without spoilers.

 

[Da_Schwartz]

Super Mario Kart, and Mario party. How the game pretty much takes over and decides weither you win or lose on the final lap or last dice rolls. That whole level playing field is bull that nintendo does all the time. Best items go to the last place player. Leaders get shafted over..and over ..and over again. This goes for alot of nin games. Tendo needs to stop catering and showing us how to play a level or making sure everyone gets a fair shot at winning and just let us play the damn games.

 

[Gladion]

You know this question begs me to say that your closest female relative is the answer.

Now, to be serious, I'd say it's that bullshit when you have to beat a certain boss fight that takes you about a gazillion tries to manage and then your character dies anyways in a cutscene. Same goes for protecting somebody.

 

[delet]

Any boss that has an insta-own one hit kill move that it unleashes just when you're about to snatch the win after a long, hard battle.

On a related note, any boss that you can't actually kill, due to it being a scripted event that they kick your arse after you deal enough damage to their health, only, you've used up all your healing items because you were unaware of this fact.
See: Beatrix from Final Fantasy 9.

Yes, though I know Lost Odyssey did a bit of a better job of the unbeatable-boss thing, and made a boss that you could do literally no noticeable amount of damage to. No matter how hard you tried, he would eventually kill your entire party. You actually loose when you're supposed to loose. I think that's awesome...

OT: Cheap, cheap, cheap... hmm, lets see...

I'm going to have to go with Gabriel Celeste in Star Ocean: Till the end of Time (the third game.) I never could kill that bastard, and he was the sole and only boss keeping me from reaching the final bonus dungeon. Because I couldn't reach the stronger enemies, I couldn't level up enough to beat him, and he had way too many attacks that covered the entire arena. That tiny, tiny arena...

I got him back, though. Come time I got the fourth game, I kicked his ass to kingdom come, went through and beat the final bonus dungeon, and killed the ultimate boss there. Ahh... Then I knew disappointment at attaining so easily what should have been (in my eyes) a horrifically challenging ordeal... blah, maybe there'll be a fifth game some how that'll give me the challenge I want, and yet give me a chance to beat the unbeatable boss without power leveling and making UBER BOOTS.

 

[Dr. Love]

Super Mario Kart, and Mario party. How the game pretty much takes over and decides weither you win or lose on the final lap or last dice rolls. That whole level playing field is bull that nintendo does all the time. Best items go to the last place player. Leaders get shafted over..and over ..and over again. This goes for alot of nin games. Tendo needs to stop catering and showing us how to play a level or making sure everyone gets a fair shot at winning and just let us play the damn games.

And I thought I was the only one who got 5 blue shells in a row whenever i'd get first in mario kart. Or if there are no blue shells, you get hit by one red shell no matter how far ahead you are of your opponents they catch up and you wind up 6th

 

[Chrono180]

I think penny arcade nailed it when they were talking about Mario Party:
"You landed on the most blue spaces? STAR! You have a favorite color? STAR! You have the least number of stars? STAR!"

 

[Nmil-ek]

Tekken 6 the combat is as awsome as ever, graphics are pretty decent hardly the benchmarks they usualy are but the fucking scenario mode ARGHGHLGHLGHG. Who the hell decided we wanted a beat em' up a bad one at that and its so bloody cheap even on easy not much you can do with four bloody opponents smashing on you at once, and I'm not even going into Azazel cheapest boss ever.

 

[Slayer_2]

The infinitely re-spawning enemies in WaW. CoD4 had a decent system, but WaW drove me insane, especially on the later levels.