Gaming pet peeves.

[Evonisia]

Characters reminding you hurry up, or constantly giving the same one or two hints like clockwork. It's annoying enough not being able to crack the code or find your poorly placed door switch or what have you, I don't need to be reminded of it every few seconds. The Batman: Arkham games love doing this, which is absurd because it's Batman thinking to himself.

 

[happyninja42]

The afore mentioned Ludonarrative dissonance, but my major issue is fucking gathering/easter egg hunting content. Now I use the term "easter egg" slightly different from the usual gaming vernacular. When I say easter egging, I'm talking about the tendency in games, for the developers to hide a bunch of pointless, brightly colored shit, that is ultimately pointless to the story in any way, but hey, there's an achievement to find all of them, so go crawl all over every inch of our 3D rendered world.

This is like padding the run time in a movie. It's just there to make you clock more time playing the game. Honestly, it might be considered Ludonarrative dissonance in nature, but it's a very specific form of it that really pisses me off.

 

[Diablo2000]

The Sonar

You press a button so use a sonar to the things you can interact\use\loot.
You know what's good? You press and it highlights everything in the room\overworld you can interact, that what's the old way doing thing and was easy, it was good.
You know what's annoying? Having to mash the V, Ctrl or whatever you bind the key to, in order to see a very limited area, bonus points if has an annoying noise.

I hated when The Witcher did it, I somewhat understood there, the game had some focus on investigating things so a "See Everything" button would make somethings too easy. But I came to loathe it when Dragon Age did it, it was unnecessary and both the noise of the Sonar and the "Sonar Here *****" were annoying as fuck. I hope they ditch when Dragon Age 4 rolls, and I sure as fuck don't want the fucking thing in Mass Effect Andromeda.

 

[ffs-dontcare]

One thing that annoys me is when the final mission in a campaign has a time limit. It makes everything feel like a shitty anti-climax. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, I'm looking in your direction.

Another big thing that pisses me off is when I can look around but I can't explore because I'm on rails and I'm not allowed to go off the beaten track in order to check out what things look like over here. I once went the wrong way in a Call of Duty game and I was forcibly yanked back to the last checkpoint for "abandoning my squad". Telling me to "return to the battlefield" when I'm exploring, followed by my health being depleted by some invisible force, is only going to leave a very bad taste in my mouth.

I really don't like it when developers/publishers decide that a sequel needs to look and play worse than its predecessor because it needs to be more "accessible". Supreme Commander 2 looks like it came maybe five years before Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance, and it felt "dumbed down" when I tried it.

One more thing, this time being something Blizzard is absolutely guilty of, is when the developer decides to assert a massive amount of dominance over the game experience of their players by having the relevant staff focus on relatively harmless and unimportant things instead of squashing bugs that tend to make the player's game experience worse. I especially despise Blizzard for it because they outwardly said things like, "we want players to break the game" but WoW simply isn't as accommodating for emergent gameplay as it could be.

EDIT: I forgot one other thing. I was annoyed when I played Crysis 2 years ago because a message kept flashing in the middle of my screen telling me to reload. I may be a bit dumb but I'm not so dumb as to need shitty flashing messages in my direct line of sight telling me to do the most obvious things. Don't hold my hand.

 

[Zaltys]

Real Is Brown

Gaming malady, especially in FPS. Some claim that it's supposed to look realistic, but... I backpack a lot, and the real world sure ain't brown and grey. It's got a bit better in the recent years, but there's still far too many games that use that color palette.

Forced Partying

I grew up with MUDs. Those were build around solo play, with optional grouping that hardly anyone used, except with a friend or spouse. Then along came MMORPGs and forced us into grouping with random internet weirdos, and having to deal with poor attitudes, potty breaks, connection issues, etc. Given chance, I think most players would still prefer to solo. So why not just play single-player games instead, you ask? Because MMOs have more content, and even solo players can enjoy things such as global chat, character rankings, guilds, crafting and trading, player housing, etc.

Shotgun Romance

Story-based games that force the protagonist into a romance, without giving you a choice of a partner. So you end up having to watch sappy cutscenes of your least favorite character, and hoping that they'd die. ...I wonder if that's what arranged marriages feel like.

 

[SmugFrog]

And in direct contrast to that...

I can't see where the f*ck I'm going!

Some games have small sections (usually indoor, industrial type sections) where there is no "natural" source of light and so everything is dark.

I like how in some games they've started making it like your eyes have to adjust to the darkness and light - yes, it's annoying when you come out of that cave that seems dimly lit and see the sun (which, if they've done a good job, you're able to see fine in whether with placed lighting or a player's light source) - but it's realistic, and a great way of giving a darkly lit atmosphere that as you go in the character's eyes adjust and then you can see clearly.

Didn't Far Cry 4 do this?

 

[Wuvlycuddles]

Playing as "The Chosen One"

I've written a little about this before here, but I really dislike this whole character archetype. It leads to the game feeling far too player-centric (Bioware's games are particularly bad about this) and almost inevitably breaks immersion for me.

Pretty much this when it come to online MMORPG due to the fact the massive multiplayers defeat the purpose of the one of the chosen one. Has there ever been an MMORPG that has the npc that address the character as one of the few/ group/ heroes that save the world/ slayed the villain or monster etc?

I didn't play it all that much but I seem to remember DC Universe Online made a point of you being a sidekick/henchman to the "proper" heroes/villians. Also Star Wars Galaxies, but then that was more sandboxy. And maybe LOTRO too? Been a while for that one too.

OT: Cutscene Stupidity!
Basically any time my character does something dumb as shit in a cutscene regardless of how well/badly I play beforehand, Hitman Absolution is particularly guilty of this

 

[ecoho]

any game that needs a patch at launch to make it fucking playable......(excluding MMOS for obvious reasons)

prime examples pretty much every fucking Bethesda game. I couldn't bring myself to play fallout 3 after my 3rd attempt because I had no fucking map, and well I owned skyrim on PS3 because they said that would be the best looking one........

LET ME PAUSE THE FUCKING GAME!

I mean seriously why is it some games don't let you do this people need to pee, answer doors, or god forbid get something to eat.

If you have a glitch or exploit in a SINGLE PLAYER GAME that the player can use to gain an advantage don't fucking "FIX" it.

this one is pretty much my only real beef with bioware at the moment as they have been doing this to dragon age for the last two game. If im playing single player and want to exploit let me fucking do it, hell you have to literally do it on purpose

 

[Auron225]

And in direct contrast to that...

I can't see where the f*ck I'm going!

Some games have small sections (usually indoor, industrial type sections) where there is no "natural" source of light and so everything is dark.

I like how in some games they've started making it like your eyes have to adjust to the darkness and light - yes, it's annoying when you come out of that cave that seems dimly lit and see the sun (which, if they've done a good job, you're able to see fine in whether with placed lighting or a player's light source) - but it's realistic, and a great way of giving a darkly lit atmosphere that as you go in the character's eyes adjust and then you can see clearly.

Didn't Far Cry 4 do this?

Haven't played Far Cry 4, but I know what you mean and I do enjoy it when it's pulled off well. Really adds to the immersion What I originally meant though was running through rooms/corridors, one after the other, being able to see your character well enough, but nothing around them. Brightness level is otherwise appropriate for everywhere else in the game, but this one particular section may as well be dark purgatory. Half the time I end up cranking the brightness up all the way, making my character look majorly "washed out", just so I can see where I'm going.

 

[Ima Lemming]

Games that insult the player when they quit

One example that comes to mind is Steel Storm on PC. When you go to quit the game it gives you a random message like "You'd kiss your mother with those lips" or telling me I'm wimping out or something. Developers, unless your game is only an hour long most people aren't going to finish it in one sitting. Knock this off.

Now, most people will tell me it's just a silly joke, and I'm overreacting. But as Jim Fucking Sterling Son once said, just being shit isn't a joke; it's just being shit.

Captcha: Aluminum foil. As in what people make hats out of, I guess?

 

[JamesStone]

When characters start talking in the gaming world and the conversation lasts longer than reaching the part it gets to it's next phase
Witcher 3 is a good case, like the first time you meet Triss. What happens is that you either hope the coonversation ends before or just wait like an idiot for it to end and then continue forward.

Stop forcing me to walk while you try to look sophisticated!!!
Mass Effect 3 shadow world dream bullshit is a prime example.

Let me fucking lose in Telltale games!
If I do fucking stupid choice in a Telltale game just kill me, don't continue the plot regardless making all my choices pointless in the grand scheme of things.

Got nothing to say about this topic, just wanted to add something to the Telltale Games part.

Hey Walking Dead, if everytime you make me choose for a character's life that character ends up dying anyways then it loses all meaning. After chapter 2 any time my actions determined the fate of a character I went like "oh ok I better not start getting used to you because no matter what I do here you'll freaking die later with no chance of survival. And I was always right. Really ruined the immersion

 

[Gray-Philosophy]

Look, a beautifully-animated and rendered enemy... completely obscured by a BIG RED enemy marker
Asdfafds. Thank you, game, for pointing out an enemy in the least subtle way possible.

I'm going to have to second this, and add that generally obstructive UI/HUD markers and icons and flashing lights piss me off more than trying to argue with customers in retail business. I find it to be lazy design when the game could just as well have animated tells and visual cues that aren't replaced with big warning messages.

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

Holding the button down to loot and looting animations. This might just be a ubisoft thing, but it's soo annoying. It doesn't seem long at first, but it really adds up over time until you just don't want to loot anymore.

 

[Quellist]

Being forced to take characters into your party who you 1) Hate on sight and 2) Will never ever use

Worst offender: Tri-Ace

I dunno what these guys are upto. In Star Ocean 3 the two annoying kiddie characters (Roger and Pepitta) were entirely optional, allowing cooler choice (IMO) like Nell and Albel, but come SO4 not only are the annoying characters compulsory but 90% of the fucking party are horrible annoying kids and gonks. Ditto for Infinite Undiscovery and SO5 looks like it's going the same way.

Additionally these games even troll you by having the main character try to talk his way out of having them in the party only to be stuck with them, WTF Tri-Ace, do you want us to hate your games?

 

[JemothSkarii]

I'd like to just say 'Everything that Fallout 4 has shown' but that's not really a pet peeve... more an aneurysm.

Gaming pet peeves... Uhh, Saves before an unskippable cutscene and a really hard fight?

"THERE'S NO WAY YOU'RE TAKING KAIRI'S HEART"

Bullet sponge enemies. I remember when I was a kid I'd like to make myself as weak as possible so I could fight on par with A.I buddies or so I could sink a million hits into an enemy. But now it annoys the shit out of me if it takes 3 magazines of ammo to kill a non-boss character.

Localisation. Oh boy do I hate localisation. Between NISA's habits of throwing 'epic memes' into everything (and somehow breaking the game in the process) and changing the dialogue so much that Japanese voice acting sounds WAAAAY off (LOOKING AT YOU DRAKENGARD 3) it's just annoying. Pointless and annoying. Just translate it as straight as possible. Otherwise we'll make like Brock from Pokemon and enjoy some delicious onigiri donuts.

Rushing the fuck out of your plotlines. Ni No Kuni is my recent example of this, where they make a revelation never hinted at earlier in the game in one line of dialogue before a boss fight.... that and the pointless story tacked on after it. Oh Ni No Kuni, I wished I could have loved your story. So much promise.

 

[sageoftruth]

Having just played another JPRG recently, I've got two of them:

Antagonists whose motive is to "Atone for the sins of humanity" through genocide of the human race
It was a unique concept, once... a long long time ago, but seeing this concept get brought up over and over in so many JRPGs, other genres from Japan, and even some anime just reeks of lazy writing.

On a similar note:
Christian Symbolism
I understand that the Bible is fraught with stories and ideas that can be gleefully ransacked for interesting story concepts, but now I just sigh whenever I see words like "Sins", "Atonement" or "God" or any number of other obviously-based-off-the-bible terms in a JRPG. Too much of this and I'll start to consider turning to Activision for games with more original themes.

On a more general note:
Games that won't let you skip the opening credits every time you boot up
I'm certain I'm not alone here. Who isn't mildly peeved when forced to stare at the names of every publisher and development studio every time you boot up the game?

Also, thanks to Astebreed:
Subtitles in a fast-paced action game
It's really hard to stop and read what the characters are saying when I'm busy trying not to get blasted to pieces by a screen full of projectiles.

 

[WeepingAngels]

I have a good explanation for this. Games battle system doesn't reflect what "really" happens. And this is a good thing.

I get that narrative is often the enemy of gameplay. But developers should be taking steps to make the transition from playable to non-playable sections as seamless as possible, not have them occupy seemingly parallel universes with different sets of physics.

So what do you want to compromise for the sake of realism, story or gameplay?

 

[Cycloptomese]

Halfway through the game the developer decides to introduce a completely new control scheme involving unnecessarily difficult gameplay scenarios.

I'm looking at you, Rockstar!! Damn you Berkeley!!!

 

[happyninja42]

Having just played another JPRG recently, I've got two of them:

On a similar note:
Christian Symbolism
I understand that the Bible is fraught with stories and ideas that can be gleefully ransacked for interesting story concepts, but now I just sigh whenever I see words like "Sins", "Atonement" or "God" or any number of other obviously-based-off-the-bible terms in a JRPG. Too much of this and I'll start to consider turning to Activision for games with more original themes.

Yeah, this one is particularly amusing when it's been filtered through the language/culture of English --> Japanese, and then back to English. xD The flavor of the religiosity of it is quite amusing, seeing a shinto tinted version of christianity.

 

[WeepingAngels]

I have a good explanation for this. Games battle system doesn't reflect what "really" happens. And this is a good thing.

I get that narrative is often the enemy of gameplay. But developers should be taking steps to make the transition from playable to non-playable sections as seamless as possible, not have them occupy seemingly parallel universes with different sets of physics.

So what do you want to compromise for the sake of realism, story or gameplay?

You dont have to compromise either as long as you actually use your fucking brain about it.

Ok, give us an example. For instance, should a Phoenix Down have brought Aeris back, should Phoenix Down's simply not exist in the game to solve this conflict or what is your non compromising answer?