Things that instantly kill your interest in a game

[ManOwaRrior]

Modern Military in a realistic setting. I don't like it. I need at least some sci-fi/fantasy/retro themes in my games if they revolve around shooting stuff.

Level Scaling enemies in RPGs. Maybe I have somehow managed to avoid games that have done this well, but even(especially) in an open world game, i want some areas to be too hard in the beginning so i can feel getting stronger when i level up. If Enemies do get stronger, it needs to happen because of some event in the game, not because of me leveling up.

Unfair rules. This goes specifically to Shift 2: If i get disqualified because i bumped into the other car in 1 on 1 race, i want the game to be fair and disqualify the AI for bumping into me. In Sift 2, i get disqualified both times.

 

[stefman]

Well escapist I was browsing GoG for a good strategy game. Clicking here and there at interesting titles when I caught myself instantly hitting the back button every time I read the phrase "Exciting turn based strategy". Now don't get me wrong I have nothing against the genre I just personally find it boring, not my cup of tea and all that.

So my lovely escapist what kills your interest in a title immediately upon reading the description?

lack of polish. the game needs to look smooth and play smoothly for me to have any interest. that and good art direction/ unique visuals.

 

[Takuanuva]

My things that instantly kill my interest in a game A.K.A. why will I never buy neither Call of Duty nor Battlefield. Any of them.
1. World War 2/Modern setting. Oh look, it's a game in which you can play as one of the brave american marines/antiterrorists/soldiers/cooks/janitors who fight the evil forces of Hitler/Russia/Middle East countries/China/Korea/Taiwan/Antarctica. How innovative. Because, you know, no one had that idea before. [sub]Developers: I know it might be easier for you to just copypaste real guns and save money on people who would have enough creativity to actually think of an interesting universe, but you won't get my money without one.[/sub]
2. Leveling up in a FPS and unlockabe/customizable weapons. Hey look, I won with you. Again. I am soooo much better than you in this game, with my my shotgun I unlocked on level 9001 and my magical scope that somehow reduces it's recoil. What was that? You played the previous part of this game non-stop since it came out? Well, too bad, because I played this one for a week and unlocked stuff that gives me advantage for no reason. Now, let me and my unfair advantage kill you again so I can get more experience so I can gain levels so I can unlock better stuff with which I can kill you so I can get more experience... [sub]Note: 110% hyperbole.[/sub]
3. Ironsights. Just... no. I don't know why, but just no.

[sub]Yes, I am a Halo fanboy. But there is a reason why I am one. I like the universe- it might not be incredibly deep or too creative, but it's good. I also like the fact, that every player gets equal chances- no matter if you played for 1 day or 1 year, no matter if you won or lost every match you've ever played, you get the exact same stuff as every other player. I want people to win because they had better tactics or skills, not because they simply played this game longer than I did. Oh, and I have a case of irrational ironsightphobia. No idea why.[/sub]

 

[Da Orky Man]

Generally only applies to sequels and remakes, but, "Streamlined for accessibility".. I hate those words. My first gaming love was RTS' namely Age of empires. And now AoE online has come around, and it's boasting just that. I'm giving it a shot tomorrow, but I'm not impressed.

 

[Monsterfurby]

1. Spiders
2. Quirky/artsy story and setting - I like my stories coherent, thank you very much.
3. No replay value

Games like LA Noire and Heavy Rain, which are basically interactive movies. Especially when their reviews proclaim them as the "artsiest of the artsy art games".

Also, the opposite of this. I actually like games that tell a story and don't require much input from me. In many games, I cheat because I don't want the gameplay to get in the way of me experiencing the story - I just don't care about the challenges. So yeah, the optimum for me would be essentially a software that auto-generates an infinite amount of feature-length films. But fortunately, opinions can differ

 

[Davidm4]

Up until I played Deus Ex, if I saw the publisher was Squeenix - I'd give that game a very wide berth. I still feel the same way about anything by Capcom, too. I guess I'm just not fond of Japanese games. They're a little too strange for my tastes.

But gameplay wise - the escort mission. The minute I hear "please escort..." I roll my eyes.

Square Enix owns all of Eidos now, and has shown very little influence in their development. So, don't be turned off by their name on the box of an Western developed game.

I have learned my lesson with Deus Ex. Though it's reassuring to know that Squeenix takes a hands off approach to the artistic process. Now that I played the near Godliness that is Deus Ex, I can't wait to see what other little gems Squeenix will help create.

Looking forward to Quantum Conundrum?

OT: If a reviewer mentions the word "repetitive" then I've lost interest. A mechanic should only be used a few times or spread out so it doesn't get worn out. If a game only has a few ideas, then it should be shorter in length. MMO's are too grindy and the "social" side is the only thing that seems to hold it together.Fighting games can't hold my interest as a single player experience. RTS's are something that I struggle with and can't help but feel that you need to memorise hotkeys, number of resource gatherers and set building orders and any time spent deviating will be the difference. That said, even if you master an RTS, you generally play the same maps and similar strategies over and over, but I respect it for its depth.

Trial and error gameplay should be avoided, but if a game does have it, then the player shouldn't be punished for it.

Games should provide a logical and fair challange. A game without challenge would make me zone out and feel like im just moving from one cutscene to the next. I prefer gameplay over story, but to each their own.

 

[sheah1]

if game too difficult like with demon's souls and because it was too hard i will not be buying Dark Souls because of that and that alone.

Are you.... being ironic? Sarcastic?

 

[SuperNova221]

DLC. RPG elements. Anything with a fantasy setting. j(x). Always on DRM.

 

[Strife2GFAQs]

I'm a JRPG/Anime Fantasy Adventure connoisseur. Even in that genre, there are things that instantly get my goat. Random battles in any game made after 2000. I somehow managed to replay BoF3, but I can't even stand replaying the old FF games now. Random encounters are the bane of my existence, especially when I'm only trying to speed through a level. Same goes for unskippable cutscenes. Not just CG/Anime, but actual dialogue spots. Look at Radiant Historia: they allowed you to skip everything, even plot dialogue until the decisions needed to be made. It made for a streamlined experience. Silent protagonists piss me off because they do nothing to merit attention, but can be forgiven if the game around them (Persona) shines bright.

Here are other random red flags:

First-Person Perspective (I'm never good at them)

Strategy (RTS, SRPGs, don't care, worst are RPGs that clunk up slow TB-combat with even slower strategy elements)

Fighting Games

Slow paced turn based combat (All RPGs should be fast/auto pilot battles or done in real time..unless this happens

Active Battle System (Final Fantasy developers have the great real time systems (KH/Star Ocean) at their fingertips, but they insist on using dumbed-down, pseudo-turn based fence straddling)

First party Nintendo games (Another bloody is right...MOVE ON ALREADY)!

Motion Controls

Reserved, shy, pathetic, weak, inept, socially-awkward loser protagonists (not just Hope, but he should have died after five seconds)

"misunderstood" brooding, anti-social, "badass" protagonists who "change" thanks to "sweet, bubbly (and ANNOYING) sycophantic young girls" (project to your audiences fantasies much, do you Japan?)

VERY low budget JRPG graphics (Cross Edge wouldn't be caught dead on the PS1, it's sad that most of the genre tend to lag a generation behind)

That's plenty

 

[Daftie]

No ragdolls.

True story.

This. It was tolerable in Halo but in any other game it bugs the hell out of me.

Also no option to change look sensitivity (looking at you BLACK) or to invert looking up and down.

 

[CarlMin]

1. all women in the game are stupid or helpless
2. war, war, war and more war (don't we get enough on the nightly news?!)
3. cat people
4. dialog in-game outweighs play time (final fantasy, blarg)
5. you must endure an hour of cut scenes before getting to play
6. no female characters in a game that touts massive character customization options (Brink)
7. Only on console, must use a controller (carpal tunnel problems = controller is a no-go)
8. Cold, callous characters who are on a rampage for no particular reason
9. Being "on a rail" and not given the opportunity to explore the game world and go on tangents
10. arriving at a level or boss that is for no reason 100 times harder than anything you had experienced to that point in the game, and having to try over and over again to beat it. (aka having to memorize a sequence from a walk-through online and then execute it quickly and perfectly to beat it)


?and just to put a little positive spin on this thread - things that instantly make me want to play or finish a game:

1. powerful female characters whose dominant feature can't be described by a single letter.
2. someone took the time to make the characters lovable, a la Pixar
3. cheeky humor that makes you laugh out loud (Grim Fandango, Psychonauts, Portal)
4. games that allow non-hardcore gamers an easy/story mode and a chance to have a great experience in the game without being a master of keyboard controls (Thank you Fallout!)
5. good user interface! If the game looks great, put the polish on the UI bits, tutorials, online forums, websites, documentation, etc too please, these are part of the game experience.
6. games that build and support a community of happy players
7. a community of people in the game that is positive, encouraging and makes your experience awesome, especially when you come in as a newb.

I agree with every point you make. Especially regarding female characters in games. (Only exception I can think of is that I can't think of one single lovable character I've seen in a Pixar film. They are either all too ugly, or too boring or just too plastic.)

 

[OldGus]

MMO.

Yup, that's it. I hate MMO's, and when people try to recommend that Borderlands become an MMO in my presence, hell is going to break loose.

I agree with MMO, but disagree with Borderlands. I think there, people just got a little confused (between MMO and RPG). I intensely dislike Massively Multiplayer anything. My ideal multiplayer game is played with me and some of my friends from real life, preferably in the same room, and most definitely not thousands and thousands of people I don't know.

Granted, I'll occasionally play the online FPS, and used to do two free online ones fairly often. But in both of those, I was introduced by a friend, and regularly played with said friend.

But what really, really gets my goat? "Subscription."

 

[Fidelias]

When they stress how impressive the visuals are. Usually that means they couldn't find anything else to praise.

Hey, if I wanted to buy something for visuals, I'd buy Avatar for half the price.

Edit: Also, I'm getting real sick of all the modern fps's out there. I don't know, it's just become BORING, mostly because they use real world stuff to make a crappy story.

That being said, I want some Modern-fantasy stuff! It's the new craze in books (I love The Dresden Files!) but there's almost no games with this setting.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

MMO.

Yup, that's it. I hate MMO's, and when people try to recommend that Borderlands become an MMO in my presence, hell is going to break loose.

This! I also hate MMOs. ...although did give Champions Online a shot since it's now free, and it's kinda fun.

 

[spartandude]

Origin exclusiveness.

Could not have said it better myself

 

[miketehmage]

When "Game X 3" removes the commander unit it had in "Game X 2", meaning that squads are only lead by squad leaders and as such there is no coordination between squads, only within them. I won't forgive you for this EA/Dice.

 

[xplosive59]

Videogames need to have an atmospheric soundtrack to really pull you in. Games such as MGS, Mass Effect or Final Fantasy would lose all immersion to me if I heard Iron Maiden in the background. If the game is based around the Music then fine eg Brutal Legend or Guitar Hero but other games have to have the same kind of soundtrack as a good movie.

also... FPS's (unless it has other elements) and games witha really short storylines, also bad stories are also a turn off 'cause i frankly don't care if the gameplays good if the story is terrible.

 

[dessertmonkeyjk]

Health regeneration with no context of any kind backing it up. How many games have done that so far?

Co-op in which one of you dies which forces you to start over. If my partner sucks at the game in general then... uh... you can guess what happens.

Difficulty being much harder/easier than it actually tells you. Happened to me with a platformer once.

Pointless collectables. Why get an achievement for 200 thingamajigs when there are about 15 others + more fun ones to get?

Tons of enemies and little equipment/health/ammo. Time for some quick-save scrubbing!

Finding out your actions in one scenario doesn't affect you in another. The rachni from Mass Effect 1 for example.

10 second demos... oh dear lord. The one of Guitar Hero on the Android Market was just a rip-off.

Long-term grinding. I can understand having to level up from 7 to 10 but from 10 to 45?!

Turn-based combat. Really? It's 2011 and we're still simulating D&D card games in a 3D virtual environment?

FPS surplus with little difference BESIDES GRAPHICS!!!

 

[Firia]

Dead Island won my interest with a wonderful initial ad that promissed intrigue, depth, and zombies. That was immediately dashed with the words, "it's not like that at all; it's more like Boarderlands with zombies." =\

Whomever made that ad was both at once a success and a failure. They succeeded in delivering interest in a game, and making what was not known suddenly well known. But then failure because they made the game out to be what it was not. It was misrepresented by the motion designer, and that's unfortunate. However, maybe someone out there that makes games, knows people with big pockets, and was paying attention to what that intrigue-related interested did in the gaming community....