Your gaming "kryptonite"

[AvsJoe]

A game having a very short single-player campaign. I don't mind a good multi-player experience but I require a good single-player one.

Don't get me wrong, an epic boss battle here and there is a good thing, but if you have 3 or 4 bosses all lined up?

I love when they do that! Especially if both or all bosses are insanely difficult. Makes you feel like a god when you finally beat them. That's among the top reasons why FFIX is in my top 5.

 

[gamer_parent]

Levels where you have to guide a helpless npc some where.

I have a variation of this too. single player games that make the exploration element boring but vast tend to mean it will require a full guide to play properly. it's one thing if the game simply adds it in as an additional bonus and you don't really need to do it to enjoy the game, but it's entirely different if they make it a crucial element, but make that part of it a chore. it's really a variation of grinding, when you think about it.

 

[Rayne870]

Metal Gear Solid 3.

I love the game, but I suck at it.

Probably because the controls are absolutely foreign to me.

MGS controls are quite convoluted, but you get used to them after awhile. At least you love the game despite a "flaw" though, kudos for that

OT: I don't enjoy games that are too easy.

 

[kane.malakos]

Third person. I've never really been able to get into third-person perspective games. I've played quite a few of them, but almost always felt that they would have been better from a first-person view.

 

[Leemaster777]

What this is, is basically things that cripple either your gaming experience or the game itself for you. Mine would be multiple boss battles one after the other. Don't get me wrong, an epic boss battle here and there is a good thing, but if you have 3 or 4 bosses all lined up?

So tell me, Escapist, what is your gaming "kryptonite"?

Funny, I actually LIKE this. Boss fights are usually the highlights of a game for me, so having a bunch in a row is like Christmas.

Anyways, I've always hated timed sections in games. I hate it when I'm playing a game (that doesn't have any sort of time limit normally), and suddenly they impose a completely arbitrary time limit on me. I want to play games at my OWN pace, not someone else's.

This goes double for underwater sections with limited breathing (I'm looking at you, Labrynth Zone and underwater levels in 3-D Mario games). Why kill me off because I want to take my time?

 

[Pseudopod]

I really hate it when a game scales too much with your level, making leveling up meaningless. I feel like games that do this might as well do away with leveling altogether. Elder Scrolls is the worst offender I can think of in this regard. I'm not against changes in the environment triggered by you leveling up, but when every monster gains a level with you I get really annoyed.

Excessive use of button mashing. I don't like it when a game counts on the endurance of my digits rather than skill or timing. It can be okay in small doses, however.

 

[Bobbity]

Escort missions in which the person walks at a snail's pace, with you fending off bad guys the whole time.

 

[Tanis]

Most games like Contra and NanoStray 2.

I suck at them, but I do love playing them.

 

[Lithorien]

I'd have to say MMORPGs. More specifically: Fetching and grinding. I play a game to play it and become immersed in the storyline, and when absolutely nothing I do has a lasting effect on the world or advances the story any, I get pissed. It's not really an RPG if the world never advances, now is it?

 

[Drummie666]

Aim Assist.

It's unintuitive and throws me directly out of the experience.

I already made a near 1000 word post on the aim assist in CoD. But it is also the one thing that stopped me from getting Mass Effect 2 recently, I tried the demo on PS3, I find out that the Aim Assist is permanent. BioWare, you can go fuck yourself.

BTW, does anyone know what other games have permanent aim assist, so that I can avoid them?

 

[Venereus]

Quick Time Events. I hate them.

 

[Vesuvius Hetlan]

Real people.

I can play against AI easy (Who can't?), but I suck against people.

 

[XandNobody]

Any time, ANY TIME you have to do something, anything, three times to solve a damn something/anything.

I do not care the genre, the number of times you have to do something three times in a row to win, SICKENS ME.

It is to the point that it honestly destroys immersion for me. Because no where else, in the world, do you have to do something exactly three times to save the day, every time. In a video game though? It's a damn gaming foundation for whatever screwed up reasons.

 

[rekabdarb]

I really hate it when a game scales too much with your level, making leveling up meaningless. I feel like games that do this might as well do away with leveling altogether. Elder Scrolls is the worst offender I can think of in this regard. I'm not against changes in the environment triggered by you leveling up, but when every monster gains a level with you I get really annoyed.

That's actually a good one... When i was playing Tactics ogre for the psp recently i played through, and once you finish it you have the option to bend time and go back to the first important decision of the game and change it. You keep your items, people, and everything (was freaky. I went another alignment and in that particular one, one of my best people is actually the enemy, so i had my version kill the other one. Was hilarious) BUT what i don't like (other than I CAN'T GET BETTER WEAPONS WTF) is that when i go back in time, the enemies level with me... and stay 2 levels ahead. So weapons for level 20 and i'm level 30. (and leveling is slow late game).

Escort missions are a drag, but i usually don't mind.

Uhm... When games don't tell you you auto saved. This actually happened with me on GoW 3 Chaos (fuck you) mode. I'm stuck at a fight that has like 5 spawns back to back. And they are all quite hard. And i missed something so i want to go back... but i can't. Games that don't let you backtrack either on that note

 

[Nooneishome]

AA-12 'nuff said

 

[RaphaelsRedemption]

Escort missions.

Fuck them.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Dodgy or non-existent camera controls. Having the right analog stick do anything but camera controls is incredibly stupid in any 3d game. Also sucks something awful in platforming games when you have to jump backwards, I'm looking at you Assassin's Creed. Every once in a while I'll try to jump back only to jump along the wall I'm currently holding on to.

 

[TheFloBros]

Quick time events. Goddamn quick time events. Especially when what your supposed to press is really small. But I still can't do them even if there huge and right in my face.

 

[Drakmorg]

Games that score how well you did at the end of the level. This has become much more obvious to me while playing Metal Gear Solid: Peacewalker. Mostly because I never get a decent score my first time through a level.

"C? Isn't that the lowest rank? What the hell do you want from me game, I got through the damn level."

It feels like the game is being petty. Like it's saying to me: "You suck, go back and do it right this time."

Sure it generally doesn't have much effect on the gameplay, (except that unlocking all the best stuff usually requires the best rank possible) but it just annoys me when the game feels like my way of playing is "wrong".

 

[Quazimofo]

Loading Screens that don't fit in.

At least Portal 2's loading screens made sense.

Mass Effect 2 somehow made me want the elevators back...

well, i didnt mind the elevators. perhaps im easily entertained. but yeah. crap loading screens especially if they are frequent are a real immersion breaker, and are just plain boring.

at least in call of duty they threw different quotes at you. was annoying when they were too long to read in the 5 seconds it took to load but whatever. least it was something.