Your gaming "kryptonite"

[tahrey]

Not long loading times, but frequent loading times/loading screens that don't fit drive me insane. Sure, it's ok if the loading takes 5 minutes, just make sure the game doesn't have to reload everything when i walk through this door. It really breaks the ambiance of a game for me.

If a game took five minutes to load I'd seriously think about returning it and demanding the publisher explain just WTF. That's early 80s kind of loading time. You can read an entire DVD in that time, and an entire CD in half of it. A floppy disk takes 2 minutes in even the slowest drive (typically 60-90 seconds even without a fast "twist" format). That's just crazy.
(5 minutes at 1200 baud - typical stock tapeloader speed - will get you 45kb, or enough for a fairly large and complex Spectrum or C64 game... just enough time to go make a cup of tea and a couple rounds of toast. It's also about how long my terribly overloaded and network-hobbled workstation takes to boot into a usable state.)

The frequent, longish load time thing I can sympathise with though. Things like Gran Turismo are terrible for it, like they haven't bothered optimising the positions on the disc or the layout of the data files - even if you're filling up the machine's entire RAM from empty, and only loading at 1/3rd normal speed because you're depacking some very heavily compressed files, it shouldn't take anywhere near as long as it does. It happens every. single. time, even on simple things like going from a main race menu to the setup sub-screen (which is stupidly simplistic), enough that it puts you off from making a series of small tweaks one at a time but changing lots of things fairly crudely (a touch of realism I suppose, but hey - it's a VIDEO GAME, not a military-grade sim... a bit of expedition would be nice). And they don't even have the good courtesy to give you something to do or look in the interim, like the Galaga game that was at the start of the Ridge Racer 4 bonus disc (whilst it loaded and depacked the entirety of the original RR into RAM & VRAM). Just an endlessly spinning speedo dial. Not even a progress bar. There could have been some kind of machinima animation to cover for what was happening (loads the track first, gives you a flyby starting from the first loaded parts whilst the others invisibly stream off the disc; loads your car and you see your driver avatar get in and drive out of the paddock and into the prep area in the pits... then the other ones come out one by one as they load, and they go off for the warm-up lap as the last sundry parts load - once it's all done, you're given an option to skip, or just let the lap play out til they reach the start line...)

 

[ToAzT]

Escort missions and Quick Time Events.

Although I didn't mind RE4. i felt they did both things pretty okay, because QTevents are alright in a suspense/horror game, and they were all awesome looking events. And at least Ashley didn't die in one hit, like most escort missions.

 

[blazedart]

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?

The longest boss battle i had been through was enchanted arms and it's like 7 boss battles right after each other.

I guess mine would be when the game has a camera that you can't change the position of it tends to get me annoyed and killed

 

[Greyhamster]

Time.

Also, in Total war games: stackspam. I had fighting battles every single turn

 

[Mute52]

When i'm under a time constraint.
I loved Pikmin, but that game frustrated me with the whole day thing.

 

[Jason Danger Keyes]

I hate a game that provides a long-term punishment for failure, such as an rpg that docks XP when you die or a strategy game that kills characters permanently if they die on a level, especially if you don't have the option to easily go back and do it better.

Edit: Like Pokemon, where they dock HALF OF ALL YOUR MONEY should you ever lose a battle.

Seriously? I actually thought Fire Emblem did a great job when they decided that everyone who dies stay dead, because... it's not like your enemies are revived after you kill them... except for those really important ones who you just beat until they decide to give up. It gives you an actual reason to plan your fights rather than just throw all you got because you know you're stronger and will win no matter what anyway. That might just be me though...
I do hate Pokemon's money stealing though. So many times I've resetted because my money was lost... so many times...

I know why they did it and in theory i should love it, because it adds to the tension and requirement for strategy, but all too often I'd have a character get cornered and killed, or the enemy would score three critical hits with archers in a row before I could do anything and then my best character was dead. If there had been some kind of system for revival, like if your downed character can be revived within X number of turns before they die then at least that makes it slightly less frustrating.

The Ogre Battle series had systems like that, if a character fell they could be revived within a set time frame, and if you didn't save them they had a chance of becoming a zombie or some other unit, so instead of losing them altogether they'd just become far less effective.

 

[Jason Danger Keyes]

Rpgs that have easily missable items and collectibles, that are impossible to go back and get later. Especially if the only way to get it is so arbitrarily complicated that nobody would ever find it without reading an FAQ. The Final Fantasy series is the worst offender, often denying you access to the best weapons and spells if you search the wrong pot in the first half hour of the game (fuck you FF XII)

 

[Popadoo]

Enemies that are too small to hit. This fucking sucks. Do not do this. It doesn't make it 'more challenging' in a good way, it just fucks the player over.
Also, low visibility (as mentioned before).
It does make games more scary, but there's a god damn limit and don't cross it. I'd rather have a bright lit room and not be scared then have a pitch black room and get killed for the millionth time because I couldn't see shit.

 

[Always_Remain]

For recent games especially, NO AUTO SAVE. I mean come on! I don't want to sound like a pansy or anything but in games with heavy action or far and few in between save points it's really, really handy. Like sometimes when I play Dead Rising 2(great game) and I'm at a low level, I won't even think about saving because I'm having so much fun then BOOM! random psychopath, I'm dead, gotta restart the whole game.

Sure it doesn't completely ruin my experience with a game but it sure makes it less positive.

Captcha: and sradine. You mean sardine? You filthy drunk.

 

[Aetherlblade]

i can get over almost everything. except bad voice acting. i rather have no voice acting at all, than some uninspired dead voice. that really keeps me from playing games.

 

[Get_A_Grip_]

Escort missions. Whenever they come up I turn the game off.

Captcha, what the actual fuck?!

This is also another one of my kryptonites.

 

[Yopaz]

I hate a game that provides a long-term punishment for failure, such as an rpg that docks XP when you die or a strategy game that kills characters permanently if they die on a level, especially if you don't have the option to easily go back and do it better.

Edit: Like Pokemon, where they dock HALF OF ALL YOUR MONEY should you ever lose a battle.

Seriously? I actually thought Fire Emblem did a great job when they decided that everyone who dies stay dead, because... it's not like your enemies are revived after you kill them... except for those really important ones who you just beat until they decide to give up. It gives you an actual reason to plan your fights rather than just throw all you got because you know you're stronger and will win no matter what anyway. That might just be me though...
I do hate Pokemon's money stealing though. So many times I've resetted because my money was lost... so many times...

I know why they did it and in theory i should love it, because it adds to the tension and requirement for strategy, but all too often I'd have a character get cornered and killed, or the enemy would score three critical hits with archers in a row before I could do anything and then my best character was dead. If there had been some kind of system for revival, like if your downed character can be revived within X number of turns before they die then at least that makes it slightly less frustrating.

The Ogre Battle series had systems like that, if a character fell they could be revived within a set time frame, and if you didn't save them they had a chance of becoming a zombie or some other unit, so instead of losing them altogether they'd just become far less effective.

Well, I have to admit that it's very annoying when you lose one of your good characters, but I still love the mechanic. It makes me incredibly frustrated to lose a character and I start rounds all over, but it adds a little realism. However if it is because someone who got 10% chance of hitting you and 1% chance of critical hit gets 2 critical hits and I die from it. Then I get so pissed off I usually turn it off and try again later.

 

[HentMas]

i suck at strategy

not individual strategy, that one i can master in a minute, but whole scale strategy, like managing an army, or building a city in a simulator

i LOVE both things, they are of my favorite kinds of games, hell i have played all "Age of Empires" they ever threw out, but i NEVER got the games, and wasn't ever able to create a proper strategy for playing on-line, and off line i always made the impenetrable city and take more than 5 hours to finish an objective, i love to play it slow

 

[Gerdneek]

Time

 

[DanielDeFig]

Sports games. I'm sorry, but if I wanted to simulate the experience of being interested in sports, then I would be interested in sports!.

Other than that, RPGs with bad voice acting (FF games should have Japanese voice option), is the only thing I can think of that truly ruins the experience for me (Beyond experience breaking glitches).

 

[Jason Danger Keyes]

I hate a game that provides a long-term punishment for failure, such as an rpg that docks XP when you die or a strategy game that kills characters permanently if they die on a level, especially if you don't have the option to easily go back and do it better.

Edit: Like Pokemon, where they dock HALF OF ALL YOUR MONEY should you ever lose a battle.

Seriously? I actually thought Fire Emblem did a great job when they decided that everyone who dies stay dead, because... it's not like your enemies are revived after you kill them... except for those really important ones who you just beat until they decide to give up. It gives you an actual reason to plan your fights rather than just throw all you got because you know you're stronger and will win no matter what anyway. That might just be me though...
I do hate Pokemon's money stealing though. So many times I've resetted because my money was lost... so many times...

I know why they did it and in theory i should love it, because it adds to the tension and requirement for strategy, but all too often I'd have a character get cornered and killed, or the enemy would score three critical hits with archers in a row before I could do anything and then my best character was dead. If there had been some kind of system for revival, like if your downed character can be revived within X number of turns before they die then at least that makes it slightly less frustrating.

The Ogre Battle series had systems like that, if a character fell they could be revived within a set time frame, and if you didn't save them they had a chance of becoming a zombie or some other unit, so instead of losing them altogether they'd just become far less effective.

Well, I have to admit that it's very annoying when you lose one of your good characters, but I still love the mechanic. It makes me incredibly frustrated to lose a character and I start rounds all over, but it adds a little realism. However if it is because someone who got 10% chance of hitting you and 1% chance of critical hit gets 2 critical hits and I die from it. Then I get so pissed off I usually turn it off and try again later.

OH! Accuracy and Critical hit rates, that's another thing that pisses me off. Maybe it's just me, but any time a character in any rpg has a hit rate of less than 85% they are guaranteed to miss all the time. If an enemy has a hit rate of any higher than 20% they are guaranteed a hit. It's so skewed against your favour it's not funny.

 

[penguindude42]

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

It really says something when the protaganist's younger self is smarter than anyone else he's escorted. :/

 

[Inkidu]

Feeling unimportant. Luckily most games do a good job of this but MMORPGs blow at it. In a land where everyone's a hero, no one is.

 

[CleverCover]

Highly annoying characters: I'll try and get used to them, but it's at least five points against a game. I can't even watch my brother play Star Ocean on the 360 because I hate the main two with a passion.

Lack of a story: My favorite games are my favorite because of the story. The ones I didn't like didn't really seem to have one. Or have one that's important.

Linearity: I like exploration. No exploration=no fun for me

Difficult controls: It loses all immersion if I can't control the character easily.

Timed Missions: It makes me super anxious and I end of failing because I can never process what I'm doing while staring at the time remaining screen. Always puts me off.

And..that's it. I think.

 

[Proyoginator]

simple puzzles. it sounds weird, but i always tend to over think it.