Thirith on 29/9/2016 at 10:43
Okay, disregard the love/hate hyperbole - but have you ever played games that you generally disliked, yet there was this one (mainly gameplay) element that you really dug and that kept you playing a game you weren't actually all that keen on?
Or, the other way around, have you had games that you adored, yet this one part of it would drive you up the wall?
twisty on 29/9/2016 at 12:07
Re the first scenario, Minecraft fits that to some extent for me. In many ways it feels unfinished, like an "unbaked" dromed map, yet I've persevered with it mainly for it's powerful creation collaboration abilities (it's selling point, obviously) as it is a kind of digital lego set that I play with my 5yo son.
The second scenario is a little easier to think of examples for, as there are quite a few games that spring to mind. Indigo Prophecy was quite good overall but was greatly let down by those annoying Simon Says QTEs. Most games with QTEs fit that description though. The Animus was also a major annoyance for the first Assassin's Creed, which detracted away from the rest of the game which I mainly enjoyed as an exploration game more than anything else.
I gather you had some games in mind when you posted this thread :p
bleaksand on 29/9/2016 at 12:10
Found the boss battles of Far Cry 3 just annoying.
Thirith on 29/9/2016 at 12:16
Quote Posted by twisty
I gather you had some games in mind when you posted this thread :p
I actually didn't - the question came to my mind, perhaps because of a review or retrospective I'd read, but even when wracking my brains I can't come up with anything along those lines. Might just be tiredness and accordingly dodgy memory, mind you. ;)
TannisRoot on 29/9/2016 at 13:42
The good:
Immersive Atmosphere - Stalker Shadows of Chernobyl is undeniably a very flawed game, but damn if it's not one of my favorites. The atmosphere keeps bringing me back and allows me to forgive so much.
The bad:
Much too Accurate Quest Markers / GPS: Too often a crutch for poor game design. It sucks the fun out of exploration and immersion, mainly because environments designed with this crutch are uninteresting to explore to begin with. No need for prominent landmarks, subtle signposting, good quest text, environments that make sense...etc Quit Skyrim because of this
Too many interactable NPCs / Doors that do nothing: the designer wants to make an area feel huge and alive, so what do they do? Cut and paste NPCs and doors that allow you to interact with them but provide nothing of interest. These are just time wasters and if their goal is immersion they achieve exactly the opposite. What's the tally on doors in the Silent Hill series that display the message, "I cannot open the door, the lock is broken"? Quit FFXII because of this.
Making me mash a button just to open a chest: I was thinking about picking up GoW3 but then remembered this bit of bullshit from GoW2 that was probably designed to wear out game pads.
Malf on 29/9/2016 at 13:53
For a while now, I've been learning to hate the concept of levelling up. I've always had a problem with having to discard a weapon because I've found one that behaves the same but has slightly better stats, but I'm beginning to think that the concept of "levelling up" as a whole is tired and needs to be addressed.
As mentioned in the music thread, Witcher 3 is one of my favourite games of recent times, if not ever, but the conceit that after playing the previous two games I still have to level up Geralt is annoying. It's also ridiculous having to spend a fortune on crafting gear when because of the way the levelling system works, it becomes redundant once you're 4-5 levels above the level required to use said gear.
I think the original Guild Wars started out with the right idea; set a very low, easily attainable maximum level for characters, limit the amount of skills they can have enabled at any one time, but then expand the pool of skills they can choose from massively, so that there's always some new approach to try. In addition, weapons with "perfect" stats were easily obtainable; the real end-game became about obtaining rare and prestige appearances for weapons and armour, as well as hunting for skills to expand your repertoire with.
henke on 29/9/2016 at 16:20
Quote Posted by bleaksand
Found the boss battles of Far Cry 3 just annoying.
Yes, those damn QTE boss battles!
Also the QTE boss battle at the end of Dying Light. And those in Shenmue 2 and The Order. And the QTEs in any game ever.
TannisRoot on 29/9/2016 at 16:22
If the game designers failed to make the level up aspect relevant and only a treadmill then that's on them. Sometimes XL are merely a mechanically enforced difficulty curve that forces you to log a certain amount of arbitrary grind time before allowing you to move on. That definitely sucks. Is W3 like that?
Malleus on 29/9/2016 at 16:22
@Malf
Man, I so agree with the Witcher complaint. It even creates a bunch of stupid scenarios like when you arrive in the city early game, and you find a blacksmith shop. You go in, thinking 'I'll repair my stuff and maybe buy/sell things', but a cutscene/dialogue is triggered, in which it becomes apparent that the blacksmith is in trouble and urgently needs your help. You agree to help him, because hey, why not unlock this guy right now, only to notice that the quest is x levels above you and you can't reasonably do it. And it being x levels above you means only that the street thugs you encounter have much higher hp/damage than the identical looking street thugs in other places of the city. And you just agreed to meet this guy in a certain location by starting the quest, but you have to break off and do something else instead. I't the most arbitrary videogame bullshit ever.
Speaking of leveling, if a game is linearish, it's gonna be designed in a way, that as you get stronger, you also meet stronger enemies anyway, so what's even the point? A leveling system can be used to gate off areas in more open games (like how W3 tries to do), but some of those game scale enemies to you to some degree (like Beth games) so what's even the point again? At least talking about the numbers thing - doing the same with unique abilities and skills makes more sense (like in Metroidvanias). The Guild Wars example you mentioned sounds better too.
Although the history of gaming proves that people do like to see numbers go up. Leveling makes it look like you accomplished something, a kind of reward, regularly throughout the game, so I don't know. I certainly got tired of it as well though.
Pyrian on 29/9/2016 at 16:58
Would it have been so hard to just program the quest hook to not trigger below a certain level or something? :P Lots of games do that.
Way back in D&D 1st edition, I used to play wizards, in large part because when I leveled up, I wanted new abilities instead of just higher numbers. The whole thing where leveling up just means that the numbers on both sides go up never sat well with me. Having games around like Deus Ex where "leveling" means grabbing a new ability more or less directly just makes the whole "numbers leveling" seem downright obsolete.
