Elements you love in games you hate (or vice versa)

Shadowcat on 16/10/2016 at 05:45

Unless the game is literally impossible for anyone to play, spoilers are still spoilers. I read books and watch films which are far older than that, and spoilers for those are every bit as annoying as spoilers for something brand new. Games are no different. Use the spoiler tags -- it's what they're there for.

Starker on 16/10/2016 at 06:41

Quote Posted by Volitions Advocate

Or Nei in Phantasy Star II (not sure spoiler tags are needed. PS2 is like 27 years old at this point)

I was actually just going to play it... I never had a Sega Genesis back in the day and I only recently picked it up on Steam.

icemann on 16/10/2016 at 16:40

Quote Posted by Volitions Advocate

Or Nei in Phantasy Star II (not sure spoiler tags are needed. PS2 is like 27 years old at this point)

Speaking of which - I HATE when games kill off a party member when there is already a resurrection spell that would otherwise bring them back that you've been using in a thousand and 1 battles to that point. Immersion breaker.

Some other things I hate in games I love:

* Invisible walls or piles of debris that you could so easily jump over - Used to block the player from moving beyond those points
* The illusion of choice that is used in some games *cough*Fallout 4*cough* where all choices really don't make a difference in the end result. To give an example - inFamous 1 on the PS3 had this one bit where you can either "Save" your girlfriend or some random civilian. Trouble being that no matter which you choose she dies. Grrr.
* Forcing the player to do a morally bad objective when they'd normally have choices to do it or not - Just had this happen to me in the Far Harbor DLC for Fallout 4. You get this quest to go with a sailor in search of a *evil sea monster* with red torches for eyes. Then you get to the destination and it's a cute little sea crab essentially. Harmless. Then your forced to kill it. That's just bullshit. The game gives you no choice at all as your stuck on a small island with no way out unless you shoot the defenceless little thing. Grrrr. It's a shame too as Far Harbor actually let's you choose how to do things a fair bit more than the main game does.
* Games where you have a choice of endings, but their all bad choices. So no matter what you pick everyone is fucked. Deus Ex and Mass Effect 3 come to mind here.

Jason Moyer on 17/10/2016 at 02:32

I think the only games with choices that I like are the ones where every choice is bad. It feels more realistic, tbh.

TannisRoot on 18/10/2016 at 12:40

I hate when a boss fight is interrupted mid fight with a cut-scene. This is especially annoying when said cut scene is the boss powering up or transforming - why would my character give the boss a breather to transform?

I also hate when bosses talk excepting maybe a one liner before the fight a la "Not even death can save you from me," in Diablo 2. Talking almost always removes the boss' menace.

Both blunders can be seen in the Ludwig fight from Bloodborne and it really kills what would otherwise be a terrifying boss fight for me.

Thirith on 18/10/2016 at 14:15

I've finally got one: I hate the weight limit in The Witcher 3. I'm not that much of a packrat, but during the first 10-20 hours of this game I was constantly strapped for cash, and the best way I found to make money was to sell the weapons and armour I got from dead enemies - in other words, the heavy stuff. I don't mind weight- or space-limited inventories, but they should force me to make interesting decisions with respect to what I take along and what I leave at home (Darkest Dungeon does that pretty well IMO). In TW3 the limit seemed nothing more than a nuisance, yet I was too proud (read: stupid) to install a mod that would up the limit considerably.

icemann on 18/10/2016 at 14:29

FPS games with silly 2 weapon limits annoy me. Yes it's more realistic I know but come on.

Aja on 18/10/2016 at 14:39

Lots of games I like have sequences where I'm stuck to a car/boat/bathysphere and can't move except look around with a limited field of view, which I do not like. I always squirm and try to break free.

I've been replaying Dishonored lately, which is a good game, but I find it annoying how often the camera control is wrenched from you to force you to look at things.

Yakoob on 19/10/2016 at 02:19

Quote Posted by TannisRoot

Speaking of that, multi-level bosses where each time you beat them it transforms to a new one. I always end up using all the stocked up power ups or most damaging spells on the first form thinking it's the final one, and then I'm like "ah crap..."

In similar vain, endings that make you re-fight ALL the game bosses again before tackling the final boss. Grandia II is a guilty of that. Especially when Boss #2 turns out to be the hardest of the bunch (harder even than the actual final guy) ugh!

Quote Posted by Thirith

I hate the weight limit in The Witcher 3 ... I don't mind weight- or space-limited inventories, but they should force me to make interesting decisions ...

Aye, I know what you mean. RPGs which have tons of junk items or throw loot all the time are the worst, since it turns "making difficult choices" to "run back and forth to nearest city to sell" every twenty minutes. Torchlight had an interesting system where you could send your dog to the town to auto-sell loot for you instead of going all the way back, that was kind of a nice change.

How did Darkest Dungeon handle that? Still yet to play it.

Quote Posted by icemann

FPS games with silly 2 weapon limits annoy me. Yes it's more realistic I know but come on.

Hmm, I kind of grew to enjoy it, since it makes you customize your gameplay a bit more. It works best when there is no "bad option" just different playstyles (rather than "crap I ran out of ammo for the good weapon so now I have to use the crap ones). Enemy Front did that pretty well, as it made me consider if I want more of an upclose guns-blazing approach with an MP40 or pick enemies off a distance with a KAR or sniper. Original Halo was also good about it, since all the weapons felt pretty fun to use and, even tho I had my favorites, it was interesting to occasionally be forced to mix up my tactics when my favorite weapon wasn't around.

Thirith on 19/10/2016 at 17:15

@Yakoob: There's a smallish number of object types you can carry, and they all have clear functions. You have to balance risk and reward - do you drop some of the health items you've got in order to grab more treasure?

Oh, another Witcher 3 example: the quest "Stranger in a Strange Land". The game is usually better than forcing a stupid, illogical defeat at the hand of two yokels on the player.