Renault on 1/3/2018 at 21:52
Just wondering what irks the rest of you here as far as gaming features go. I search through Steam a lot looking for the next greatest thing, but usually these two traits rule a game out for me immediately and having me moving on to the next choice.
1) Procedurally generated levels - Some companies really try to sell this one hard, and I can see some advantages, but overall it's something I try to stay away from. I like levels and missions where some thought was put into the design, and everything is placed and routed for a specific reason or purpose. To me, procedural stuff often just ends up looking all samey and generic. That is what kills it for me with games like Spelunky and Binding of Isaac. Of course, there's exceptions - Don't Starve happens to be one of my favorite games of all time. But that's more for the survival/crafting aspects.
2) Turn-based - Not sure why, but I have a hard time with these, I just prefer real time. Could never get into Invisible Inc. or Xcom. I know way back in the day, I played some Final Fantasy, SNES era. Maybe it's a control issue, or maybe I'm too impatient. But I think it has more to do with fluidity. I want there to be consequences to not reacting promptly.
Aiight, how about you guys? The above stuff are major features that are core to gameplay, but it could be something minor too, like hating on enemies because they're blue.
dj_ivocha on 1/3/2018 at 22:25
Lootboxes.
Gazillion (mini-)DLCs that make it 1. hard to make sure you get everything and 2. make the end product freaking expensive.
Lootboxes.
Pay2Win.
Related to the above - lootboxes.
In-app-purchases, especially, but not only, for paid games.
PEOPLE WHO BUY LOOTBOXES, PAY2WIN AND IAPs! :mad:
More seriously, secrets/hidden items that influence the later game. Like in Jedi Knight or the challenge points in Shadows of the Empire. I feel that hunting for them detracts from the story and is mostly boring, while if I don't get them all I still feel that I've missed something from the game experience.
Another one is only giving you the most fun/awesome/overpowered weapon or ability at the very end, so you can never get to have enough fun with them. Like only giving you a BFG9000 or its equivalent for the end boss, who is so strong that you can't get a feel for how powerful the BFG9000 itself is. Unlike giving it to you early enough to be able to mow down 25 mooks with one shot, while needing three shotgun blasts for each of them.
Nameless Voice on 1/3/2018 at 22:47
Oh dear, I'm grumpy and hate a lot of things. How much time do you have?
1) Lowest common denominator design - This is a really popular trend, especially in AAA gaming. Trying to appeal to as many people as possible, but by adding features that are annoying at best, or actually lower the quality of the game at worst.
Some examples:
* Maps designed around the existence of quest markers and objective arrows, so that the levels themselves aren't designed to be memorable and navigable on their own merit - designers using navigation aids as a crutch to avoid having to do good level design.
* Constantly telling the player exactly what to do next without giving them a chance to think.
* Designing for the power level of the lowest system you want to support. Generally, this means PC games being poor console ports - I think the fact that Microsoft insist that XBox games are not too different from the PC versions helps spread this. The examples are everywhere:
* Awful control schemes not designed for a keyboard, with a limited number of buttons, often doing double-duty by holding down keys, and not providing options to bind a specific key to common actions (e.g. a key that you otherwise have to hold something else to use, or go through a menu to access.)
* Bad UIs with oversized text, designed to be usable on a distant TV from a sofa rather than up close on a PC monitor
* Annoying UI elements, such as keybind reminders, that constantly take up screen space and cannot be turned off.
(Worse, the keybinding reminders are often needed due to the aforementioned console-focused controls loving to re-use keys for different purposes.)
2) Unskippable intro videos - there is no excuse to ever do this. EVER. Stop making me poke around in your game files and manually delete them.
3) Intentionally bad controls - Yes, this one is about Starcraft. Games that make the controls intentionally bad as a form of "skill" gating, forcing players to be good at quickly performing repetitive and no-brainer actions, rather than focusing on the core of the game itself (e.g. strategy.)
4) RPG bonuses / perks that make no logical sense - for example, taking photographs of enemies allowing you to fit more money into your wallet.
5) Random points of no return - and this one is about Doom 4. That game liked to randomly cut off access to levels at certain "cutscene" sections, even when it made no logical sense to do so, and even though the game was otherwise open-ended.
Edit: I forgot one:
6) Off-centre third-person cameras - I hate these. I wouldn't go so far as to say that they make me feel sick, but they certainly disturb me. I found Dead Space really hard to play because of it.
Twist on 1/3/2018 at 22:56
Brethren, I take it you're not interested in Into The Breach? :cheeky:
I'm not sure if I have any feature that will cause me to outright veto a game; in the right context, for the right game, I'll tolerate any of these, but they often still annoy me:
1) Gratuitous, wildly flailing actions for a single simple button press. You just press a button and your character performs extensive, dramatic movements. I don't like having control taken away in this manner and it often just looks and feels silly and ridiculous to me. But Nier Automata kinda did this, and on the whole I still liked the game.
2) Competitive multiplayer games that don't give you access to bots to practice or just learn the game in the first place, especially if they don't even let you load the map to learn your way around a bit, even without bots. I don't play this sort of thing much anymore, but it's always been something that annoyed me.
3) Generally, I still think third-person cameras... need some work. I love Dark Souls, but even in those games the third-person camera can still be annoying or just head-shakingly silly (thank you so much for the underside close-up of a blade of grass when I wanted to look up!). I feel like third-person cameras are still in the pre-mouselook/WASD days of first-person games. Developers just haven't developed an elegant solution for placing and moving the third-person camera in all situations. I've wondered if VR could help. Having said all that, after Dark Souls helped me tolerate third-person cameras, I've gone back and enjoyed several games despite their annoying camera control.
4) Most boss fights. For example, where the mechanics of the fight have little to nothing to do with the rest of the game. Or fights where you just tediously wittle down the bullet sponge foozle by doing the same thing over and over (and over). Generally, I just don't like boss fights, which is again a little funny because I love Dark Souls. :erm:
5): Lootboxes and microtransactions suck on all kinds of levels. But this too, I'll tolerate, if the game is good and the microtransactions aren't required for proper play. They just won't get extra money from me. But even then it annoys me on some level, knowing I already paid for the game and yet it still has content I can't have without paying even more.
Harvester on 1/3/2018 at 23:02
1. Stealth levels where if you're seen, it's insta game over. This caused me to quit Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Beyond Good & Evil. I like stealth to be optional, like in Deus Ex. The stealth level in JK2: Jedi Outcast was acceptable too: if you're seen, people run to the alarms and when they sound the alarm, it's game over, but you can stop people from reaching the alarm by shooting them on time.
2. Adventure games where if you fail to pick up something or do something earlier, later on you cannot proceed and have to start over from the beginning. Looking at you, Sierra.
3. Adventure games where doing random stuff kills you, without there being a way to know beforehand. Like flushing the toilet in Larry 1 or walking across the bridge too many times in King's Quest 2. That last one is particularly bad, because you'll have played for many hours before you find out you can't reach the end of the game.
4. When in an FPS you walk too far in a certain direction and the path closes behind you, when you still haven't checked out everything in the previous area.
5. Checkpoints before a boss that aren't actually right before the boss, but require like 20 minutes of gameplay before you can try beating the boss again.
6. Pixel hunts in adventure games. I'm currently playing Machinarium. I like it, but several times it took me a long while before I found out this or that cluster of pixels is a usable item.
Jason Moyer on 1/3/2018 at 23:44
Open worlds that don't serve a purpose other than padding gametime and/or serving as a menu. I'm looking at you Mirror's Edge Catalyst.
demagogue on 2/3/2018 at 01:43
1.
Bling. I guess anything that would constitute bling like bouncing pop ups and in-world objects obnoxiously shimmering. Lootboxes might fall into this category.
2. (
http://www.reocities.com/aetus_kane/writing/cam.html)
Crimes against mimesis. Problems not puzzles; no author mind-reading. The world & its objects should make some semblance of sense, unless there's some really good reason not too (like it's actually funny). Included in here are also puzzles that require pre-existing knowledge and create unwinnable situations.
3.
The god in the machine. Maybe related to that, this one is kind of hard to explain, but I don't like a game world where you feel like the author is the god of the world lurking in every corner, from the overall plot arc to the simple mechanics of doors and bullets, benevolently tossing gifts to you or little challenges that you can feel make him smirk when you curse him for it. I'd rather a game world that not even the creator has control over, that's authentically its own thing.
McTaffer on 2/3/2018 at 04:08
In no particular order...
1. The Commute- Either an open world or an overworld that feels at least kind of nice to explore in the beginning of the game, but just turns into something to rush through later in order to get to the real action.
2. The Turret Section- This isn't a deal breaker for me, but I always roll my eyes when one shows up.
3. Horror entirely reliant on jumpscares- I like horror when it's tension based, but not if it's just an obnoxious set of monster closets.
4. The Time Limit- I tend to like to take my time, think things out, and explore. If I'm not allowed to do that I tend to enjoy the experience less.
5. The Escort Mission- Some games have handled it alright (Bioshock Infinite, The Last of Us), but most of them can die in a fire.
6. Checkpoint Saves- This one is nearly impossible to avoid in games these days, but I still internally shake my fist at games that won't let me manually save.
Sulphur on 2/3/2018 at 04:22
Quote Posted by Harvester
5. Checkpoints before a boss that aren't actually right before the boss, but require like 20 minutes of gameplay before you can try beating the boss again.
This. Or checkpoints placed before a boss battle that has a long, usually unskippable cutscene first. WHY DO YOU DO THIS, GAMEDEVS
Starker on 2/3/2018 at 05:33
Third person cover-based shooting. It's enough to immediately lower my opinion of a game, with perhaps the only exception of Vanquish.