Annoying, but still always existing things in video games.

[jarbAin]

There are a lot of good video games. There are also many very different genres. But still, it seems that no matter the game, genre, publisher, audience or anything like that, there seems to always be something stupid things that no one seems to like, and there will probably always be, as if the developers never learn what players like.
I'll list a few in my opinion unnecessary things.

-Sever levels. This is more of a cliche than a real problem. I just wonder, what makes game developers think that it is really mandatory to have your little virtual character running in waist high raw sewage in some point of the game? (THPS4. seriously?)

-Water levels. Just throw away all the good stuff in the game and put your character in water. I'm extremely annoyed by these, because it's just changing the controls into awkward mess, and the most difficulty comes from the fact that your character is hard to control. (Too many examples, and Kingdom Hearts, why would you do this to us?)

-Minigames that just aren't connected to the game very much and aren't even funny. So many games just throw in some minigames, that are either hard to play because of that they don't actually work, or so easy that you are about to fall asleep. This is bad because many games are very good, but then minigames remove all that is good for the sake of unnecessary change. (Kingdom Hearts, i'm looking at you.) There are also good minigames, I won't deny that.

These three come to mind first. My opinion is probably pretty generic, but it might not matter.

Now then tell me, what unnecessary features in video games are you sick of.

 

[finalark]

ESCORT QUESTS.

When will devs realize that being dragged down by a slow, defenseless NPC with brain-dead AI is not fun?

 

[Fyrefox]

Unskippable cutscenes; Nintendo, I'm talking to you!

 

[FamilyTeam]

I don't mind water levels that much, but probably because I played way too many SMW Hacks to count, so I can play them no problem.

I think any kind of artificial difficulty is unnaceptable. Trying and error/memorization is one thing, but having to do something over and over just because teh devs didn't know how to make something difficult so they just did something cheap ain't fun.

 

[finalark]

That crap devs pull to artificially lengthen games where you play through a series of levels and then have to play through those same exact levels all over again with minor (or no) differences.

 

[Hypertonic_J]

Math puzzles, keep that **** in school!

 

[Shiida]

spam and water levels

 

[LancerStaff]

RNG. Well, badly implemented RNG. RNG's important because it keeps things from literally being the same every time, namely boss fights. Other times, such as randomizing gimmicks or puzzles, can be okay too but that's rather counterproductive if the game has a proper time/score attack mode. But then there's times where a boss's invincible attack/healing is randomized or where there's ridiculously low odds for a drop with no way of decently increasing it. That's just BS.

 

[finalark]

RNG. Well, badly implemented RNG. RNG's important because it keeps things from literally being the same every time, namely boss fights. Other times, such as randomizing gimmicks or puzzles, can be okay too but that's rather counterproductive if the game has a proper time/score attack mode. But then there's times where a boss's invincible attack/healing is randomized or where there's ridiculously low odds for a drop with no way of decently increasing it. That's just BS.

Or you have cases like that stupid RNG door code in Silent Hill 2 that is literally trial and error while your health gets chipped away.

 

[Substitution]

Fake difficulty. Like giving the AI an unfair advantage, or abusing trial and error gameplay. Because what can be more fun than pissing the player off with good game design?

Alternatively, games that actively cut or limit content for microtransations or DLC. Bonus points go to the games where you pay full retail price and this bull practice (looking at you MGSV).

 

[LancerStaff]

Fake difficulty. Like giving the AI an unfair advantage, or abusing trial and error gameplay. Because what can be more fun than pissing the player off with good game design?

Giving the AI an advantage isn't inherently bad design since they're usually at a disadvantage by default, and as long as the advantage is simple like more damage or never dropping a combo it's fine. Smash 4 AI... Well yeah.

 

[FamilyTeam]

Trial and error and memorization can actually be really good design if they're justified and well executed. Not every game needs those, at all. To me, it's mostly arcade or arcade-like games that benefit the most from that. Basically: the more you try different things, and the more you play the game, you'll find sutff that doesn't work so you won't try it again, and you'll get better at the game and know from where things are coming.
This is why next to no people can 1CC a Touhou game on their first try, the game thrives on you failing to beat the game atleast a couple of times for you to get enough gameplay time for the game not to feel like a waste, since the games are pretty short otherwise.

 

[Ocarina Stealer]

Steam Early Access games that get abandoned for no clear reason.
And constantly there are terrible unfinished games finding their way onto Steam which is annoying. (*cough*SlaughteringGrounds*cough*)

 

[wedl!!]

Steam needs better Greenlight moderation tbh. The platform is a great concept that gets exploited because they honestly don't give a **** what goes up and gets accepted.

 

[KingofPhantoms]

That annoying tune or beeping noise that always plays when you're at low health in numerous video games.

Yes, game developers, I'm well aware my character is on the verge of death. I don't need to be reminded literally every second by a beeping noise that plays until I can finally manage to get some health back.

I'd much prefer if they would utilize such sound cues for only a few seconds after you've dropped to low health, as a warning just in case you weren't paying attention at first. I see no good reason for them to make the noise go on forever until you actually do get some health back.

 

[FamilyTeam]

That annoying tune or beeping noise that always plays when you're at low health in numerous video games.

Yes, game developers, I'm well aware my character is on the verge of death. I don't need to be reminded literally every second by a beeping noise that plays until I can finally manage to get some health back.

I'd much prefer if they would utilize such sound cues for only a few seconds after you've dropped to low health, as a warning just in case you weren't paying attention at first. I see no good reason for them to make the noise go on forever until you actually do get some health back.

I must be one of the few people that really, really don't mind that. That's not to say I'm against alternative methods of warning you about your low health, like how the Gen 5 Pokemon titles do it, by changing the music, or how the Gen 6 titles do it, by only quietly beeping for a few seconds after your health gets low.
But I do feel that constantly playing an annoying beep when your health is low adds a bit of tension to the situation. I mean, you do have a similar thing happening in real life: if you're really hurt or tired, you start to breathe very heavily and loudly, and that won't stop until you're feeling better.

 

[KingofPhantoms]

I must be one of the few people that really, really don't mind that. That's not to say I'm against alternative methods of warning you about your low health, like how the Gen 5 Pokemon titles do it, by changing the music, or how the Gen 6 titles do it, by only quietly beeping for a few seconds after your health gets low.
But I do feel that constantly playing an annoying beep when your health is low adds a bit of tension to the situation. I mean, you do have a similar thing happening in real life: if you're really hurt or tired, you start to breathe very heavily and loudly, and that won't stop until you're feeling better.

I can kinda get that, though for me the tension is only there for a short time or when I'm actually in a particularly tough situation.

Most of the time I'm just stuck listening to it while trying to look for some health sources, and if I don't have some success soon enough it goes from tense to irritating.

 

[FamilyTeam]

I can kinda get that, though for me the tension is only there for a short time or when I'm actually in a particularly tough situation.

Most of the time I'm just stuck listening to it while trying to look for some health sources, and if I don't have some success soon enough it goes from tense to irritating.

It could be interesting if the beeping only played when you were in danger, or if your health slowly regenerated when you were outside of battle and undamaged for long, like Minecraft does.

 

[Kritzkrieg]

RNG. I have particularly bad luck when it comes to video games, especially those with entirely luck based missions (Mario Party comes to mind). Also, there is an entire existing list of really bad game mechanics (TV Tropes - Scrappy Mechanic).

 

[wingedarcher7]

Wonky cameras.

Some people seriously need to get better play testers for stuff like this. Trying to get through a game where you're going against the camera more than the problem your character is facing, only to end up running up against a wall or not being able to properly see something you need to be looking at can be incredibly frustrating and nearly enough to stop playing the game sometimes.

 

[LancerStaff]

Don't really mind the beeping... Dumb in turn-based RPGs but I don't mind much, and in more action-y games you usually want to heal ASAP anyway. Like, the siren in KH is basically the most irritating thing ever but then you've either got invincibility on cure or you're playing at level 1 the entire time and are going to die in one or two hits anyway.

 

[TryrushDeppy]

Giving the AI an advantage isn't inherently bad design since they're usually at a disadvantage by default, and as long as the advantage is simple like more damage or never dropping a combo it's fine. Smash 4 AI... Well yeah.

Just ran into a great example of this in Battletoads Arcade. In the fight with Big Blag, if you're too aggressive and try to overwhelm him enough to prevent him from attacking, he eventually does a very damaging, uninterruptable combo breaker while yelling "Sucker!!" A few of the bosses in Ninja Gaiden (Xbox) and Devil's Third have similar behaviors.

Battletoads Arcade is undeniably a quarter muncher with a huge number of cheap shots (probably more than the NES version), but gaining an understanding of crowd control, invincibility frames and safe attack strategies for each enemy type will definitely reduce your amount of continues needed. It's probably the only 2D beat-em-up where you're actually safer with enemies on both sides of you, because that's the only time you can use the Toads' invincible get-offa-me spin attack.

 

[Ocarina Stealer]

Also another PC related one, companies need to stop ******* up ports to Steam. For example I bought TOS on Steam for better graphics and an enhanced experience but Namco screwed it up. So so so many bugs sometimes the game doesn't even want to boot up. The Gamecube LOOKS BETTER, yes not only they couldn't even improve graphics of a console released two generations ago but they made it worse. HOW? A modder made the game look better in 14 MINUTES! Could Namco not afford to take 14 minutes to improve the game?

Also most formerly disc only games coming to Steam have a terrible transition. Let's take GTR2 for example. First of all EA (greedy buggers) prevent Sector 3 Studios (devs who made GTR2) from putting Ferraris and Porsches into the game. But the game files are still in the game and when you race there are completely clay coloured cars racing around the track in the vague shape of the removed cars. You have to alter the game files to fix something they easily could have fixed themselves. Also unlike the disc version, mods crash the game a lot in certain scenarios. Like trying to skip a formation lap on a track I installed just crashed the game. Rubbish.

 

[Carrill]

Quick time events and games trying to be movies in general.

I don't mind it if a game attempts a cinematic style but retains a strong interactive component. I just hate it games forget to be interactive works.

 

[jarbAin]

I actually don't mind the beeping either, at least during battle. Then again, when battle is over, and no danger is present, i don't like the beeping, as it disturbs the peace there is between battles.

 

[FamilyTeam]

Quick time events and games trying to be movies in general.

I don't mind it if a game attempts a cinematic style but retains a strong interactive component. I just hate it games forget to be interactive works.

Badly executed QTEs can be really bad. But, for example, if a game revolves solely around quick reflexes, then they can be merged pretty seamlessly into gameplay.

 

[LancerStaff]

Just ran into a great example of this in Battletoads Arcade. In the fight with Big Blag, if you're too aggressive and try to overwhelm him enough to prevent him from attacking, he eventually does a very damaging, uninterruptable combo breaker while yelling "Sucker!!" A few of the bosses in Ninja Gaiden (Xbox) and Devil's Third have similar behaviors.

Kingdom Hearts, too. The mechanic is called revenge value and works exactly like you said. Combo an enemy too long and they'll break out and whack you with some super attack and return to a neutral stance. Very important mechanic to have in beat-em-ups and action RPGs, because otherwise you could just infi-combo everything to death.

 

[Kero the Invincible]

I would say, obscure unlockables.

I don't mind when games reward you for thinking on your feet. I do mind, however, when games drop absolutely no hints about certain things, then expect you to do something ridiculous or counter-intuitive in the hopes that it might lead to some kind of reward.

For example, imagine you're partway through a game and you meet an NPC who says, "Oh, if only Otto hadn't gone to Ironforge, he wouldn't have fallen in the river. Why did such a fine blacksmith have to die so young?" And you think to yourself, "Didn't I meet a blacksmith named Otto before? Yeah! And he said something about his trip into town, and there was that other guy who said the bridge was shaky..." So, on your next playthrough, you make sure to sabotage Otto's wagon before he leaves. Then, when you're passing though Ravendale later on, "Look, it's Otto!" Apparently while he was repairing his wagon, the bridge to Ironforge fell through. Boy, he sure is lucky his wagon broke, or he might have fallen in the river! And then you check out the items he's selling and, "Wow! A really awesome item that you can't get anywhere else!" Drop some hints, let them figure it out, reward.

Now, imagine if Otto never hinted that he was going into town, and that the bridge was never brought up in conversation, and that nobody mentions anything about him after the fact. Suddenly, if you want that "really awesome item you can't get anywhere else", you have to; sabotage some random guy's wagon for absolutely no reason, go along on your merry way, notice said random guy somewhere down the road, listen as he regales you with some out-of-the-blue story about his mysterious good fortune, and THEN you understand why your random act of cruelty somehow led to a reward. And why did you do all this in the first place? Because you looked up a guide, and it told you to.

 

[jarbAin]

One thing that popped into my mind. Quests, that only require you to go talk to a pperson, and then go to talk to the quest giver, and then that person again and god only knows how many times you have to do it again. They're just boring and make no sense.

And also about the revenge value thing. I think it's justified, but the enemy should either just go invincible, and leap out of the range, or if they're going to do a mega counterattack, they should make it very clear, so you can end your combo. Otherwise, it's just punishing player for being good, which is the worst thing there is. (Hello, Blue shell !)

 

[finalark]

The fact that boss fights have seemingly become non-existent outside of flashy QTEs in most AAA games.

Although they seem to be making a comeback, thank god.

 

[TryrushDeppy]

There's a special place in hell for the few collectathon games that require you to collect every single item just to see the ending. The only examples I know of are Earthworm Jim 3D and Jet Force Gemini.

I love JFG, but trying to collect all the Tribals was so infuriating that I eventually said "screw you Rare, I beat the game back at Mizar's Palace" and gave up.

The fact that boss fights have seemingly become non-existent outside of flashy QTEs in most AAA games.

Yeah, MGSV's dearth of boss encounters (very uncharacteristic for the series) was a major disappointment.

 

[radio silent]

Bad writing, particularly in RPGs.

Take a Bethesda game, for instance. A depressingly large number of the quests in their games are straight-up garbage. It all feels so mechanical, like the NPCs are there solely to move you along some laundry list of boring checkpoints. They're like those weird automated sign shakers you see on the street every now and then.

The best part of an RPG is... well, the role-playing aspect of it. Putting yourself in the shoes of your character and getting absorbed in the narrative is kinda the whole deal. A huge part of why The Witcher 3 was like, my game of the year last year was because the writing was so good. Even the tiniest side quests in the middle of nowhere felt like actual interactions between actual characters. Dialogue felt like, uh, dialogue.

 

[A Very Nice Dishwasher]

That annoying tune or beeping noise that always plays when you're at low health in numerous video games.

Yes, game developers, I'm well aware my character is on the verge of death. I don't need to be reminded literally every second by a beeping noise that plays until I can finally manage to get some health back.

I'd much prefer if they would utilize such sound cues for only a few seconds after you've dropped to low health, as a warning just in case you weren't paying attention at first. I see no good reason for them to make the noise go on forever until you actually do get some health back.

I usually don't mind this. In most cases, I'm able to heal up before it gets really annoying.

Usually.

BUT THEN THERE'S POKÉMON GEN 5, WHERE THEY DECIDED TO MAKE AN ENTIRE SONG OUT OF IT. AND IT SEEMS THAT THE TIMES WHERE I'M LOW ON HEALTH THE MOST ARE DURING THE ELITE FOUR, THE FINAL N BATTLE, AND THE GHETSIS BATTLE, A.K.A. THE PARTS WITH SOME OF THE BEST MUSIC IN THE SERIES. IT GETS REALLY ANNOYING HAVING THE AMAZING MUSIC INTERRUPTED WITH THAT GARBAGE EVERY TIME MY POKÉMON'S HEALTH GETS KNOCKED DOWN BELOW 25 PERCENT (WHICH HAPPENS A LOT BECAUSE I DON'T TRAIN MANY REALLY DEFENSIVE POKÉMON) AND I HAVE TO TURN OFF THE VOLUME BECAUSE OTHERWISE I'M GOING TO GET A HEADACHE.

WHAT
WERE
THEY
THINKING?

 

[SonicvMario]

Knockback, Touch Damage, Day 1 DLC, On Disc DLC, Event Pokémon, Water Levels, One Level Gimmicks, RNG, Unneeded Motion Controls, Ice Physics, No Physical Manuals

 

[Xamad]

Auto-scrolling levels are terrible.

 

[GuffMcGufferson]

Day 1 DLC is pretty dumb. Why not wait a few weeks after the game has been released, THEN you can release that DLC.
Weird cameras and camera angles are pretty frustrating to work around, too.

 

[Sari]

Must be online to play offline:

I don't even have SFV, but the fact that people have been having their single-player games interrupted by a server disconnecting is just a pain. I see no benefit in forcing someone to always be online.

 

[finalark]

Must be online to play offline:

I don't even have SFV, but the fact that people have been having their single-player games interrupted by a server disconnecting is just a pain. I see no benefit in forcing someone to always be online.

You can play SFV offline with zero problems.

If you connect to the web at boot but disconnect during say, story mode, the game will inform you and then resume.

The night the game launched my friend and I played dozens of rounds locally without connecting to the net once.

Source: I actually own the game.

 

[Sari]

You can play SFV offline with zero problems.

If you connect to the web at boot but disconnect during say, story mode, the game will inform you and then resume.

The night the game launched my friend and I played dozens of rounds locally without connecting to the net once.

Source: I actually own the game.

Oh wow I didn't know that. Apparently tons of people were saying that getting disconnected during survival mode would cause you to be booted, but I haven't actually tested it.

 

[Ax^2]

You know what I hate? Hyping up a game and then find out its **** because of a drastic change of gameplay.

Oh... I play sonic games btw. Last time I got hyped was for a game on the Wii U. I got sonic boom and lost world. I hated all the changes from what they had going. Lost world was okay but still...


Why?....why...?