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Your gaming gripes? (1 Viewer)

Yoshi Sugawara

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Nov 13, 2000
Messages
206
I've been playing games for sometime now, and there are certain things that really irk me:

- Annoying bugs, spiders, bats, mechanical frogs, crabs in first-person shooters. I can understand why the crabs are in Half-Life, since they are part of the story, but what about the little critters in the crystal mines in Jedi Knight 2?? Who decided that they're fun to shoot at?

- Obligatory "stealth" levels in first-person games. Yeah, stealth is fun, but only in the context of the game. Do we really need a stealth level in action-heavy Red Faction, or even in Jedi Knight II? I like one caption I read in IGN for their Red Faction review: "I'm playing in stealth mode, which means I kill twenty of the thirty guys in the level."

- Jumping "puzzles" in first person games. I want to play Jedi Knight, not Super Mario 64.

- Bosses that have stronger "forms" in console games. You thought you beat them, but they morph into something bigger.

- Magic that becomes useless in console RPGs. Sure, the sleep spell works when you're like level 5, but do you ever think of using it at higher levels?

I'm sure there are more - do any of you have any?
 

Dave Falasco

Screenwriter
Joined
Oct 2, 2000
Messages
1,185
I have two gripes that seem to be contradictory: videogames that start out easy and then skyrocket right into impossible without ever stopping at "challenging but possible", and cheat codes.

I find a lot of racing games to be guilty of the first sin--I loved Project Gotham, but once I got to a certain point, there was just no way I was going to invest the couple of hours per track it would take to advance. I rented Rallisport and found the same thing--I could crash 20 times on the first four races and still finish first, but after that I needed to be almost flawless to finish top three. I'm not saying that is a fault of the game--if it was all easy that would be no good either. It was just frustrating for me to realize that I wasn't going to get to play 2/3rds of Gotham because I wasn't willing to spend 3 hours trying to go from 1800 kudos to 2400.

On the other hand, I hate cheat codes. HATE THEM! My brother-in-law also bought Gotham, and after one day he decided he was going to plug in the infamous unlock code. Okay, great, now he's got the Ferraris and the Porches, and he spent maybe another day playing with them. But he hasn't played it since, because...what's the point? Everything is already unlocked! That's why I'm so glad Tony Hawk 3 was set up the way it was for Xbox--no cheat codes until you beat the game with a certain number of characters. How can you possibly get good at that game if you keep moon physics on all the time? If you can't finish a game without cheating, then it should stay unfinished.

Um...okay, preach mode off. :b
 

Morgan Jolley

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2000
Messages
9,712
My largest gripe with games is not being able to do what I want. Why can't I battle my characters in FFX against my buddies'? Why are the rooms that are locked if you never unlock them? Why do some games require you to play from the beginning to see all the cool stuff again?
 

Paul Richardson

Second Unit
Joined
Jun 25, 2000
Messages
412
I've got a lot of pet peeves:
"Realism" in RPGs. In real life, it is necessary for a person to eat and sleep on a regular basis. But this turns into a major chore when you are supposed to be playing a game.
Non-intuitive puzzles. These are commonplace in adventure games. Basically you go into a room and click on every pixel until you find one that does something. You then proceed to "USE' every item you are carrying on that pixel until one works. Very frustrating.
Having to replay the same sequence again and again. You know the drill: blast your way through 15 minutes of baddies, get to the boss, and get killed in 5 seconds. You then have to play through the 15 minutes of baddies once more so that you can try a new strategy against the boss. Rinse and repeat.
Having to make "Decisions" that have no effect on gameplay. Golden Sun is full of these. "Do you accept this quest? YES/NO" Regardless of what you pick, the outcome is the same, so why not eliminate it completely?
 

MikeAlletto

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2000
Messages
2,369
My current largest problem is when bad guys can see and shoot you from ungodly distances and you can't even target them. Or "cheating" AI. Play by the same rules that the player does. If you can't program the AI to be somewhat intelligent then find someone who can instead of giving them super powers. I can't tell you how many times I get shot through trees and bushes by the bad guys, if I can't see through them, they shouldn't be able to either.

I hate trying to target little tiny rat sized creatures...annoying. I hate getting into a game and then finding a book or something and having to read pages of text...argh...just give me the cliff note version.

Long load times. Oh thats annoying.

Final bosses that take a ton of hits but their image on the screen does not show any armor, what they got superskin?
 

Chris Bardon

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2000
Messages
2,059
My biggest one-enemies in games have to have acidic skin-why does just TOUCHING an enemy make you take damage-why are they not taking damage when they touch you?

As for the AI comment Mike-there's no way that an AI that will be even remotely competitive with Humans is possible without some amount of cheating. Being able to give bots information like level layouts makes it so that games can actually run in realtime. There are a lot of tricks that you can use in programming AI to make the bots fallable, but the point is that if you wanted a bot to play with only the information a human player gets, it would add way too much overhead to the game, and you really wouldn't be happy with the results.
 

Larry Seno Jr.

Supporting Actor
Joined
Feb 28, 2002
Messages
527
I HATE it in FPS games when you shoot a bad guy that is standing next to other bad guys. He will die, and presumably spray blood from my large caliber sniper rifle, and EVERYONE near him just sits there like nothing happened.
 

Andy Sheets

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2000
Messages
2,377
My biggest one-enemies in games have to have acidic skin-why does just TOUCHING an enemy make you take damage-why are they not taking damage when they touch you?
Seconded. Especially back in the 16-bit and earlier periods. As I recall, that was when I had to put up with that ridiculous way of dying the most. "What, I died? I jumped on the guy's head! Why am I the one dying?!"
 

Andre F

Screenwriter
Joined
Dec 9, 2000
Messages
1,486
My gripe is with games that are in the dark. The best example I can think of is the Spider-Man the Movie. In the first level you can't even see where you are going half the time. This really frustrates me.
-Andre F
 

Camp

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 3, 1999
Messages
2,301
Obligatory "stealth" levels in first-person games. Yeah, stealth is fun, but only in the context of the game. Do we really need a stealth level in action-heavy Red Faction, or even in Jedi Knight II? I like one caption I read in IGN for their Red Faction review: "I'm playing in stealth mode, which means I kill twenty of the thirty guys in the level."
I cannot agree more. They try to add variety but only end up breaking the flow of the game. This isn't just FPS games though, I seem to remember Command & Conquer having the single commando levels which sucked royaly.
 

Alex Spindler

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2000
Messages
3,971
That so many heroes have failed to learn to swim, and died for it. Just a few hours at the Y and the universe would have been saved many times over.

Sigh
 

Morgan Jolley

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2000
Messages
9,712
One thing that pissed me off was how in Shenmue you had TOO much free time. I want to do something other than run around and "practice" fighting, but alas, the realistic elements of the game get in the way.

Another one I'm sure most of us agree with: backtracking.
 

Joseph Young

Screenwriter
Joined
Oct 30, 2001
Messages
1,352
'Cheating AI' in racing games like Hydro Thunder and 4 Wheel Thunder. Ridiculous, the game starts you 13 cars behind and requires you to pick up endless speed boosts for even a chance to catch up. Meanwhile the computer vehicles are flawlessly maneuvering the track at top speed. Even if you get 2nd place, the game announces, "YOU LOSE!!!" In fact, the game takes pleasure in announcing GAME OVER or YOU LOSE if you don't play a perfect game.. how mean spirited... :D
No map feature in exploration games where backtracking is necessary. Metroid 2 for the GBC needs a map feature, period.
Scavenger hunt/item collection, especially in Rare games like Jet Force Gemini, where the items you get are not saved to your inventory unless you completely pass the level, which is impossible when the items can be destroyed by the enemy.
Having to wait through endless cut sequences and exposition, especially if you can't press start to skip.
Games that don't autosense save files when multiple memory cards are plugged into the system or controller (this applies specifically to the PS2 and DC).
Joseph
 

Dave F

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 15, 1999
Messages
2,885
Crates. I hate 'em! I hate pushing them around & I hate climbing on them!

Any game with crates has a 98% chance of suckitude.

-Dave
 

Jason Hughes

Supporting Actor
Joined
Oct 17, 1998
Messages
885
Real Name
Jason Hughes
Similar to what Andre F said. I hate dark games. The problem can usually be taken care of by adjusting the brightness on your TV, but then you have to set it back to where it was before for TV shows or movies (which I usually forget to do and then either myself or others wonder why everthing is so bright).
 

Marshall Alsup

Second Unit
Joined
Jul 9, 2001
Messages
497
I hate the way you cant do what you want in an RPG lately. In FFX I had to stop playing because its so damn linear.
Do you guys remember Dragon Warrior for the NES? You could go wherever you wanted. Sure, you'd die if you tried to go much beyond certain areas but you could still go there if you wanted. Now days you cant do shit but follow a straight line :angry:
Maybe old skool RPGs are dead.
-Marshall
 

Jeremy Illingworth

Supporting Actor
Joined
Nov 12, 2000
Messages
535
I agree with shooting little tiny creatures in FPSs.

I also agree with collecing Ewoks in Jet Force Jemini. It might be fun for some but I would rather it were used for bonus items (like collecting heads) rather than have it be mandatory.

I also hate impossible difficult games (Super Monkey Ball expert stages) because I can't spend the time anymore. I have no problem with hard, but some games are too impossible.

I hate gamers (usually on message boards) who demand cheat codes the instant a game is out. You can't even wait a week to cheat?

jeremy
 

Chris Tsutsui

Screenwriter
Joined
Feb 1, 2002
Messages
1,865
My gripe is invisible walls in games where you want to go somewhere out of bounds but some invisible wall blocks your path.
Catch up in a few racing games when you are beating the cpu competition so well that the computer catches up somehow. The computer also slows down if you are losing by a long distance.
I'm also tired of retarded A.I. No matter how advanced the box says the AI is, they end up being plain dumb and predictable. This goes for a lot of RTS games and FPS games like quake3 (Nightmare bots can be so dumb)
I don't like games when It requires holding their breath underwater. Usually I just drown the character just to see what it looks like.
I don't like RPGs that have so many different choices and paths that I have to try each one just to see something lame happen.
I don't like games that give you % numbers at the end stating that you didn't do everything you could therefore you do not get a medal. (Like secrets found = 0%)
I don't like dying after I forgot to save
I don't like it when I save on accident in a position when I'm about to die.
I don't like it when I accidently load when I meant to save.
I don't like it when I get stuck in a level
I don't like it when I lose in multiplayer
I don't like hackers, discers, lamers, cheaters, newbies, liars, and bots.
But in the end, it's all worth while when you fall in love with that female character. ;)
 

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