Game design choices that annoy you

[Mobius1aic]

Alrighty, let's hear them and please explain your thoughts and feelings on it, don't just give a an answer without any thought to it. Also no droning on about the Wii and it's assortment of shovelware please, let's try to keep this focused on more prominent games that people may recognize. M'kay I'll start.........

Quick regenerating health systems -
Of course Halo was a huge influence on the industry and this one design bit has only continued to become more prominent. From an accessibility issue, I understand the choice, but from a more realistic standpoint, I hate it. When I found out Project Origin had deviated to this, I was very unhappy. FEAR gave me sense of need to be prepared, not just blasting through. Honestly I'd like to see battlefield medicine take a more realistic role in games, much like Far Cry 2 where it's a necessity. Frankly I think MGS4's hybrid system was an excellent choice, as one can regenerate their health, but itself is based on other factors (items as well as Psych and stress meters). To say regenerating health gives devs a better control over the experience is a two sided issue, because it only simplifies their job and the players, but doesn't necessarily add to the experience when you can sit for a few seconds and get all your health back.

Let's stop the players from having fun and force them into stupid multiplayer objectives -
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and the upcoming Resistance 2 moved into this space of MP wants to put controls on the MP in some kind of effort to objectify the game. Battlefield 2 works because it's not dictating and battles create themselves based on players on either side, not because of some kind of objective placed out there for you to accomplish outside of a central one. Enemy Territory: QW's emphasis on having to repair the bridge or kill the communications array is frankly annoying and not exciting because it's the same game over and over. Resistance 2 wants to try and keep large scale battles from ever occuring by spreading out the combat on purpose, which kind of negates the purpose of having 60 player MP in the first place. Back to the BF series, small skirmishes and large battles can occur at anytime, and anywhere, depending on the random tendencies of individual players and tactics. Of course, there are certain places where these battles occur most, but even still the sheer number of factors involved create a different battle each time. Don't force me into an objective, I'll decide for myself.

 

[RobertR1]

I absolutely love the Halo/CoD4/Rainbow Six style health recharging. The only other option is squad based play like in BF2 where you have a medic healing your people. The rest, I don't care about.

 

[AlphaWolf]

I've never understood all the complaints about realism. Realistic would be if you get hit with a bullet you die or at the very least spend time in a hospital.

I'm not sure how that would work out in an online MP game. You get shot, rushed to the hospital, they deactivate your character for a couple of weeks to see if you survive. If you don't your account key is deleted. If they do they decide what (if any) disabilities your character now has to deal with. Perhaps a prosthetic limb or something.

There's just no way death/injury can be realistic in any modern battle type game if you want to allow the game play to flow. I can see it maybe working in a slower moving stealth game, but most multi-player games realism is just going to lead to increased down (waiting to respawn or whatever) time.

 

[Kittonwy]

I like health regen.

What I don't like is games that don't let you jump and climb over stuff, invisible walls are very annoying, especially when you see an object that is knee high and you have to go AROUND it, not cool, also vaulting shouldn't require a button prompt, that is also annoying, just map that to the jump button so when the player approaches a fence or something pressing jump would automatically let you vault over instead of waiting for a stupid prompt to show up.

 

[DeadlyNinja]

You know what I don't like? Weird design choices that are puzzle based!

For example, you know in Ocarina of Time, when you beat what's his name in a horse race, he locks Link and Epona in and you have to jump over the fence to get out. That caused me headaches because nowhere in the game can Epona jump a fence that high except for that one single area in the game. I mean, I never would have thought she could jump that high.

Same deal with an area in FF6. The monster that sucks you in and you find Gogo. You can sudden jump by pressing A. I mean, this is a feature that is literally used in .0001% of the entire freaking game. I never would have though pressing A would allow me to jump all of a sudden. That's what I hate.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I don't have a preference between health regen or health packs. I'll basically play a game with an damage system as long as it is fun and challenging. I haven't found that one system is inherently better than another.


My big gripes in games are:

- Cut scenes, even the slightly interactive ones. I want to play, not watch. Game designers should be finding better ways to deliver a story. If I wanted to sit and watch non-interactive storytelling, I'd watch a movie or tv.

- Grinding with infrequent saves. I hate feeling like I'm being forced to play, just to reach the next save point. There's nothing more annoying than having to leave your game on pause for hours because dinner was ready, you had to leave to go somewhere etc. Sometimes it just isn't acceptable to sit and play for an extra 30 minutes just to reach a save point.

- irrelevant micro-management. I really don't want to have to go to the gym and work out so I don't get fat in GTA, or eat so I don't starve.

- inconsistent controls. In Dead Rising you use one analog stick to aim with the camera and another analog stick to aim with weapons. What kind of crap is that?

- Skateboarding games that don't let you get off your board and walk around. Stupid Skate.

- waist height objects, walls and fences that cannot be scaled. Seriously, if you want to block my path and force me to go in a certain direction, put a real barrier in my path, not something that should be easily bypassed. This is pretty minor, but sometimes you're running around, trying to jump over a short wall only to find out the jump is impossible and you were supposed to go somewhere else.

- escort missions. keep the dumbass alive. Inept NPC characters that are totally feeble have been the bane of my gaming existence. See all of Dead Rising.

That's what's coming to mind right now.

 

[Mobius1aic]

On the note of controls I really like MGS4s and Uncharted's way of implementing a free camera during normal movement to a over the shoulder 3rd person for shooting. Really helps to free up movement that would otherwise feel sluggish with a fixed camera a la Gears of War.

Every game that came out after CoD2 should have a "step up and over" feature with really helped to deal with jumping over certain objects. I can't stand how bad BF2 is sometimes when all I'm trying to clear is a 2 foot high wall, and let's not get into all the other quirks and bugs related to ground movement either in that game.

Every shooter doesn't need a special ability feature. If you focus on the shooting and the action itself, you won't need some stupid extra "feature" like telekinesis or w/e. It works for Bioshock because it was an important part of the overall game in terms of story and actual problem solving/combat.

Terrible weapon/equipment design looks silly. Chunky armor, chunky weapons, God...........CHUNKY EVERYTHING (Yes I'm talking to you Cliffy B and everyone else at Epic). Haze had stupid looking weapons and armor too, didn't look very practical or made much sense. If they can't get past that, then they should hire Japanese game/anime mechanical designers, since alot of them were engineers or were becoming engineers at some point. Considering I'm an aircraft eficionado myself, I can't help but rip alot of these developers apart on how bad their design is both from an asthetics, practical, or game related standpoint.

For the love of God WW2 needs to just end.

HDR is becoming a scourge much like cell shading was years back. No game should build a large part of it's graphical systems based on HDR especially when it wastes alot of graphical potential in other areas that I'd consider more important (YEAH BUNGIE).

 

[Scott_Arm]

On the note of controls I really like MGS4s and Uncharted's way of implementing a free camera during normal movement to a over the shoulder 3rd person for shooting. Really helps to free up movement that would otherwise feel sluggish with a fixed camera a la Gears of War.

I'm actually playing through Gears of War right now, for the first time, and I didn't even realize that you couldn't position the camera until you mentioned it. I guess it obeys the fps controls where you strafe with the left stick and turn with the right stick? I'm on act5 and I don't even know how the controls work without thinking about it. I guess that's how far these control schemes have embedded into my brain. It's more instinctual for me.

 

[Mobius1aic]

I'm actually playing through Gears of War right now, for the first time, and I didn't even realize that you couldn't position the camera until you mentioned it. I guess it obeys the fps controls where you strafe with the left stick and turn with the right stick? I'm on act5 and I don't even know how the controls work without thinking about it. I guess that's how far these control schemes have embedded into my brain. It's more instinctual for me.

Over the shoulder puts you more inline with the character, however a more pulled out view allows you to feel more inline with the environment and the character in it I think. By using both, Uncharted and MGS4 really help to make sure you feel both, with MGS4 going a step further into a first person.

 

[obonicus]

I've never understood all the complaints about realism. Realistic would be if you get hit with a bullet you die or at the very least spend time in a hospital.

I'm not sure how that would work out in an online MP game. You get shot, rushed to the hospital, they deactivate your character for a couple of weeks to see if you survive. If you don't your account key is deleted. If they do they decide what (if any) disabilities your character now has to deal with. Perhaps a prosthetic limb or something.

There's just no way death/injury can be realistic in any modern battle type game if you want to allow the game play to flow. I can see it maybe working in a slower moving stealth game, but most multi-player games realism is just going to lead to increased down (waiting to respawn or whatever) time.

Counterstrike was a pretty popular game, last I checked (being out of the round until its over is pretty extreme, as downtimes go). Not my cup of tea, but not because of the respawns.

 

[TrungGap]

vaulting shouldn't require a button prompt, that is also annoying, just map that to the jump button so when the player approaches a fence or something pressing jump would automatically let you vault over instead of waiting for a stupid prompt to show up.

Totally agree with you here...Game designers should treat this as a terrain modifier as tool to enhance the gameplay. ie, slow you down...make aiming harder, etc.

- Cut scenes, even the slightly interactive ones. I want to play, not watch. Game designers should be finding better ways to deliver a story. If I wanted to sit and watch non-interactive storytelling, I'd watch a movie or tv.

Yeah, I agree with you here. Let's like the argument of going to a movie where your brain is in a passive state vs playing a game. Some would argue that it gives you some downtime (rest) before the next fight. However, most game stories aren't compelling enough to watch, with an exception of few.

- inconsistent controls. In Dead Rising you use one analog stick to aim with the camera and another analog stick to aim with weapons. What kind of crap is that?

Holy crap, i'm not the only one that have an issue with Dead Rising! I love the game, don't get me wrong, but the controls are terrible!!!

On the note of controls I really like MGS4s and Uncharted's way of implementing a free camera during normal movement to a over the shoulder 3rd person for shooting. Really helps to free up movement that would otherwise feel sluggish with a fixed camera a la Gears of War.

Different types of game will require different type of views. In GeoW, you really need first person view for snippering and the action is fast enough that running or staffing around you're not going to be adjusting the camera view. Most of the time, the subject matter will be in front of you.

Where as games like MGS4, you really need to know what's going around you, and you're probably not going to run and gun.

For the love of God WW2 needs to just end.

Yeah, for old timer like us, it probably need to end. However, I have nephews that are new to gaming, so it's all new them. They're loving it...

HDR is becoming a scourge much like cell shading was years back. No game should build a large part of it's graphical systems based on HDR especially when it wastes alot of graphical potential in other areas that I'd consider more important (YEAH BUNGIE).

I don't know...I kinda like it. It adds a subtle affect on game play. On some level, coming out of / into bright and shadow areas really change the dynamic of the gameplay.

Stuff I really can't stand:

1) FMV you can't skip. I know sometimes, they use that to hide loading, but clearly in some games, it's not there for loading.

2) Weird system menu control. For an example, in Just Cause, anytime you go into the system menu or pad, the analog stick doesn't control the selection, you have to move your finger off the analog stick to the digital pad to control it. While the analog stick is useless. What gives!?!?

3) Game with crappier FMV than in game engine. Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Man, the FMV is crappy, why can't they just use the in-game engine? The FMV seem to be generated on xbox 1 or something.

4) Game over upon death! Arg, come'on give us lousy gamers a fighting chance, at least give us a couple of retries.

 

[PARANOiA]

Recharging health is great - most games that don't have it in some form are limited in design based on the need to assume that on entering any event, you may only have, say, 30% health - and if you happen to have, say, 100% health, then the fight probably won't be a challenge for you. Sure it's not realistic, but neither is running over a white blob with a red cross on it and seeing your numerical physical condition plopping back up to 100%

Things that really grind my gears:

• Games that don't let me save anywhere, at least as a sleep mode. I don't ever want to be forced to lose progress because I feel like I've had enough gaming for that session, only to be forced to keep playing. It made me give up in the final stretch for a few games as of late because I want to have fun, not sit through your stupid design choice!
• Games with no subtitles. I usually play games with low/no sound due to my girlfriend hating gaming as a hobby, or maybe she wants to listen to music, or whatnot... Assassin's Creed, I'm looking at you... making me Gamefaqs to find out what to do because you I couldn't hear what I needed to do next is stupid.
• Non-skippable cut-scenes that are essential to gameplay progress. Let me skip - better yet, let me skip and watch again later. Especially if the 15 minute scene is just before a save point! Refer to point 1.
• 360 games asking me what device I want to save on. I have never used a memory card, and I only have one hard drive. Never, ever give me a choice of one option only. There's no choice!
• Escort missions. Aargh!

I'm sure I'll think of others

 

[Scott_Arm]

Yeah, I agree with you here. Let's like the argument of going to a movie where your brain is in a passive state vs playing a game. Some would argue that it gives you some downtime (rest) before the next fight. However, most game stories aren't compelling enough to watch, with an exception of few.

I don't know. If someone gets mentally fatigued playing video games, or too stressed out, they should look into some treatment.

Holy crap, i'm not the only one that have an issue with Dead Rising! I love the game, don't get me wrong, but the controls are terrible!!!

Agreed. The game is a flawed masterpiece. The story is terrible. The NPC AI is HORRIBLE. There's some crap controls. The timed missions are annoying. But there's something insanely satisfying about running over a horde of zombies with a lawnmower. I'm really early in the game, so I haven't built up my skills, but I can't wait to start doing some crazy moves. I can jump kick now, but that's kind of lame.

Different types of game will require different type of views. In GeoW, you really need first person view for snippering and the action is fast enough that running or staffing around you're not going to be adjusting the camera view. Most of the time, the subject matter will be in front of you.

Where as games like MGS4, you really need to know what's going around you, and you're probably not going to run and gun.

Yeah, Gears controls a perfect for what it sets out to do. Rotating camera is nice, but I prefer for fps style controls for an all-out shooter. Games that have some other mechanics, like Uncharted and MGS4 benefit from something different.

 

[RobertR1]

- Backtracking for the sake of extending overall game lenght. Make a 8hour games that moves forward instead of a 10hour one that has me doing 3+hours of running around. Doom3 being a great example. Nobody wants to collect stupid key cards anymore, iD!

- Endless spawning and retarded NPC's: Basically Call of Duty campaigns. If there is an IW developer on here, please, for the love of God, try to make complex AI with a preset number of enemies. Sometimes it's so bad you can literally seem them spawning into place and running at you. Play CoD4 on realistic and you'll see what I mean.

- Difficulty scaling without AI scaling. To pick on IW some more, increased difficulty doesn't mean cheap AI that can headshot a mile away with a shotgun, endless spawning and the gameplay focused mainly on luck and having to reach an inivisble line that will clear the scene. Instead make the AI sharper. Have then flush and flank me. The AI should be using all the tools at their disposal and be tactical. Not just a reprogramed auto aim with a much higher connect percentage and damage output.

 

[Silent]

* Missions that contains different parts that you need to play all over again when you faill.

* Save points because sometimes I need to go and when I don't reach one, the next time I need to play that part all over again.

* Stupid AI in general. It's a shame that there is so much attention for shiny graphics but not for AI. What is the point of having a "realistic" world when it is a dumb one ?

* Social/Micromanagment parts in games that aren't social/managment games !

 

[fearsomepirate]

I don't mind save points because otherwise, I turn into a quicksave addict. Placing save points and checkpoints well is an important part of game design. I thought RE4 did this very well.

I greatly (and have said this many times before) despise cutscenes that make me hit a button to advance the dialogue. If I'm going to watch a cutscene, I want to just watch it. It also ruins the flow of the scene when a character jumps into the air, but doesn't land until I hit the button so he can quit saying "Yaaaaah!" So that would be a lot of JRPGs and every single Nintendo game.

 

[Scott_Arm]

* Stupid AI in general. It's a shame that there is so much attention for shiny graphics but not for AI. What is the point of having a "realistic" world when it is a dumb one ?

Stupid AI only bothers me when the gameplay rests on the enemies actually being smart. I think it's hard to make a game where the enemy AI isn't glitchy and easily exploited. If your game depends on having enemies that are supposed to be able to challenge you, and they can't, then I'd rather play COD4 and mow down hordes of idiots.

The first time I played a game where I felt the enemies had really made some kind of advance over previous games was Half-Life. It's nothing special now, but I don't think any other game has significantly raised the bar for AI since then.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Wow ! So many gripes ! I thought you guys enjoyed gaming !

 

[Scott_Arm]

Wow ! So many gripes ! I thought you guys enjoyed gaming !

We do

A game can survive one or two of these, but once you start piling three or four of these gripes on one game it becomes an exercise in frustration.

 

[infinity4]

360 Online achievements. I can often find rooms just for achivements, so annoying.