Game design choices that annoy you

[jb]

I like achievements. They bring little mini games and side quests to the game and make it more fun. Yes, some are ridiculous but some games do it well. And its' a nice way to call out people's bullshit. "LOL I beat CoD4 on realistic!!!" Quick check shows otherwise.

I like them too but not too fond how some of the MP ones are setup. Many times my on-line play has been ruined just because some other one is out say for a 50 caps in a CTF match. B t I did go back and try things that I might not have thought about before. I even played games more than once.. Like play COD4 on realistic just to see if I could (and I did check my gamer tag)

 

[Scott_Arm]

I like them too but not too fond how some of the MP ones are setup. Many times my on-line play has been ruined just because some other one is out say for a 50 caps in a CTF match. B t I did go back and try things that I might not have thought about before. I even played games more than once.. Like play COD4 on realistic just to see if I could (and I did check my gamer tag)

It's true. I've noticed the online ones messing up GTA a good deal.

 

[dobwal]

I hate the current effort to push replayability as a cover for a relatively short or uninspiring initial single player experience.

I don't like the ideal of trying to turn a underwhelming 8 hours experience into a 16-20 hours grind of running around looking for hidden items just to get an achievement or trying to get an "A" grade on a mission level. Those are all fine and dandy when you have a robust experience but when they are used to make up for a short sp experience I find it disgusting and a waste of $60.00.

If you're going to make a short game then adds things like co-op or multiplayer (prefererably both).

 

[Kittonwy]

I hate the idea of "phat loot", continuously defeating fodder enemies repeatedly looking for drops, and having hundreds of weapons/armor with minor changes in status/attack power, instead of unique weapons with unique moveset and elemental properties that the game is actually tuned to whether it's the enemies or unique puzzles. The whole "top down hack and slash" genre is outdated and should be abandoned.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

The whole "top down hack and slash" genre is outdated and should be abandoned.

Or updated, like other genres have been improved to keep them fresh...

 

[RobertR1]

Annoying female characters that try to be over clever/funny/witty. The retard in Uncharted. I'd rebuy the game if they update the game allowing me to stab her.....

 

[Dr. Meaty]

Why the hell doesn't my flashlight cast a shadow? It might seem trivial, but in a game like Condemned 1/2, or even Quake 4, you're spending the majority of the game crawling through the dark with your flashlight, and most of the time any NPC's flashlights cast a shadow, but not the player's. I was playing Quake 4 last night, running down a hallway with 2 other marine NPC's, and noticing that their flashlights both were casting shadows, but not mine. It's the same thing in Condemned. At least it casts a shadow in Orange Box.
Overall, crappy shadows have been the biggest letdown for me this gen. Maybe that's not exactly a "design choice", but I wish that better shadows in games could have been a bit higher up on the priority list.

 

[Mobius1aic]

I just thought of another design choice: mechanical design in particularily Western games and even more particularily American games, is terrible. Weapons, armor, and vehicles need not be that chunky. Let's have a bit of realism. Alot of mechanical designers in Japanese studios were or are actual engineers of some sort and it reflects in the design, or at least older games and anime.

 

[baten]

I hate not knowing what to do next in a game when you resume it several weeks or month later.

I am a chaotic gamer, playing six-seven games at a time, picking up new ones, resuming older ones, on many consoles, and since it's been a while since I was young and had good memory, it can get pretty confusing.

For instance, in DQVIII all you had to do was ask the other guys in your party and you could resume your business - and that was nice.

Right now I try to resume SMT-Nocturne about 60 hours into the game, that I left unfinished last year, and I have no ideea what I should do next. Of course, I can look up a faq or guide, but still it annoys me.

 

[fearsomepirate]

I get annoyed with female characters consistently being faster and more agile than the male characters. Track, basketball, and friends' tales of boot camp have taught me otherwise. I mean, when I see some female character with a ridiculously high DEX or blasting down hallways at top speed, I just have to laugh. "Men are strong and slow, women are light and fast" just isn't that consistent with real human physiology.

I just thought of another design choice: mechanical design in particularily Western games and even more particularily American games, is terrible.

Gundams and man-sized sword-guns, on the other hand, are totally realistic.

 

[Mobius1aic]

I get annoyed with female characters consistently being faster and more agile than the male characters. Track, basketball, and friends' tales of boot camp have taught me otherwise. I mean, when I see some female character with a ridiculously high DEX or blasting down hallways at top speed, I just have to laugh. "Men are strong and slow, women are light and fast" just isn't that consistent with real human physiology.



Gundams and man-sized sword-guns, on the other hand, are totally realistic.

The problem isn't the idea, it's the execution. At least for many parts of Japanese mechanical design, they make sense in that world or for that particular technology. Mobile Suits use the momentum of moving limbs in conjunction with vernier thrusters to orient themselves whilst in a zero g environment. Metal Gears, especially Metal Gear Rex is actually quite practical in design for it's intended mission and if you've ever seen Sentou Yousei Yukikaze, outside of some over the top design decisions, there are some very useful features about the aircraft and their designs, including one aircraft with a forward swept wing that the airfoil can be angled up and down at least 45 degrees, can be swept back, as well as angled up or down from the the actual point of contact on the fuselage. This in turn makes the aircraft extremely manueverable and to do things not allowed by real aircraft, even planes with thrust vectoring (and yes this particular plane does have that as well).

What I don't like about let's say Unreal or Quake are these weapons that seem to be almost as tall as they are long, yet just happen to be a normal shotgun which is operated by some guy with big chunky looking armor who's all about the "SHIT YEAH!" type of character who's over the top badass and has no real substance. I've yet to see a truly good representation of the exoskeletal/powered suit in American mechanical design that doesn't partain to the "Warhammer" syndrome where it just looks silly. Master Chief's MJOLINIR comes close but itself is heavily influenced by Japanese design yet still looks like a motorbike helmet on top of a funny metallic sports bra and underwear. What's funny is that the best representation of the exoskeletal suit in Robert A Heinlein's Starship Troopers is in an OAV anime adaptation of part of the book called Uchu no Senshi, and you have to remember, that was the first work to really flesh out the idea of the powered suit.

Like I said it's about reason and context that fit with the game world, not random mechanical design ideas.

 

[Scott_Arm]

As long as things look good, I don't really care how functional they would be in the real world. We're talking about video games that commonly feature magic and space invaders, which don't really fall into the realm of realism.

 

[dobwal]

I just thought of another design choice: mechanical design in particularily Western games and even more particularily American games, is terrible. Weapons, armor, and vehicles need not be that chunky. Let's have a bit of realism. Alot of mechanical designers in Japanese studios were or are actual engineers of some sort and it reflects in the design, or at least older games and anime.

Be it american or japanese most design choices aren't realistic, its all fantasy. They are all design to be pleasing to the eye, the difference in designs probably are the result of gamer's general perception depending on geographical location.

Look at the typical US action hero from the 80s and early 90s. Arnold and Sly are basically from the body building mold which has probably influenced the design of today's Western games. Eastern design lacks such influence as the typical Eastern hero are and have been more of a natural build.

Even if you could build a Gundam or a Metal Gear no one would build them. There is nothing practical about a bi pedal nuclear delivery system or a bi-pedal robot that can transform into a plane.

 

[obonicus]

I get annoyed with female characters consistently being faster and more agile than the male characters. Track, basketball, and friends' tales of boot camp have taught me otherwise. I mean, when I see some female character with a ridiculously high DEX or blasting down hallways at top speed, I just have to laugh. "Men are strong and slow, women are light and fast" just isn't that consistent with real human physiology.

To be fair, though, there aren't many physical events where men and women compete on equal footing, much less where women are clearly superior. I'm not sure how you'd balance 'reality'.

 

[Mobius1aic]

Be it american or japanese most design choices aren't realistic, its all fantasy. They are all design to be pleasing to the eye, the difference in designs probably are the result of gamer's general perception depending on geographical location.

Look at the typical US action hero from the 80s and early 90s. Arnold and Sly are basically from the body building mold which has probably influenced the design of today's Western games. Eastern design lacks such influence as the typical Eastern hero are and have been more of a natural build.

Even if you could build a Gundam or a Metal Gear no one would build them. There is nothing practical about a bi pedal nuclear delivery system or a bi-pedal robot that can transform into a plane.

In the context of the MG world it works, and in many realistic ways, bipedal robots actually make alot of sense. They would be great for urban warfare, but they would be 20 ft tall at the most, not 60. Also, the story about the need for Metal Gear Rex to be bipedal makes alot of sense too, because with legs it could negotiate terrain a treaded tank or normal wheeled vehicle could not like a rocky slope, a swamp, up a mountain without a trail. The developers wanted a vehicle that could launch a nuclear device from anywhere, remote places in particular where it would be hard to find or destroy. The railgun made plenty of sense, because railguns can do what was said in the game series and only an aerodynamic shockwave would've been left in the wake of a railgun launched missile as it flew through the atmosphere at speeds beyond Mach 10. Generating and storing the electricity for such a weapon is another story though. The problem isn't the idea, but the possible execution of which the technology doesn't really exist on that scale.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

As long as things look good, I don't really care how functional they would be in the real world. We're talking about video games that commonly feature magic and space invaders, which don't really fall into the realm of realism.

They still need rules though, at least for some people (like me!) who obsess over practicalities. You can't suddenly ignore gravity or other laws of physics without good reason. I'm far more forgiving of computer-games than books or movies. I get very irate when a book describes a contraption and yet as i read it I know it'd never work! If the author doesn't know how to design a working machine, they should just describe a general look.

So I can certainly see where Mobius1aic is coming from, but also it doesn't matter. There's not much point trying to discuss whether a person's opinion is right or wrong in a gripe thread! It's clearly not that serious, else we'd get bogged down in epic conversations disseminating every complaint and challenging the veracity of them.

Donning the old mod-hat, please don't get bogged down in debate of criticisms, but instead agree to disagree, or start a specific thread to argue the point, such as 'Mechancial Designs in games'.

 

[AlNom]

Not sure if this has been brought up, but one of my pet peeves is menus within menus within menus within menus. I'm looking at you, Assassin's Creed. While immersive and all, it shouldn't take so long just to exit. :|

Plus I'd like a rather clear saving system. Auto-saves can be nice, but not when I'm wondering if the game has done it or not.

 

[Scott_Arm]

- microtransactions (being nickel and dimed as a consumer). Sorry, but I'm not paying $5 for horse armour or a new ninja outfit.

- putting two very different controls on the same button. A good example was FIFA08 for the Wii. Swinging the remote was shoot ... or slide tackle. It's pretty easy to see how that could be a problem. This is a more common occurrence in sports games because they tend to require a lot of different controls. Another example is Gears of War having the dive and roll, sprint and cover on the same button. It's a pain in the ass when you're trying to run away from the enemy and you accidentally bump into a barrier and plaster yourself against it. That one isn't as clear cut because it's good most of the time, but it has screwed me more than once.

 

[fearsomepirate]

The problem isn't the idea, it's the execution. At least for many parts of Japanese mechanical design, they make sense in that world or for that particular technology. Mobile Suits use the momentum of moving limbs in conjunction with vernier thrusters to...

You sound like a Trekkie explaining why Star Trek is logical and scientific, while Star Wars is a bunch of silly nonsense that no one should take seriously.

I'm not sure how you'd balance 'reality'.

Yeah, what do you do when reality itself isn't as gender-neutral as we think it ought to be?

 

[owen]

- I hate being funneled down a path. I get a clusterphobic feeling far too early. Especially when it obvious that I need to go into the cave. I don't want to have to stop and talk to mother, get some back story, and take a nap before I go into the dam tunnel. Maybe I've played one too many console fps games but why is this invisible wall blocking me? the cave IS RIGHT THERE! branch me a path or story line or something. So I missed a few cut scences - it couldn't be all that important because I still saved the princess.

- I hate being asked for which damned memory card I want to use/overwrite EVERY SINGLE TIME I SAVE. Just use the last one or many be be able to press through it. gamecude is very prone to this and the some xbox games.

- Unreal engine or anything that makes games easier to make. hate hate hate. unreal engine is akin to when everyone thought visual basic was cool and every app started to look like a calculator. Everybody just kept making calculators.

- Graphics for graphics sake. So you have fire and pretty water effects but I can't break the toilet and drink the water? come on man! You are in this bueatiful environment for hours upon hours but its always the same, no weather change, no night/day, - nothing. its like looking a static picture. No sense of time. You guys have to sleep sometime and THEN I'll GET YOU!

- modern games which equate to a 21-century pac-man. Go to A then B, get special, avoid enemy, repeat until desired thickness.

- Stupid unrealistic building structures. like that first stage of condemned where you are in a building and you have to keep going up stairs, which are at alternate ends of a hall. WHERE ARE THE DOWNSTAIRS? WHO BUILDS A BUILDING LIKE THAT? WHY CAN"T I JUST SKIP THE CRACKHOUSE BUILT BY FRANKENSTIEN?

- forcing a player to play a certain way. I know game devs are trying to sell you an "expirence" but there is no reason I should leave base camp with a pistol EVERY SINGLE MISSION.

- Car games where I can't make a sharp turn at high speed so that the car flips and going in to a roll. Pit manuver anybody? All this focus on realism and I still have to wear my seat belt.

- Car games with perfect roads and no sidewalks. Rumble, rumble, rumble.

- Purposely weak characters, silly equipment or instant death scenarios. Of course sometimes you have to have limits but there is no reason why I can't shoot down that helicopter with a rocket that I've saved just for that purpose from the 1st stage.

- Stupid restrictive controls that you can't custimize. So you can't jump or open a door or throw a brick.

- Silly built in restrictions for the sake of "balancing" characters. I don't remember where I read a interview that a developer said that the couldn't make the inventry "TURN FASTER" because it would through off the balance of the game. GRAVITY?