Worst game element.

[KamaItachi]

For lack of a better term.

Following on from worst character, what deal breaking elements have risen their head to really turn you off a game.

For me:

World leveling in Oblivion. Way to give me a huge world to explore then remove any sense of achievement for it.

Not as bad, but still: Fable 1, killing any sort of enemies immediately makes you "good" requiring you to make occasional pit stops in towns to slap children and electrocute crowds to stay neutral.

[n3rdXcore]

I can't stand stealth elements thrown into non-stealth games. It never works well.

[violent]

The Gummi Ship in Kingdom Hearts.

[maharahaj]

I really hate multi-tiered boss battles where you can't save or resurrect in between. This also applies to games where you have multiple battles in a row and can't return to the world map/town/etc., like some of the battle sequences in FF:Tactics

[GigaFuzz]

Escort missions in Dead Rising.

Actually, quite a lot of escort missions in general.

[maharahaj]

I can't stand stealth elements thrown into non-stealth games. It never works well.

Also: this, or vice-versa where there are action stages in stealth games, like the last level of the original Splinter Cell game.

[violent]

One hit kills and I'll second Giga, any fucking escort mission.

[Nameless]

I hate any game that doesn't have a decent amount of places where you can save. That's gotta be the most annoying thing in gaming: playing the same level over and over 50 times just because you can't beat the boss at the end.

This even bothers me in GH/Rock Band games when a song is really long and there's a crazy hard part at the end that I consistently fail. Though at least there's the Practice Mode these days.

[LongStepMantis]

Escort missions in Dead Rising.

Actually, quite a lot of escort missions in general.

I vote for this.

Nothing can consistently piss me off like trying to babysit some moronic AI...in any game.

Except for the majority of stealth missions in any game that really doesn't have a clue how to do stealth. The kind of stealth missions where you basically just have to do trial and error repeatedly until you memorize everything.

[GigaFuzz]

like the last level of the original Splinter Cell game.

Indeed. I prefer stealth games you can 'ghost' through, i.e. without hurting anyone at all. Thief, in other words. Downing bad guys with full auto-fire in SC was bad form.

[LongStepMantis]

Indeed. I prefer stealth games you can 'ghost' through, i.e. without hurting anyone at all. Thief, in other words. Downing bad guys with full auto-fire in SC was bad form.

I was pretty fond of the stealth aspects of Hitman games. Granted, as soon as stealth failed it became "Everyone besides me gets blasted in the face instantly." I'd always start out trying to be stealthy though.

[GigaFuzz]

I was pretty fond of the stealth aspects of Hitman games. Granted, as soon as stealth failed it became "Everyone besides me gets blasted in the face instantly." I'd always start out trying to be stealthy though.

Oh sure. Every now and again I go 'Fuck it' and bust out the ballers and mow everyone down. I just always reload and do it again properly. :(

[rein]

I hate any game that doesn't have a decent amount of places where you can save.

I will take it a step farther and say games (rpg's mostly) that do not allow you to save anywhere. This is especially true for portable systems. Nothing sucks as much as losing 30 minutes or more of progress because you have to stop playing and have no clue when the next save opportunity will present itself. :(

[pseudopseudo]

I know it's not a gameplay element per say... but my biggest woe is nonskippable cutscenes.

ESPECIALLY when they put one directly after a checkpoint, before a major boss battle. So not only do you have to fight the boss battle that normally takes forever, but you've got to watch an equally long cut scene prior to it - EVERY TIME you die/reload.

[LongStepMantis]

I will take it a step farther and say games (rpg's mostly) that do not allow you to save anywhere. This is especially true for portable systems. Nothing sucks as much as losing 30 minutes or more of progress because you have to stop playing and have no clue when the next save opportunity will present itself. :(

A game for any handheld that doesn't allow for saving at any time is flawed in my book.

Issues like a dying battery or reaching a destination using public transportation like a bus, plane, or subway should be planned around for every game. Sometimes I choose games for trips solely by whether or not they do so.

[pseudopseudo]

Don't you guys ever use your handheld('s/s') "hold" feature?

[alienmastermind]

Takin' it to the old school. The hit and knock back from Castlevania and Batman...knocked into a hole....

The jumping puzzles from Half Life were a departure from the norm, but games where jumping precision meant live or die...lookin' at you Conan for 360....suck.

Chase levels, where you have to keep up with the board as you continue, but the walls are electric/lava/covered in SARS/made of rattlesnakes.

Anytime you have a sidekick that won't shut up. Navi in Zelda, Tingle in...uh Zelda...that shadow chick...in Zelda...

The habit of a game to say 'You need to pick up the can'. And then a rift in time and space opens up and creates a level spawning gulf between you and the stupid can. Oh, and by the end of the level, you end up in the same room, a foot or so away from where you started.

Glass that doesn't break. Bioshock was cool, but that's gotta be some heavy glass to withstand fire, electricity, bullets from a tommygun, and a pipewrench. I'm not saying that it needs to shatter and flood all of Rapture, but creating a spout or two would have been nice.

On glass, glass that needs you to melee it to pieces rather than shoot it from a safe distance also sucks.

Barrels that explode, and harm you when a dying soldier accidently fires his weapon into them.

Auto-saves that like to 'help' you by waiting until you're down to one bar of health and six bullets facing down a cacodemon to save your game.

Annoying blip blop bloops when you're at your last heart in Zelda.

But I accept these things, because they are video games, and I am an addict.

EDIT: Oh, and the fact that you can't just put everyone on your back in Dead Rising. The handholding crap is for the birds.

[n3rdXcore]

Barrels that explode, and harm you when a dying soldier accidently fires his weapon into them.

This is why every time I play a game with exploding barrels, I shoot them all on first entering a room. You never know when you're going to be shot at!

[Wasson_]

Time Dilation.

Consequences-less respawn...(Prey, Bioshock...ect)

Over effective NPCs basically playing the game for me at one point...then getting their ass handed to them the next minute. (Gears of War, Call of Duty 4)

General disregard of gameplay and..,, in favor of graphical splendor and cinematic appearance (Gears of War, Mass Effect)

Cutscenes where the character / player displays powers and abilities far beyond what is capable in-game.

[KingGorilla]

Any answer other than Quick Time Events is wrong.

[ClannerDelta]

Any answer other than Quick Time Events is wrong.

QTE's can actually be done well to create a tiered in game cinematic.

Escort Missions on the other hand have never once, in the history of gaming, been anything less than fucking retarded.

[KamaItachi]

Cutscenes where the character / player displays powers and abilities far beyond what is capable in-game.

I forgot about this.. also cutscenes where the rules of reality are changed.

Resident Evil for example... I can be stabbed, poked, bitten, vomited on, burned, bashed, thrown, poisoned and fix everything with one can of spray.

Now, if someone points a gun at me? Holy shit, gotta surrender.

In Mass Effect, I can unload a few dozen shots into a technician on a ghost ship and he'll still run off, albeit at a slight limp. Why the hell would be pulling my weapon in a showdown with a Krogan give me any leverage.

I can take out swarms of enemies at a time and summon fantastic elemental power that could burn giant squids and cave in golems. ...What's that? I'm surrounded by 3 soldiers? I know when I'm beat... time to give in, Shining Force.

[Wasson_]

QTE's can actually be done well to create a tiered in game cinematic.

Escort Missions on the other hand have never once, in the history of gaming, been anything less than fucking retarded.

Flight sims and space combat "sims" called.

they think your retarded. :p

[pseudopseudo]

they think your retarded. :p

Whose retarded?

[KingGorilla]

QTE's can actually be done well to create a tiered in game cinematic.

Escort Missions on the other hand have never once, in the history of gaming, been anything less than fucking retarded.

The robot missions in WoW are actually quite fun, the little guys are quirky, and funny.

[ClannerDelta]

Flight sims and space combat "sims" called.

they think your retarded. :p

"You're" and sims that don't involve Mechs are for nerds and old men. :D

[Schnoogs]

Animations in a Final Fantasy game...if I wanted to see the same thing over and over I'll stare at an animated gif for 20 hours straight

[maharahaj]

I also hate enemy spawn points.

[KingGorilla]

I also hate enemy spawn points.

Do you mean Monster Closets? Or in say an online Shooter?

[Schnoogs]

I hate MP games where snipers can hit a target moving at mach 5 without even having to aim.

[maharahaj]

Do you mean Monster Closets? Or in say an online Shooter?

No, I actually dont mind monster closets (like Doom3). I'm talking about when enemies keep appearing in the distance until you cross a magic checkpoint or defeat a "physical" spawn object. Things like the Gears of War worm tunnels, the spawn in teleport devices in that terrible KISS PC game from a while back, level 8 of Halo 3, etc.

[rein]

Don't you guys ever use your handheld('s/s') "hold" feature?
No not really. I have no idea when I will ever make it back to the game. Just give me my save points damn it. :p

"Quick save" is the answer to the problem.

[KingGorilla]

I hate MP games where snipers can hit a target moving at mach 5 without even having to aim.

Oooo, can we start hating on Halo Multiplayer?

[KamaItachi]

I was pretty fond of the stealth aspects of Hitman games. Granted, as soon as stealth failed it became "Everyone besides me gets blasted in the face instantly." I'd always start out trying to be stealthy though.

I thought Hitman handled the stealth elements quite well, allowing you an option to hide in plain sight, so to speak.

Gauging people's suspicions and looking for a better disguise was a hell of a lot more fun than shooting out light bulbs in Splinter Cell.

[destoo]

Most annoying, recently? Scratching a touchscreen for no purpose at all when a button press could do.

[Shadowstorm]

No any-time save option. That's inexcusable.

[Vandabo]

Unskippable cutscenes, as mentioned above, are probably my least favorite thing. The second would be any kind of complete randomness, as in something just randomly killing you in a game that you have absolutely no control over. Like in Mass Effect, when the ground snake thing would just decide to erupt out of the ground right underneath you and instantly kill you. Nothing fun about that.

[rinichanraar]

Timed missions always make me nervous and reckless.

[KingGorilla]

No any-time save option. That's inexcusable.

Toss in the ongoing and unheard demand for full button map customization.

[Bad Buddha]

"You're" and sims that don't involve Mechs are for nerds and old men. :D

Screw you! I gotcher good grammar rye-cheer! Grammar summa dis!

And European Air War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Air_War) would kick your Mech's asses!

Unskippable cutscenes, as mentioned above, are probably my least favorite thing. The second would be any kind of complete randomness, as in something just randomly killing you in a game that you have absolutely no control over. Like in Mass Effect, when the ground snake thing would just decide to erupt out of the ground right underneath you and instantly kill you. Nothing fun about that.

Haven't played Mass Effect, but I'll back you up on this one! Games where you step on a certain point and Bad Juujuu kills you dead; reload... avoid that spot, three feet later, WHAM! Reload... etc.

Hate it when that happens.

[LongStepMantis]

I thought Hitman handled the stealth elements quite well, allowing you an option to hide in plain sight, so to speak.

Gauging people's suspicions and looking for a better disguise was a hell of a lot more fun than shooting out light bulbs in Splinter Cell.

Oh, I really liked the stealth in Hitman. I just saw it, personally, as an all or nothing deal. Either I would sneak through the entire level unnoticed, or I would kill everyone. there was no real middle ground. Which I actually think helps make it better. You don't always feel like being sneaky, and they almost never forced you to be.

But if you did want to do the sneaky route, you could pull it off with the right amount of determination. And it rarely gets better than garroting unsuspecting guards with piano wire and steal their clothes.

[Atepsflame]

The use of monster hunts as a substitute for substantial and interesting side quests in RPGs or Adventure games. I'm looking at you Final Fantasy XII. Gee, all I do in this game is walk around and kill monsters, let's take a break from that and go kill specific monsters! Variety that is not.

[Schnoogs]

I'm already sensing that the cell phone in Far Cry 2 will rank up there....just let me play for 5 seconds please

[Troggles]

Escort quests. They've never been fun.

[Wasson_]

Whose retarded?

Unless you are William T. Riker and have been kidnapped by the Romulans, you don't need to concern yourself with peoples use of contractions so much. Unlike Cmdr. Riker, the security of the federation is not dependent upon it.

regardless. Escort missions have their place. I seem to recall a pretty sweet one in Doom 3. Not so much a mission, more a sequence. Yes it was exploitative of the games shadows, yes it pretty simple, but I'll be damned if I wasn't pretty nervous the first time doing it.

Damn Budda...IL2:1946 is on Steam for 10 dollars...go get that. that is unless you have it already.

EDIT
I will further add...is not a Payload map on TF2 nothing more than an escort mission? Stuff that in your pipes, escort hatin' foos'

[TheKeck]

I'll second lack of saving.

[Troggles]

EDIT
I will further add...is not a Payload map on TF2 nothing more than an escort mission? Stuff that in your pipes, escort hatin' foos'

The only difference is that the mine cart doesn't run off on it's own into a horde of enemies and get it's head blown off leaving you with a big "GAME OVER" screen when you had been doing everything right.

[Wraith]

Unskippable cutscenes were mentioned. Also worth mentioning are unpausable cutscenes, and cutscenes that are too easy to skip accidentally (maybe you were hoping you could pause it, but Start skipped it instead).

[Superman's Dead]

Menus that require a load time or aren't as fast as your fingers are. The Force Unleashed's menu system was balls.

I'll have to agree with the escort mission one, with the caveat that defending Home One in your X-Wing is just awesome no matter how hard it is.

[Karmakin]

Stealth elements. Period.

[Mastergeo7]

-Check point based savegames, especially if they're way too far apart.

-Escort Missions

-Dumb Friendly AI

-Let's say, when you're playing an squad based game and by some mysterious reason, the enemy always ignore that you're with a fucking platoon and only shoots at you!

:mad:

[mesh]

Escorts, defense, anything where something blows up by a stray lucky shot to fail the mission.

Dumb ai 'supporters' like a teammate that constantly runs into enemy groups without waiting for you to finish your current target, basically getting a 1 vs entire map thing going.

[VerseD]

I'll add a vote for bad teammate AI. I can't stand it when I have some hangers-on whose supposed to be helping but only runs in front of my shots and gets stuck on a fallen 2x4. This is even worse when you need them for something or if you fail when they die. I hate escort missions!

World leveling in Oblivion. Way to give me a huge world to explore then remove any sense of achievement for it.

Yes this was awful. There was no sense of danger at all, and no sense of accomplishment when you turned god-like powerful. First you only fought rats, and eventually everyone was running around in Daedric armor. But no matter what your character was one step ahead of the curve, never much better or worse than anything.

I know it's not a gameplay element per say... but my biggest woe is nonskippable cutscenes.

ESPECIALLY when they put one directly after a checkpoint, before a major boss battle. So not only do you have to fight the boss battle that normally takes forever, but you've got to watch an equally long cut scene prior to it - EVERY TIME you die/reload.

Look at all dat juice. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gPR2uLM_30)

[Whunpo]

When games constantly make you go back through the level you just beat to lengthen the level. Halo 1 had had so many levels where you would go in, see something, and have to do the whole thing again, backwards. It annoyed me to no end. Especially with how terrible that games level design was.

I agree with most of the other entries in the thread.

[Deadend]

I am here in defense of Escort Missions!

Escort Missions are fun when it's called "The Hunted" and the game is Team Fortress Classic. Escorting is FUN when it's multiplayer or there is some rudimentary control over the NPC, or even better, you are escorting a player.

A lack of auto-save or auto-checkpoints.
I can't stand it when games have no autosave of any sort. As I tend to get caught up in the game, ENJOYING IT, and having to remember to hit quick-save or open a menu to do so, or goto a save marker sucks me out of the game. That shit sucks.

AI that WILL shoot you. Lots of FPS games out there have AI that will start hitting you with bullets 2.2 seconds after you leave cover. It's annoying and the AI also tends to not move around or get suppresed at all. It feels like I am playing Virtua Cop.

[Ancalagon]

Friendly fire in team based games that makes the AI turn against you.

"Ooooh look, I'm a stupid AI, I can see my teammate is carrying a rocket launcher but I'm gonna walk right in front of the enemy, cos thats the best place to be during a firefight. What? He hit me? How dare him?"

etc etc. I'd rather play without them. Unskippable cutscenes, but also unskippable advertising when a game loads - I know who it was made by already, let me play the damn game. Also, in driving games, I HATE randomness. In NFS Most wanted, a few tracks had uneven surfaces, and that coupled with traffic's tendencies to appear right in front of you could cost you a race. I dont mind losing a race because I suck at driving, but when I lose because the game decided to spawn a truck in my face after I was bouncing around one of the shitty tracks, I get very irritated. Its good user interface design to have the user always in control...

I also hate enemies that blatantly cheat, or do things the player cant. Eg in street fighter how AI charge characters (ie guile, m bison) can use their special moves without charging. Counter strike bots that head shot you with a pistol from 1km away.

[H.Bogard]

Open world+ So called Social stealth in Assassin's Creed.

I threw it out after the first two or three hours.

[Kelegacy]

I don't like too much backtracking. Some is fine, but I grew tired of it in the Halo games.

And escort missions. Unless the friendly AI is smarter than the enemy AI, or equal to, it's a hassle.

Random encounters in JRPGs are stale. At least let me see the monster mobs on my screen before running into them.

Finally, JRPG battles where battle animations take too long. I want fights over quick and as painless as possible.

[Mike Kelehan]

Easy: point-of-no-return save spots. Remember in Super Metroid, when you beat it and said, "I can't wait to go back and get everything I missed," and you load up your save in Tourian only to find that you CAN'T LEAVE? For a game like Metroid, or any game for that matter, that's inexcusable. Modern games do it a little better by giving you a warning that "If we go here, I don't think we'll be able to come back," but it still exists sometimes.

[Jeffool]

I don't like too much backtracking. Some is fine, but I grew tired of it in the Halo games.Absolutely. Like you say, backtrack isn't inherently bad, it's when the backtracking is the same thing both ways that kill me. I can think of one instance of it that I enjoyed in Halo 3; near the beginning where you go to a huge satellite-like structure, at the end of which the Flood landed and you had to backtrack with new enemies and tactics. I thought that was a rare good example of it.

[Johan]

I'll be the fourth to state that escort missions are ridiculous. In fact, I avoided Dead Rising because of them.

I'm also not a big fan of RPGs that artificially raise difficulty levels by removing your learned abilities/skills/powers/weapons/party members at particular points in a game. Don't give me kick-ass skills and then put me up against opponents that require the removal of those skills to compete against me. I'm not talking about enemies with resistances to particular skills or weaponry...I'm talking about the wholesale removal of such things.

Blue Dragon did this for a bit, and I disliked it. Enjoyed the game, however, overall.

[Gorvi]

I'll say, like others, that a lack of a save anywhere option is by far the worst thing in games today. Make it so the save deletes when I load it so you can't break the game that way, whatever, but there's no reason why I should ever have to try to find a save point to put a game down without losing progress. Ever.

One solution would be for consoles to have a sleep mode similar to what the PSP and DS have. I'd love that.

[QueQueg]

Animations in a Final Fantasy game...if I wanted to see the same thing over and over I'll stare at an animated gif for 20 hours straight

This, plus that fact that usually these amazing, mind-blowing abilities are available pretty much right away (I'm looking at you FFXII.)

So, OK effeminate street-urchin hero, you can create massive balls of energy to completely incinerate a level 1 wolf, and the next minute you get your ass kicked by 2 bunnies. Wait, what?

[QueQueg]

Most annoying game mechanic: perform a series of complicated platforming maneuvers that takes 5 minutes to get to the spot where the REALLY HARD platforming maneuver is.

When you fail, you have to complete the series of pretty complicated platforming maneuvers again, just to try again.

I will trade a game into Gamestop for that (that's my #1 threat to the gaming industry.)

[SilentScreams]

I know it's not a gameplay element per say... but my biggest woe is nonskippable cutscenes.

ESPECIALLY when they put one directly after a checkpoint, before a major boss battle. So not only do you have to fight the boss battle that normally takes forever, but you've got to watch an equally long cut scene prior to it - EVERY TIME you die/reload.

This is exactly what put me off Final Fantasy X.
I think it was the boss fight where you fight Seymour at the top of that mountain. It had a long cutscene before it and it wasn't skippable. It took me ages to beat that guy (I think I was underleveled).

That reminds me. RPGs where you have to grind to get to a level where you can progress.

This, plus that fact that usually these amazing, mind-blowing abilities are available pretty much right away (I'm looking at you FFXII.)

So, OK effeminate street-urchin hero, you can create massive balls of energy to completely incinerate a level 1 wolf, and the next minute you get your ass kicked by 2 bunnies. Wait, what?

Now I feel like I missed something with FF XII. All I could do at the start was hit things with a dagger until they died.

[Ancalagon]

That reminds me. RPGs where you have to grind to get to a level where you can progress.

Thats what puts me off WoW, because its only grinding, and to some extent Pokemon, because its mostly grinding.

[Johan]

I agree with Gorvi and others about wanting the ability to save anywhere.

Also, I'm not a fan of unskippable cut scenes; especially if you can't save anywhere, you die, and have to wait for a five minute scene to go by to get back to playing.

[Worldcrafter]

I'll agree that move escort missions have been poorly implemented, but there have been a few notable exceptions where it doesn't hinder gameplay, and actually makes the game more fun.

ICO is one long escort mission and it's made better for it. Yorda is basically a defenseless key that you have to constantly push and pull through the world. But she makes the puzzles more interesting, and her presence adds an emotional connection that's often lacking in games.

RE4's escort missions with Ashley weren't bad. She did exactly what you told her to (hide, come, stay) and she didn't get in your way. Wildly swing your gun at her? She ducks. Enemy appears? She stays near you. The enemies tended to attack you before her (unless you're playing Pro mode), and the fail conditions were her death (didn't happen often) or her getting carried away (made for some intense fire fights).

The commonality here is: When I failed to protect the escort character, it felt like my fault and not the game's.

[QueQueg]

ICO is one long escort mission and it's made better for it.

Ico is/was probably one the most satisfying game experiences I've ever had. Colossus was almost as good. Ico was so amazing. In that regard, it was the only escort mission I'll ever love.

[LongStepMantis]

As many have clarified, it isn't that the idea of escorts are bad. It's that the AI for your target is usually around the same level as a baked ham. I love losing missions when I'm doing everything i can, because the person who "needs protected" wandered into the middle of an enemy horde.

[QueQueg]

Now I feel like I missed something with FF XII. All I could do at the start was hit things with a dagger until they died.

Whenever I start a new game (which is pretty often, I still love this game) I grind wolves to get at least 2 quickenings on fruity-boy. Not that this was a particularly difficult game, but having the extra mana is nice.

[Karak]

Since I am not bothered by saving issues like others. I would have to say the worst feature is end bosses with more than 1 final form.

[muddi900]

Worst feature is when developers add something to the game but do it half-assed. Like shooting parts in Crackdown and activities in Saints Row 2. Both of these games would've been fun if the devs had actually gotten up their lazy asses.

[Ancalagon]

Since I am not bothered by saving issues like others. I would have to say the worst feature is end bosses with more than 1 final form.

No! You heathen! Thats part of what makes Megaman games so great!

[Telefrog]

I'll second almost all of the ones that have been mentioned and add another.

Not having any way to rewatch important cutscenes without another playthrough.

When I get to an awesomely important super kickass cutscene with shit-hot stuff going on, give me a way to revisit it again please. I know you guys paid a crapload for a studio to CG it for you, so why not get your money's worth and let me select it in the menu screen and watch it again once I've unlocked it?

[crazyD]

Weapon degradation. This has never made a game more fun, and always takes away from my enjoyment. I don't know how many times I have fallen in love with a weapon, just to have it break on me. And it seems that more and more games are doing it.

Dying (In adventure games). Makes the game irritating rather then challenging. Runner up - Not being able to progress in adventure games because you missed something at some point much earlier in the game. Basically, what I'm saying is, "Fuck you, King's Quest."

[n3rdXcore]

Weapon degradation. This has never made a game more fun, and always takes away from my enjoyment. I don't know how many times I have fallen in love with a weapon, just to have it break on me. And it seems that more and more games are doing it.

I don't mind that as much, as long as your weapon isn't lost forever if you let it get too worn down. As long as I have a backup weapon (or my fists), I think it adds an interesting element. But man, if it makes your weapon lost forever, I'll turn into a cranky ass.

[crazyD]

I don't mind that as much, as long as your weapon isn't lost forever if you let it get too worn down. As long as I have a backup weapon (or my fists), I think it adds an interesting element. But man, if it makes your weapon lost forever, I'll turn into a cranky ass.

I guess if it can be fixed easily instead of being completely useless or disappearing, then it won't be as annoying. Still annoying, though. Usually when I see this in games, when a weapon breaks, it is gone for good.

[Spigot]

I'm with a lot of people. Stealth in a game that isn't designed around a stealth mechanic is something I just don't want to see. I absolutely adore it in games that have it as a central design element but it's when it's just tossed in for the sake of a bullet-point on the back of the box that I hate it.

I also hate non-skippable cutscenes. I love cutscenes, don't get me wrong, but games should be able to tell if you've reloaded and seen cutscene X (be it in-game or prerendered) and let you skip it after the first time you've watched it. The Force Unleashed had several of these areas where you'd be forced to watch the same stupid cutscene over and over again if you happened to die a lot in that area (the first time you run up against a purge trooper was especially annoying for this).

Of course, the worst game element?

Wind. It's so useless...

[crazyD]

Of course, the worst game element?

Wind. It's so useless...

I would like you to have a talk with Windwaker, young man.

[pseudopseudo]

Like shooting parts in Crackdown and activities in Saints Row 2.

You thought the Activities in Saint's Row 2 were half-assed? HERESY! :rolleyes: (I think they're the most fun part of the game.)

[Spigot]

I would like you to have a talk with Windwaker, young man.Sigh. I knew I shouldn't have gone with that.

I was looking for a picture of the stove element from Cooking Mama, but alas, I couldn't find one anywhere.

[KamaItachi]

Another one. (god, I'm grumpy these days)

False choices...

Do you want to save the Princess?

Yes
No<


Do you want to save the Princess?

Yes
No<


Do you want to save the Princess?

Yes
No<


The worst offender I've come across recently was Blue Dragon, where at one point you have nowhere to go, nothing to do, the only option is to talk to a certain character and select "Yes" to trigger another cutscene, while you watch wankety robots commit suicide to terrible trite, soap opera grade, piano music.

[Dukefrukem]

I hated the battle system in Final Fantasy XII. I have a feeling I'm gonna hate the battle system in XIII too. :(

[tacitus]

Consequences-less respawn...(Prey, Bioshock...ect)

Generally I agree (I did not use the vita-chambers in Bioshock myself), but I do not object to having them if it allows people to finish the game who can't. But it should be pointed out if this was the only restore mechanism in Bioshock or any other game that would be very bad; this sort of stuff should always be optional.

[Wedge]

Another vote for escort missions. 95% of the time they suck. I vaguely remember there being a couple of enjoyable ones in Tie Fighter and X-wing, and ICO is one big escort mission.

QTE's. If you need to look at the symbols rather at what is actually happening on-screen, then they suck. A simple "hammer A to get loose from a grapple" is fine. Press left, right, half-circle counter clock wise, then triangle and X at the same time, is not.

Games with a time limit. Fallout 1 had this. You had a set number of days to complete the main mission. I believe this was patched out later though. In Fable 1 I played as an old man for over half the game. Come on, give me time to explore!

Genre games that add poorly done elements of other genres. A stealth mission. Escort mission. The car chase. If you can't do it well, skip it. Make a cool cut scene.

Unskippable cut scenes. Checkpoint - cut scene - broken boss battle. RAllalllaaaaargh!

I just read the thread and realized I got nothin new to add, but I've already written it so I'm posting it. Haha! Wasted 10 seconds of your life. No refunds.

[LarsenNET]

Unskippable cutscenes were mentioned. Also worth mentioning are unpausable cutscenes, and cutscenes that are too easy to skip accidentally (maybe you were hoping you could pause it, but Start skipped it instead).

Good point about pausing cutscenes. Anyone know if you can pause the cutscenes in MGS4? I'm afraid I'll accidentally skip them.

[roboninja]

Nothing original, but my hatred not allowing me to save whenever I fucking want knows no bounds. It is possibly one of the primary reasons I keep most of my gaming on the PC. Also, the world levelling in Oblivion really, really sucked. The game had so much potential that I consider nearly wasted by this mechanic. Thanks Jebus for user mods :)

[RandoM51]

Arbitrary time limits as a method to add challenge where the AI itself cannot provide it.

Example: T-Eng countdown in Lost Planet. Want to explore everything? Too bad, you're running out of T-Eng and will freeze to death if you don't keep to the path.

[Deadend]

Arbitrary time limits as a method to add challenge where the AI itself cannot provide it.

Example: T-Eng countdown in Lost Planet. Want to explore everything? Too bad, you're running out of T-Eng and will freeze to death if you don't keep to the path.

What about the chain knockdowns? I found in Lost Planet, and sometimes in Dead Space, if I get Knocked Down, by the time I get back up again, before I can even take control, I am back on my ass, again and again and again.

I hate it when a game basically puts me into a situation where I will DIE, but not quite yet. Basically, what is needed is an escape from being fucked button.

Oh another horrible game element? Loading times for menus. I am calling out Star Wars: Force Unleashed which had the worst load times in recent memories for the menus.

[Primus]

A lot of the GTA missions get really annoying.

Whenever the Flood appears.

[DeathtollWRX]

You guys are missing some easy ones.

Red key card opens red door which the last guy you kill in the zone drops.

An impenetrable door that has no key in site.. That is until you kill 20 of the respawning bad guys... suddenly the last guy is killed the door magically opens..
THAT IS SO FREAKING WEAK.

Games as good as Half Life 2 use that and as recent as Lego Batman and Fable 2.

[Variable Gear]

The increasing necessity of multiplayer in modern games.

[Spigot]

Oh another horrible game element? Loading times for menus. I am calling out Star Wars: Force Unleashed which had the worst load times in recent memories for the menus.Aye, especially when you have a series of menus to navigate through and you have to suffer through a loading screen both in and out of them.

Larsen, if I'm not insanely mistaken, you can pause MGS4's cutscenes and then choose whether to watch or skip them.

[LongStepMantis]

You guys are missing some easy ones.

Red key card opens red door which the last guy you kill in the zone drops.

An impenetrable door that has no key in site.. That is until you kill 20 of the respawning bad guys... suddenly the last guy is killed the door magically opens..
THAT IS SO FREAKING WEAK.


I'll add to that with one of my all-time longest running nitpicks.

You have a big gun/character. There is a locked (often wooden) door. Don't have the key? Shoot the goddamn door. Or just kick it down already. Oh, I have to go through an hour of gameplay and a boss fight to get the key...to the easily destroyed wooden door.

I have to say nitpick because it would ruin almost every game's design if you could just bash a door down...but seriously. ;)

[squirrelTactics]

I can't stand when creatures drop rates don't make sense. Like in WoW, not every tiger you kill will yield a tiger pelt. How does that make sense?! Am I killing bald tigers?

Also, I find myself constantly angry at games where you can't access areas that would be easily reachable in real life, such as ledges or paths under things, and you are required to fight your way through a whole mess just to reach that area.

[n3rdXcore]

I can't stand when creatures drop rates don't make sense. Like in WoW, not every tiger you kill will yield a tiger pelt. How does that make sense?! Am I killing bald tigers?

On the same note, I always think it's funny when an animal in an MMO drops something like a sword, or a pair of pants. Where the hell do they keep them? (Not really an annoyance, just rather silly)

[biosc1]

I did a quick perusal of this thread and it seems like no one has brought up rats.

"Ah, great hero, kill the rats (or other vermin) in my basement"

That's the quest that all RPG's like to start you with.

[Spigot]

I did a quick perusal of this thread and it seems like no one has brought up rats.

"Ah, great hero, kill the rats (or other vermin) in my basement"

That's the quest that all RPG's like to start you with.At least The Bard's Tale has fun with that quest :)

[LongStepMantis]

I did a quick perusal of this thread and it seems like no one has brought up rats.

"Ah, great hero, kill the rats (or other vermin) in my basement"

That's the quest that all RPG's like to start you with.

I agree, but at the same time see why they do it.

Although I would like to try to play an RPG where you have the chance to encounter any enemy from the entire game right from the start. First fight, rats...second fight, 3-headed Doom Dragon who hits you for 9999...and you have 25 hp.

Bye Bye, Mr. hero man. :D

[Bad Buddha]

At least The Bard's Tale has fun with that quest :)
That was a fun game. It had some issues, but it had a good sense of humor! :D

[Bad Buddha]

I can't stand when creatures drop rates don't make sense. Like in WoW, not every tiger you kill will yield a tiger pelt. How does that make sense?! Am I killing bald tigers?
I remember when WoW came out, one of the developers addressed this in the forums: Evidently, during your battle, you've slashed or smashed the pelt, skull, eyeball to the point that it is no longer usable for the purpose that you are gathering them for. For example; a tailor won't pay you for a skin that is slashed to ribbons. Makes sense in a keep-you-grinding sorta way. ;)

[RandoM51]

I did a quick perusal of this thread and it seems like no one has brought up rats.

"Ah, great hero, kill the rats (or other vermin) in my basement"

That's the quest that all RPG's like to start you with.

It is called an entry-level position. :D

[Bad Buddha]

It is called an entry-level position. :D

"Save the world? Sorry, we're looking for someone with some on the job experience. Yeah, the certs look nice on your resume, but if you had, say... 3 years of rat killing under your belt, we might consider you."

[johnperkins21]

Am I really the only person who hates driving and turret missions? I don't think I've ever played a game where the driving or turret mission was fun. Hell, the turret mission in Dead Space is so bad that it's lost all replay value, and came incredibly close to me giving up on the game before even getting half way through.

I absolutely hate it when a game forces you into some sort of automobile just to show off how cool their engine is. I quit Half Life 2 because of the stupid raft sequence that just seemed to go on forever. With so many great games out now, I simply have no patience for bullshit missions to arbitrarily extend the game and show off the physics.

[Spigot]

I don't mind turret missions when they're fun. The one in Dead Space is NOT fun. Gimpy controls and a hit-box the size of a pea are not fun.

I didn't care for the vehicle sections in HL2 or the episodes. I don't hate them, but they're the weakest part of the game in my opinion. Again, if done well, I have no problem with them, but they can really rob a game of any forward momentum if done poorly.

[Wasson_]

I absolutely hate it when a game forces you into some sort of automobile just to show off how cool their engine is. I quit Half Life 2 because of the stupid raft sequence that just seemed to go on forever. With so many great games out now, I simply have no patience for bullshit missions to arbitrarily extend the game and show off the physics.

...
what the fuck are you talking about?

[Ancalagon]

I don't mind turret missions when they're fun. The one in Dead Space is NOT fun. Gimpy controls and a hit-box the size of a pea are not fun.

I didn't care for the vehicle sections in HL2 or the episodes. I don't hate them, but they're the weakest part of the game in my opinion. Again, if done well, I have no problem with them, but they can really rob a game of any forward momentum if done poorly.

I think the vehicle sections in HL2 were far superior to those in Quake 4. In fact, I enjoy all of HL2, including the vehicle sections.

[Wasson_]

Quake 4's vehicle sections were fun I thought, but they didn't feel "all there".

Also they had "shielding" as part of their vitality. Everyone knows shielding recharges...that's kinda the whole point to having it part of a games vitality system.

But vehicles armor would "recharge" too. That's just...silly.

[Spectre-7]

The vehicle sections in HL2 thankfully weren't all that challenging. You scooted ahead for a while, dodged some bombs from a helicopter, and then hopped out to do some fighting. They weren't my favorite parts of the game, but they weren't so heinous that they annoyed me.

I'd like to reiterate a complaint from earlier in the thread, though: Respawning enemies. Grrrrr. It's just stupid, and it breaks my immersion. I recently played through CoD4, and although it's a generally fun and exciting experience, I don't think the constantly respawning foes added much to the experience.

Remember this, soldier -- middle-eastern folk are in infinite supply until you've advanced past an invisible checkpoint. This becomes especially crappy on higher difficulty settings, where you can clear out a particular window or hole in the wall, and by the time you've aimed for the next window, the old one is filled again.

It's just dumb, and it's a poor replacement for enemy forces that are actually smart and attempt to fight back in any meaningful way. Instead, the developers were happy enough to create a glorified shooting gallery.

[KamaItachi]

The vehicle sections in HL2 thankfully weren't all that challenging. You scooted ahead for a while, dodged some bombs from a helicopter, and then hopped out to do some fighting. They weren't my favorite parts of the game, but they weren't so heinous that they annoyed me.



I didn't find them hard, just overlong. Far too much of the drive to area A, get out, clear blockade, drive to area B, get out, clear blockade, drive, drive drive style of gameplay.

[RandoM51]

With so many great games out now, I simply have no patience for bullshit missions to arbitrarily extend the game and show off the physics.

Stop playing Half-Life 2 after the first 1/3 of the game and definitely skip the episodes. You could subtitle the experience as, "Look ma, with Source's physics engine and this nifty grav gun I can do everything with no hands."

Using the grav gun to cut mobs in half with huge sawblades? Fun. Having to use the grav gun for almost every encounter/puzzle in the game? Not so much fun.

Valve basically pulled an id and nobody called them on it.

[Mr. Murphy]

I agree, but at the same time see why they do it.

Although I would like to try to play an RPG where you have the chance to encounter any enemy from the entire game right from the start. First fight, rats...second fight, 3-headed Doom Dragon who hits you for 9999...and you have 25 hp.

Bye Bye, Mr. hero man. :D

Final Fantasy 8 and 12 had this. Both had a giant dinosaur right in the first area that would absolutely decimate you if you went near it. And 12 even had the rat quest first.

It's not a gamebreaker, but I was really hoping the newest Silent Hill would find a more creative way to keep me on track than having a million doors with broken locks.

"The lock is broken. I can't open it." At least make the broken locks visible so I don't waste all this time running up and down the hallway trying broken locked doors.

[alienmastermind]

I don't mind turret missions when they're fun. The one in Dead Space is NOT fun. Gimpy controls and a hit-box the size of a pea are not fun..

Just finished this part last night. Hear, hear. This was a hard, hard, stupid hard turret manning fight. I think if you play it understanding that the gun moves like a turtle on 'ludes dipped in tar and you are going to be at critical damage before it's all said and done no matter what, it takes the edge off.

It was a nice looking damage/tension builder, but when the turret overheats as well as is slow, and the only way it's effective is to use the mode that overheats it faster...that's super ghlame (ghey and lame)...it's almost retardiculous.

[Spigot]

I'd like to reiterate a complaint from earlier in the thread, though: Respawning enemies. Grrrrr. It's just stupid, and it breaks my immersion. I recently played through CoD4, and although it's a generally fun and exciting experience, I don't think the constantly respawning foes added much to the experience.Aye. I didn't notice this fact until the TV station mission in CoD4, at which point it almost broke the game for me. I spent so much time trying to meticulously plan out my assault through the control room and would clear everything out and then bam... more enemies. It drove me nuts, as I was trying to play it in a more conservative fashion and not just run into the room with my guns blazing.

There were a few missions later in the game that had the same problem. If you tried to play defensively and clear a path before advancing, you were screwed. It pissed me off.

[bean]

Ridiculous jump puzzles

Don't get me wrong. A GOOD jump puzzle like those seen in Mario games that give you a little bit of "over" jumping will entertain me quite a bit.

Tomb Raider is a good example of this. Tomb Raider: Legend did great jump puzzles where you moved quickly and responded well. Many of the earlier games in the series required that you carefully square off with the lip of a ledge and then take back steps so that you knew exactly when to jump based on the number of steps you'd taken.

Also, I remember a really crappy western game, Call of Juarez, that came out not long ago that would have been pretty fun if it had not been ruined awful jump puzzles and bad stealth mechanics (my second point).

Bad and/or superfluous stealth gameplay

If you are going to make a stealth game, you need to make it fun. We need to feel like we are bad asses at being stealthy and have fun ways to do it, like the ninjas in the original Tenchu. It was great fun getting on roofs and then plopping down behind unsuspecting henchman to slit their throats, or using ninja items to distract them and move in for the kill.

However, later Tenchu games seemed to forget what made this so fun and cool was the ease with which we did it. Poor controls and inconsistent game mechanics (some roofs can be grappled while others cannot?) made this far less enjoyable.

Still other games are not about stealth mechanics at all, and they tack on poorly constructed stealth levels seemingly just to annoy players. Syphon Filter was infamous for highly punishing and nearly impossible stealth levels. Perfect Dark Zero also had poor mechanics but at least you could fight your way out once you were detected. Finally, Call of Juarez again makes this mistake as mentioned previously.

A lack of gameplay progression

While in many games you are essentially doing the same thing that you did from the beginning of the game at the very end, the best games switch up gameplay, adding new mechanics throughout. For example, Link constantly uncovers new abilities in his adventures that make the game play differently and open up new and exciting puzzles.

However, some games simply have you doing the same things over and over and over. Mario Kart changes tracks, but you have the same weapons on the first track as the last, and it is essentially the same game no matter what level you play. This makes it work fine as a party game as the simplicity is intended and there are several game mechanics at work to make the game fun for people of all skill levels, but while it can be brought out and played with family like an Uno deck, there isn't a lot of repeatable fun to be had with it solo.

[Lance Uppercut]

Vehicle levels. Fuck 'em.

(On an aside, Halo's vehicle levels aren't too bad.)

[diablopath]

I don't know about everybody else, but I fucking hate REQUIRED tutorials.

They have prevented me from playing many games through more than once.

I just hate the slowness factor.

BTW, I consider THE ENTIRE FIRST FOUR HOURS OF KOTOR 2 as a tutorial.

[pseudopseudo]

Again, not really a gameplay element (and I'm not sure if anyone's brought it up), but I can't stand when a game has ONLINE co-op, but no SPLITSCREEN co-op. This is even more enraging 'cause it seems like a trend that's picking up steam.

I have nothing against online co-op - I actually dig it quite a bit. However, I like playing co-op with my brother or friend in the same room even more.

[KingGorilla]

"Save the world? Sorry, we're looking for someone with some on the job experience. Yeah, the certs look nice on your resume, but if you had, say... 3 years of rat killing under your belt, we might consider you."

Hence the grizzled hero with Amnesia, he has the certs and the references, but still needs to take a refresher course in rat killing.

[Spigot]

Again, not really a gameplay element (and I'm not sure if anyone's brought it up), but I can't stand when a game has ONLINE co-op, but no SPLITSCREEN co-op. This is even more enraging 'cause it seems like a trend that's picking up steam.

I have nothing against online co-op - I actually dig it quite a bit. However, I like playing co-op with my brother or friend in the same room even more.I can't stand when a game has online co-op but forces the game to act like you're playing local co-op, right down to having to share a single camera despite playing on two separate systems.

I'm looking at you, Fable 2...

[Purple Santa]

No any-time save option. That's inexcusable.
This...this is my biggest pet peeve with games. I want to be able to pick up a game...play...then stop when I want to. Not a game telling me when I need to stop. Not everyone who plays has hours at a time to play...not even a half hour sometimes. You would think as the demographics for those who buy and play video games, developers would get that point.

One solution would be for consoles to have a sleep mode similar to what the PSP and DS have. I'd love that.
A sleep mode on the Xbox 360...all the Xboxes in the world suddenly RRR at once. I love the idea though...that certainly would be a back up solution to save anywhere but can't or won't be implemented.



Wind. It's so useless...
I liked your literal interpretation of the OP. Very clever. That aside..you didn't like Lost Winds??

I can't stand when a game has online co-op but forces the game to act like you're playing local co-op, right down to having to share a single camera despite playing on two separate systems.

I'm looking at you, Fable 2...
Don't be a hatah :p

[bean]

I can't stand when a game has online co-op but forces the game to act like you're playing local co-op, right down to having to share a single camera despite playing on two separate systems.

I'm looking at you, Fable 2...

That's a design decision and not a limitation in Fable 2's case. Just imagine if someone went off and did all the quests in your world, or joined up in a different city then went on a murdering spree.

[maharahaj]

This...this is my biggest pet peeve with games. I want to be able to pick up a game...play...then stop when I want to. Not a game telling me when I need to stop. Not everyone who plays has hours at a time to play...not even a half hour sometimes. You would think as the demographics for those who buy and play video games, developers would get that point.

I totally agree. I remember a game way back in the day, Kirby's Pinball for the gameboy, that had a "temp save feature". You could save at any time and then you were dumped back to the title screen. Loading that save back up took you to where you saved but the game then erased the save file. This way you pause and turn off the system at any time, but not cheat the game with save/reload/save/reload tactic to get a higher score or get back a lost ball.

I tend to play my games in small spurts [hence my increase in DS play time] but would like to be able to carry that over to consoles as well.

[Spigot]

That's a design decision and not a limitation in Fable 2's case. Just imagine if someone went off and did all the quests in your world, or joined up in a different city then went on a murdering spree.No... What they need to do in this case is just have it so that the host has to leave an area before your buddy can go there. I'm not saying you have to be able to roam the other person's world. I'm just saying that there are ways to keep a bit of a leash on a player without forcing an incredibly broken camera system on them.

[Dukefrukem]

Nothing original, but my hatred not allowing me to save whenever I fucking want knows no bounds. It is possibly one of the primary reasons I keep most of my gaming on the PC. Also, the world levelling in Oblivion really, really sucked. The game had so much potential that I consider nearly wasted by this mechanic. Thanks Jebus for user mods :)

What about games like Resident Evil? That makes sense.

[Variable Gear]

The people who play them.

[crazyD]

What about games like Resident Evil? That makes sense.

I disagree. How does it make sense that you need to see a typewriter to save? And why do you need a new ink cartridge every time? How does it make sense at all?

[KingGorilla]

It makes sense of you have had a drink of that sweet Japanese Kool Aide.