Gaming Pet Peeves

[Joe]

Any games. Hopscotch, Monopoly, Poker, Starcraft. They're all valid. Anyway, I'll start. I find computer RPGs with a huge amount of skills and specialties to be offputting. 'Here's a hundred skills. Pick three.' I have no idea which ones are useful straight up. Many may sound good, but be incompatible with the actual game itself. Sniping, when enemies zerg-rush you, or sneaking when they all have a high awareness and a grudge against thieves. I prefer games with less initial choice, I find it leads to more playability.

Also, crafting systems. I hate having to look around for and collect random stuff in the hope that it'll all pay off at the end. I persevere because I want the rewards, but I don't enjoy it.

What annoys you about otherwise good games?

[immortalfrieza]

Anything that requires luck rather than in order to accomplish.

12 hours ago, Joe said:

 

Also, crafting systems. I hate having to look around for and collect random stuff in the hope that it'll all pay off at the end. I persevere because I want the rewards, but I don't enjoy it.

A good example right there. I wouldn't mind crafting systems if it didn't always come down to getting drops from enemies that have a 1 in 100000000000 chance of dropping, or, (or heaven forbid, in ADDITION TO) having to sit on your hands waiting several minutes or running around in circles just to make one thing instead of it happening instantly, often just to be able to make something that isn't significantly better than what you already have and will probably find the same thing or even better in a chest or store an hour or 2 later anyway.

Another thing that's irks me? I'm really starting to get annoyed that Turned Based RPGs are still being made, even by big time developers. Action RPGs can do literally everything a TB RPG can do plus far far more than a TB RPG ever could, to the point one can even put a Turned Based RPG  INSIDE an Action RPG easily, or adapt the Action RPG to allow the player switch between the two at will and the reverse isn't true, it doesn't get more obsolete than that. Even all the so called "innovation" they keep trying to inject Turned Based RPGs with are either things that Action RPGs can do and probably have done just as well or worse just pale imitations of what Action RPGs can do by default. Perhaps worst of all, Turned Based RPGs heavily rely upon statistics and luck instead of skill, in the vast majority of cases you can just level until you can crush everything effortlessly, the same is not true of an Action RPG. The only reasons Turn Based RPGs still are being made is they are still a little easier to make than Action RPGs, but not much more so, and developers are trying to cash in on nostalgia. This is why I was so glad to hear that Final Fantasy 15 was going to be an Action RPG, the complaints that it is are nonsensical, because the series really really should have made the switch a LOOOOOOONG time ago.

On a story front, I really hate those Hopeless Boss Fights and cutscene incompetence and other story contrivances where the only way the plot can continue is if the developers take control out of the player's hands and force the protagonists to be stupid and incompetent for a bit. If you're a video game writer and the only way you can think of to continue the plot is to let the antagonists just roll over the protagonists with the player unable to do anything since if the player were in control they'd destroy the plot, you're not a very good writer.

[starri]

I prefer Turn-Based RPGs.  And Turn-Based strategy games.

I also really do not like open-world games.  Andromeda and FFXV are reasonably okay, because there's some general linear progression, but I like feeling like I'm in a story.

[Sandman87]

Second that. I'm willing to tolerate action RPGs and strategy games, but prefer turn-based.

[Joe]

12 hours ago, immortalfrieza said:

Another thing that's irks me? I'm really starting to get annoyed that Turned Based RPGs are still being made, even by big time developers.

Which big names do turn-based these days? All the ones I can think of are either smallish kickstarted projects often inspired by past games, or another entry in a series of turn-based games.

Another peeve is no-win situations. I remember the exact moment I gave up on Wasteland 2. I had to decide which of two areas to visit first. I picked one. And got messages from the other swearing at me for not picking them. I bet if I'd gone to the second one, the first one would have complained too. And I was getting my arse kicked by giant mutant rats at the time. It just wasn't fun at all.

[immortalfrieza]

6 hours ago, Joe said:

Which big names do turn-based these days? All the ones I can think of are either smallish kickstarted projects often inspired by past games, or another entry in a series of turn-based games.

True, most of the Turned Based RPGs made by big names left these days are continuations of series that traditionally were, like World of Final Fantasy and the Brave series from Square Enix, kickstarted stuff, like Pillars of Eternity and Tyranny, and even rereleases of older games but that's no excuse, it just shows an unwillingness to improve. There's still ones that are being made by companies that have more than enough resources to avoid being turned based, like the South Park games, and then lots and lots of MMORPGs that really are turned based but try to make themselves look like they aren't, like The Old Republic, but yeah in general Turned Based RPGs seem to be slowly dying out, which is a really good thing.

I just thought of another peeve. Collectables and secrets that have no icons or other indications are to where they are, even later on once you've already found most of them. I shouldn't need a player's guide or an online map to find these things, especially in a game that really isn't built for exploration. There's nothing more annoying than collecting 99 tokens of invisibility and having to search every last inch of the game world even with a map to find the ONE token. I prefer it if either there's a system to just show all the collectables and secrets on the map instantly after completing some really difficult challenges, or simply putting icons on the minimap after you've found a good majority of the things already.

18 hours ago, starri said:

I also really do not like open-world games.  Andromeda and FFXV are reasonably okay, because there's some general linear progression, but I like feeling like I'm in a story.

Then you're kinda missing the point of open world games. Open world games are about the player crafting the story to the furthest extend the game world allows, and the developer's job is to make the ability of the player to do that as extensive as possible. Some open world games are heavily story based, like as you said Andromeda and FF15, but even with those there's lots of room for the player to make up a story. That said, I myself do prefer the ones like Andromeda and FF15 where the protagonists have an actual voice, goal, and personality of their own independent of the player, maybe you'd like Fallout 4, which is similar but has a much more broad world.

[Joe]

2 hours ago, immortalfrieza said:

in general Turned Based RPGs seem to be slowly dying out, which is a really good thing.

I dispute this. There are plenty of things in games I don't like, but I'm not opposed to their existence. I like a break from needing such good reactions now and then. A chance to do something different.

On a completely different note, useless items that clog up my inventory. In the Witcher 3, you can't get rid of any quest items once the relevant quests are done. Please let me be rid of that book, mask, and monster head. Let me dump them in my stash, even. At least they don't take up any weight. It's one of the few areas that Witcher 3 is worse than Skyrim, even. More essential quest items to haul around.

[immortalfrieza]

36 minutes ago, Joe said:

I dispute this. There are plenty of things in games I don't like, but I'm not opposed to their existence. I like a break from needing such good reactions now and then. A chance to do something different.

As I said, Action RPGs can do everything Turned Based RPGs can do plus more, including the capability to be switched to a Turned Based RPG and back with a option change, Turned Based RPGs have absolutely nothing to offer that Action RPGs can't give just as well or even better which is the issue I have with it. If Turned Based RPGs had something, ANYTHING to provide that Action RPGs can't do just as well I wouldn't be so critical of it. There's a big difference between not liking something and being able to recognize that there is nothing it can do that's better or unique to something else to the point of complete obsolescence, as is the case with Turned Based RPGs. Once all the kinks were worked out with cars horse and buggies were all but completely abandoned because they had nothing to offer that cars didn't do better, the same thing is slowly happening with Action RPGs and Turned Based RPGs. Ease to make and developers trying to cash in on nostalgia are the sole reasons Turned Based RPGs even still exist, not because it has anything to offer that Action RPGs don't.

[Joe]

When you say ARPG, which games do you mean? Because I think things like Diablo or Skyrim that are very reaction-based. Yes, you can press esc now and then to pause the game, but it isn't the same.

Quote

Once all the kinks were worked out with cars horse and buggies were all but completely abandoned because they had nothing to offer that cars didn't do better.

People still ride horses, because they enjoy the experience. Same with turn-based. It's nice to have a bit of a think about your next move, rather than the fast-paced actiony titles.

[immortalfrieza]

11 hours ago, Joe said:

When you say ARPG, which games do you mean? Because I think things like Diablo or Skyrim that are very reaction-based. Yes, you can press esc now and then to pause the game, but it isn't the same.

Any RPG where the player has direct control over all of at least one character's actions during battle, and aside from having to wait for animations to finish and staggering and such, one doesn't have to wait several seconds to do anything, one just has to push a button and whatever it is that the button makes the character do happens instantly. Also, few if any commands exist for the player to execute most if not all actions, button presses are enough.

For instance, in most Kingdom Hearts games I can just push the analog stick forward towards the enemy to run up to them, press the attack button, and Sora will just attack immediately when I press the button, or block immediately when I press the block button, or jump, or whatever, and while there are more actions than possible or practical button combinations I can set the most used commands to go when a couple buttons are pressed at the same time and thus rarely ever need to actually use the menu for anything. I don't have to select the "attack" command and sit there for a few seconds until the game arbitrarily decides that now Sora can run towards the enemy and strike it like with a Turned Based RPG.

11 hours ago, Joe said:

People still ride horses, because they enjoy the experience.

Exactly, it has nothing to do with inherent superiority of using horses or that horses can do anything cars can't, but because of novelty and nostalgia. The experience is the only thing horses have left that cars can't provide, but Turned Based RPGs don't even have that much left.

11 hours ago, Joe said:

It's nice to have a bit of a think about your next move.

That's the thing, there's plenty of Action RPGs that let you do exactly that. What comes to mind right now is the Mass Effect games, which let you easily pause the game, take in the locations and actions of the enemy and control the position and actions of your squadmates and use special abilities whenever you want. The only thing  the player specifically has to do is general movement and shooting, both of which could also be automated through menus and such if Bioware wanted it to. Another is Dissidia, which is an RPG fighting game with the option to battles function like a standard RPG with all actions taking place the result of selecting commands. Then of course there's Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas, which has the V.A.T.S. system which allows most if not all of the game's combat to be played as a Turned Based RPG, especially in the later parts of the game where AP almost never runs out, and there's plenty of mods out there that could make it so that AP never can run out from the beginning.

That's the thing, Action RPGs have the room to be capable of providing everything any fan of RPGs could want, including the ability to relax and choose your next move, use menus to select actions, wait between moves, and every thing Turned Based RPGs can do if the game is built to allow the option, Turned Based RPGs simply cannot do the same thing at all. Let's say that for some reason no video games could ever be made again, and every Turned Based RPG were to somehow vanish off the face of the planet tomorrow. Action RPGs would be more than capable of scratching any particular itch that a Turned Based RPG fan could want, but if the same thing happened to Action RPGs it would be impossible for any Turned Based RPGs to replace what Action RPGs can do. It's really just on the developers that every Action RPG doesn't already have the option to be played as a Turned Based RPG as it is.

Edited May 4, 2017 by immortalfrieza

[starri]

17 minutes ago, immortalfrieza said:

That's the thing, Action RPGs have the room to be capable of providing everything any fan of RPGs could want

But they don't.

I can't think of an action RPG that provides you the option to be turn-based.  That's the issue.

[immortalfrieza]

6 minutes ago, starri said:

But they don't.

I can't think of an action RPG that provides you the option to be turn-based.  That's the issue.

They can and do, I just provided 3 examples, including two series and two games in another series. Even if those somehow don't qualify and there is not a single Action RPG which does provide the option to be Turned Based, the fact is that Action RPGs CAN provide the option to be Turned Based and Turned Based RPGs cannot provide the option to be an Action RPG, they wouldn't BE Turned Based RPGs if they could.

Edited May 4, 2017 by immortalfrieza

[starri]

Never mind.

Edited May 4, 2017 by starri

[Joe]

It's fine if you don't like a particular style of game, but please don't say it shouldn't exist. I like turn-based. I'm not into crafting, but I'm not going to say that Minecraft shouldn't exist.

Another peeve of mine is the combat in Witcher 3. Some games I turn up the difficulty to prolong the fight. Witcher 3 I found too fluid, I kept attacking thin air. So I kept it on easy the whole game. And on the subject of crafting, one particular upgrade requiring a dumpling. Did any of the food sellers stock dumplings? Not that I noticed. Maybe that elf in Novigrad. The Witcher 3 I found to be a combination of awesome and frustrating.

[Danny Franks]

Games with primarily online, co-op or PvP modes. Or, even worse, games with only those modes.

I don't have enough spare time to get good enough at a game that I can go online and play with or against a bunch of teenagers who have devoted every waking hour to getting really good, and actually enjoy myself. 

So when Star Wars: Battlefront, Titanfall. Overwatch, Battlefield 1, Destiny and other games start creating a buzz, I get really excited over how amazing they look, then realise they're all online. And my enthusiasm is killed dead. I understand why the appeal is there for online gamers, but I don't understand why developers wouldn't broaden their appeal by crafting satisfying single player campaigns to go alongside the online stuff. 

I also don't like 'blank slate' protagonists, who move through the world without their own story and distinct character. If I'm playing a game, I'm doing it for the story as much as the gameplay, and I want that story to be involving, engaging and to actually have an impact on the character. So while Skyrim, for example, was a great game from a technical and gameplay point of view, it was sorely lacking from a narrative perspective. I'll use, as a contrast, Knights of the Old Republic, where your protagonist is absolutely key to the story itself.

[immortalfrieza]

1 hour ago, Joe said:

It's fine if you don't like a particular style of game, but please don't say it shouldn't exist. I like turn-based. I'm not into crafting, but I'm not going to say that Minecraft shouldn't exist.

I like Turned Based RPGs well enough, I'm just losing my patience with developers that keep making them now that Action RPGs have become commonplace and much easier to make. I'm not saying I expect Turned Based RPGs to stop being made anytime soon, but that they should be and are being gradually phased out and only continue to exist for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with Turned Based RPGs being able to do anything that Action RPGs can't do. Minecraft and crafting is a bad comparison, there's no Action RPG equivalent for that genre which can do everything crafting can do and far more than crafting ever could hope to do, as is the case with Action RPGs Vs. Turned Based RPGs. There's a big BIG difference between not being into a particular style of game and wanting a particular style of game that is significantly and literally better in every way and has far more current and potential applications to replace it. Expecting Turned Based RPGs to soon be all but completely replaced by Action RPGs is like expecting those old rotary phones to be phased out in favor of the modern iphone, it's simply an expectation born of the undeniable fact that the latter is able to do everything the former can and more.

Quote

Another peeve of mine is the combat in Witcher 3. Some games I turn up the difficulty to prolong the fight. Witcher 3 I found too fluid, I kept attacking thin air. So I kept it on easy the whole game.

That reminds me of another peeve regarding difficulty levels. I've noticed that the vast majority of the time difficulty levels are pointless because they don't actually increase difficulty, it just jacks up the statistics of the enemy or in the case of fighting games just read controller inputs to try and beat you through attrition. I usually don't even bother with difficulty levels anymore because it should be that the AI stays the same in capability but gets smarter to use that capability better, especially with RPGs where an increase in difficulty really just means you have to level up more.

Edited May 4, 2017 by immortalfrieza

[Joe]

On 04/05/2017 at 11:00 PM, immortalfrieza said:

That reminds me of another peeve regarding difficulty levels. I've noticed that the vast majority of the time difficulty levels are pointless because they don't actually increase difficulty, it just jacks up the statistics of the enemy or in the case of fighting games just read controller inputs to try and beat you through attrition. I usually don't even bother with difficulty levels anymore because it should be that the AI stays the same in capability but gets smarter to use that capability better, especially with RPGs where an increase in difficulty really just means you have to level up more.

I remember hearing that in Fallout 4, the AI gets better with difficulty levels. That the enemies aren't just bullet sponges.

But that reminds me of another peeve, buggy games. Yeah, nothing is perfect. Sometimes things glitch out. But I've been playing and trying to play Fallout New Vegas recently. Half the time the game hangs on an infinite loading screen. By all accounts, Obsidian are particularly bad in the bug department. It really ruins the gameplay.

[immortalfrieza]

12 hours ago, Joe said:

But that reminds me of another peeve, buggy games. Yeah, nothing is perfect. Sometimes things glitch out. But I've been playing and trying to play Fallout New Vegas recently. Half the time the game hangs on an infinite loading screen. By all accounts, Obsidian are particularly bad in the bug department. It really ruins the gameplay.

I must be extremely lucky (or just have a good computer) because I have not experienced any bugs in anything made by Bethesda more serious than a rock missing some textures or something. In fact, even with New Vegas I get an occasional crash and that's about it.

You have the unofficial patches and such right?

[SnideAsides]

Two pet peeves: Games with unintuitive and poorly-mapped controls (especially motion controls in situations where it doesn't make sense), and games that disguise bland and repetitive level design with overly detailed graphics in an attempt to distract you.

(Why, yes, I have been re-playing Donkey Kong Country Returns recently. Thank you for noticing.)

[Joe]

1 hour ago, SnideAsides said:

Two pet peeves: Games with unintuitive and poorly-mapped controls (especially motion controls in situations where it doesn't make sense), and games that disguise bland and repetitive level design with overly detailed graphics in an attempt to distract you.

(Why, yes, I have been re-playing Donkey Kong Country Returns recently. Thank you for noticing.)

That's another problem with Fallout New Vegas. You have to push tab to bring up any menu. Inventory, map, quests: tab, then select the right screen.

Also, the original Prey. I only played the demo, but I noticed that for all the crazy portal-based level design, in terms of having to shoot enemies it felt like just another FPS.

[Sandman87]

On Sunday, May 14, 2017 at 8:49 PM, Joe said:

I remember hearing that in Fallout 4, the AI gets better with difficulty levels. That the enemies aren't just bullet sponges.

But that reminds me of another peeve, buggy games. Yeah, nothing is perfect. Sometimes things glitch out. But I've been playing and trying to play Fallout New Vegas recently. Half the time the game hangs on an infinite loading screen. By all accounts, Obsidian are particularly bad in the bug department. It really ruins the gameplay.

New Vegas Anti-Crash - Took care of the vast majority of my problems with the game, including the "endless loading" bug.

 

21 hours ago, Joe said:

That's another problem with Fallout New Vegas. You have to push tab to bring up any menu. Inventory, map, quests: tab, then select the right screen.

F1, F2, and F3 take you directly to the Stats, Items, and Data menus by default.

Edited May 25, 2017 by Sandman87

[Joe]

3 hours ago, Sandman87 said:

New Vegas Anti-Crash - Took care of the vast majority of my problems with the game, including the "endless loading" bug.

 

F1, F2, and F3 take you directly to the Stats, Items, and Data menus by default.

Oh, awesome, thanks!

[Joe]

God, Half-Life 2 is terrible. It's endless bloody jumping and physics puzzles. I don't play FPS games for puzzles. I play them for, and I realise this might be a surprise, shooting! In fact, I don't play puzzle games at all. I don't like puzzles.

I have the same feelings about Dragon Keep. I refuse to do the puzzles. I'll just jump off the ledge until the bridge appears, and punch that stupid cube the moment I'm allowed to. I can do the crusher, but only because I wrote down the winning pattern and refer back to it. For that matter, the skeletaurs and seers are deeply stupid enemies. Just let me, y'know, shoot them. I don't like the plot of Dragon Keep either. Oh, Tina is in denial about Roland's death. But I don't care about either character. Once again, just let me shoot things.

[starri]

I feel like I'm never going to get a simple narrative game ever again.  Uncharted seemed like the last bastion of that, and now it's finished.

I was reading this about Visceral Games' closure and the cancellation of their ambitious Star Wars game, and it just made me depressed.  That plus the cancellation of 1313 probably means that LucasFilm and EA will concentrate on mediocre shooters like Battlefront, instead of stuff like KOTOR, which had a story that drew you in and made you care about the characters.  I just can't get sucked into an open-world game in the same way, although Final Fantasy XV did okay and Andromeda was almost there, and probably would have managed it if they hadn't just cancelled everything.

I guess I'm pinning my hopes on indie games, the prequel to Until Dawn, and Detroit: Become Human.

[AntiBeeSpray]

I hate, hate, hate escort missions in games. Since said being keeps on wandering away and I end up getting killed. Pokemon Rescue Dungeon games are notorious for it. And I end up trying to avoid said missions like the plague.

[AntiBeeSpray]

On 5/14/2017 at 11:49 PM, Joe said:

I remember hearing that in Fallout 4, the AI gets better with difficulty levels. That the enemies aren't just bullet sponges.

But that reminds me of another peeve, buggy games. Yeah, nothing is perfect. Sometimes things glitch out. But I've been playing and trying to play Fallout New Vegas recently. Half the time the game hangs on an infinite loading screen. By all accounts, Obsidian are particularly bad in the bug department. It really ruins the gameplay.

I hate that too. I remember playing one game that wouldn't let me get past a certain point (Lufia: The Ruins of Lore), it would just freeze right during a battle. And no matter how I tried to approach it at, whether it was coming from a different direction/section, it would always end the same way. Made the entire game a waste of time. It was corrupted plain and simple.

[Joe]

I'm not opposed to games with multiplayer, or even MMOs in general. What annoys me is SP series suddenly going MP entirely. My first brush with this was Quake 3. But recently there's been Torchlight Frontiers and Diablo Eternal. I don't play mobile games, either. Congratulations, you managed to lose a loyal player.

I tried playing Path of Exile once. I got to the first town, saw all the people running around. I hadn't enjoyed the game up to that point, but that was the last straw. What little immersion I had was completely shattered. Uninstall.

[xaxat]

Agree with this thread 100%

[AntiBeeSpray]

Heck ya. I tried out Fortnite, and I got killed before even fully knowing the controls. Really guys? Give someone a chance to learn first :P.

[Anduin]

No, I don't want to play Gwent. I only clicked on that option by accident, and shouldn't have to bet and thus lose a single coin. In fact, I'd rather climb that hill over there, only Geralt thinks he's a snowboarder and would rather go down the hill than up it.

[Anela]

On 11/28/2018 at 7:25 PM, AntiBeeSpray said:

Heck ya. I tried out Fortnite, and I got killed before even fully knowing the controls. Really guys? Give someone a chance to learn first :P.

I play fortnite, and for months I landed at the edge of the map. I tended to land wherever twitch streamers ask, "Do people actually land here?" I refuse to land Tilted Towers, because I've only survived twice, when nobody noticed me, and I got stuck in a building. 

I want to play different games, but need to download Hearthstone again, and for the others, I need someone to play them with, can't afford them, or I only have a PC, not a console. I really want Little Nightmares, as something new to try. I've wanted it for two years now. 

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

On 8/26/2017 at 4:55 PM, Joe said:

God, Half-Life 2 is terrible. It's endless bloody jumping and physics puzzles.

It's so linear. First you go here, then you go there, then you go to this other place, and so forth. There's no choices about how to complete a given level, which levels to attack first, etc.

On 2/23/2018 at 3:28 PM, AntiBeeSpray said:

I hate, hate, hate escort missions in games.

The only time I totally rage-quit a game was after an escort quest in Matrix: Path of Neo. My job was to keep Trinity alive on a rooftop whilst fighting off agents, helicopters and whatnot. After a bunch of tries, I managed to defeat all of them only to have Trinity WALK OFF THE ROOF ON HER OWN, causing me to fail the level. Never played the game after that.

On 2/24/2019 at 3:45 PM, Anduin said:

No, I don't want to play Gwent. I only clicked on that option by accident, and shouldn't have to bet and thus lose a single coin. In fact, I'd rather climb that hill over there, only Geralt thinks he's a snowboarder and would rather go down the hill than up it.

I loved Witcher III, but could not stand how they kept trying to force Gwent on you.

Edited June 9, 2019 by Sir RaiderDuck OMS

[AntiBeeSpray]

1 hour ago, morningstar said:

Unskippable cutscenes are also a huge pain

not being able to skip them when they're intrusive is worse--especially in games with poor checkpoint placement

Can relate on the latter. Especially when any checkpoints are back in town and you have to backtrack to get to them. Add in any game freezing bugs and it makes for an unplayable game.

[xaxat]

It looks like GOG (Good Old Games) may have devised a solution to my greatest pet peeve as a PC gamer. Multiple game lauchers because you bought games from different storefronts/publishers. (Right now, I have Steam, Ubisoft, GOG, Epic, Origin and probably some others I have forgotten.) 

GOG Galaxy 2.0 Might Actually Be Able To Unite Warring PC Storefronts

While I look forward to this, the cynic in me says that the affected storefronts are already scheming to break GOG's solution.

[AntiBeeSpray]

1 hour ago, xaxat said:

It looks like GOG (Good Old Games) may have devised a solution to my greatest pet peeve as a PC gamer. Multiple game lauchers because you bought games from different storefronts/publishers. (Right now, I have Steam, Ubisoft, GOG, Epic, Origin and probably some others I have forgotten.) 

GOG Galaxy 2.0 Might Actually Be Able To Unite Warring PC Storefronts

While I look forward to this, the cynic in me says that the affected storefronts are already scheming to break GOG's solution.

Bless GOG. That's brilliant!

Yea I'm thinking they'll probably do that too. That said, I hope it works out.

[xaxat]

Got invited to GOG Galaxy Beta.

It is as advertised. All your Steam, Epic, GOG etc. games listed in one interface. You can play and install all of your games. Achievements and friends are there. I have rediscovered games that I forgot I owned (a lot of early Humble Bundle stuff) and it looks great.

(My Dragon Ages are all on one laucher!)

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

Another pet peeve that reared its head with the final expansion for Assassin's Creed Odyssey (Cerberus, I'm looking at you): sticking a WAY-harder-than-usual boss or sequence into a game in the name of making it "more challenging" or "more rewarding" or whatever. I play games to have fun and de-stress, NOT to have a de facto unpaid second job learning the exact timing, button pushes and joystick moves to defeat a boss that's much more difficult than it needs to be.

[Anduin]

Stellaris. Free weekend on Steam. Great premise. Conquer the galaxy, bring aliens into your federation/empire, and so on. Only it suffers from the problem of the game tells you to claim the resources of a far-flung planet by building a mining station in orbit. Send the construction ship, queue up a mining station. What do you mean it isn't part of my territory? Then how do I claim it? All of a sudden, the tutorial goes awfully quiet on that subject, while pestering me about three more. At the same time, it told me to send a colony ship to some other planet, but when the ship gets there, there's no planet I can colonise. What the hell, game?

I'm violating Ron Swanson's advice, not just half-assing two things, but perhaps fifth-assing five things! There's too many things happening at once in this game, and too few instructions on what to actually do. No thanks.

[Rushmoras]

Open-world games witch collect-a-ton activities for padding out the already too long game time. I'm playing AC: Valhalla now. Oh, boy. At least those collect-a-ton activities are far fewer than in Origins or Odyssey, but they are still there. I mean, if they are trying to emulate Witcher 3, then at least have the courtesy to make side quest as their own stand-alone stories instead of your general fetch quests (ok, in this game they are more of sit and listen to me talk, beat someone up or kill someone up and fetch someone for me for variety's sake).

[Anduin]

9 hours ago, Rushmoras said:

Open-world games witch collect-a-ton activities for padding out the already too long game time. I'm playing AC: Valhalla now. Oh, boy. At least those collect-a-ton activities are far fewer than in Origins or Odyssey, but they are still there. I mean, if they are trying to emulate Witcher 3, then at least have the courtesy to make side quest as their own stand-alone stories instead of your general fetch quests (ok, in this game they are more of sit and listen to me talk, beat someone up or kill someone up and fetch someone for me for variety's sake).

How necessary are those activities? Do you need the loot or XP to make the main quest doable? Do any story decisions rely on collecting all the thingies? But yeah, sounds frustrating. I've never played a Ubisoft game. Every time I consider doing so, they go and stick their foot in it.

[Rushmoras]

1 hour ago, Anduin said:

How necessary are those activities? Do you need the loot or XP to make the main quest doable? Do any story decisions rely on collecting all the thingies? But yeah, sounds frustrating. I've never played a Ubisoft game. Every time I consider doing so, they go and stick their foot in it.

They are necessary to an extent that in addition to XP, they also give out resources needed to upgrade your settlement (basically, new shops or buildings that provide new quest givers), and those resources are finite (AFAIR, the game world has exact amount of them). You can go without them and complete the main quest without them, but since I bought the Gold Edition, which comes with a season pass, I kinda want to get my moneys worth and do all the question-marks. Though, I know which ones are really useless, so I wont do them, because I care not for them.

On the other hand, they are quite fewer than in Origins and Oddyssey, and I think it takes whole less time to do them, so that's a plus, but... the whole game world is big, but barren in comparison, and even with horse it take a long ass time (or so it feels) to get to them.

And side-quests in this game are made to be like 5 min. tops miniscule random encounters, which have nothing to do with the main plot whatsover. So, on the one hand, it is good that they are short, on the other hand, why they even made these to begin with? Because, your map does not provide any object markers, so you are forced to listen to an NPC and here him out and based on their vague description either go to some area or follow them, or just sit down with them and here them out, and you get XP. *Shrugs*

Edited January 16, 2022 by Rushmoras

[Anduin]

I see what you mean! Yes, very frustrating.

[Anduin]

Does Horizon Zero Dawn ever get good? I'm about ready to start the Proving, and so far I hate it. In fact, I had a hunch and checked a walkthrough. It gets even worse! I love the premise. Let's explore a primitive yet robot-filled world. Only I don't like Aloy and have no affection for the NPCs either. The gameplay is take it or leave it.

"Oh, woe is me! I'm an outcast and everybody hates me!" Is this supposed to evoke sympathy? Should I be bonding with her over feeling like an outsider too? Maybe her mum abandoned Aloy because she could see how annoying her daughter would be. Maybe being an asshole is a family trait.

[Rushmoras]

On 2/2/2022 at 2:24 PM, Anduin said:

Does Horizon Zero Dawn ever get good? I'm about ready to start the Proving, and so far I hate it. In fact, I had a hunch and checked a walkthrough. It gets even worse! I love the premise. Let's explore a primitive yet robot-filled world. Only I don't like Aloy and have no affection for the NPCs either. The gameplay is take it or leave it.

"Oh, woe is me! I'm an outcast and everybody hates me!" Is this supposed to evoke sympathy? Should I be bonding with her over feeling like an outsider too? Maybe her mum abandoned Aloy because she could see how annoying her daughter would be. Maybe being an asshole is a family trait.

Frankly, you see in terms of gameplay perspective what more or less the game has to offer in about 2-3 hours. Combat with bows, lures, traps, bombs etc. Either a lot of stealthing and using the environment to your advantage or using robot dinosaurs weaknesses against them (thus, mods for weapons and gear). If the game does not attract your attention by then, it is simply not your type of game. Personally, I liked everything about the game and completed it twice (once only the main story and majority of side-quests by using only starting gear and couple of level one mods only; and the second time around when I downloaded Frozen Wilds; then I completed everything there was to do in the main game before going beyond the mountain and upgrading everything. Needless to say, during the middle portion of the game even on hard the game was kind of a breeze, especially thanks to the gold medals earned in hunter challenges. But I got a serious wake-up call in the Frozen Wilds DLC).

EDIT:

Spoiler

and Alloy did not have a mother. Basically she is lab-grown DNA sample of doctor Elisabeth Sobeck. All of the people decended from lab-grown DNA samples of the most prominent minds of the before world. But Alloy, IIRC, was the last one.

 

Edited February 17, 2022 by Rushmoras

[Anduin]

It has improved somewhat. The gameplay is pretty good, even if the characters are lacking.

[Danny Franks]

My main pet peeve about modern gaming, which is unlikely to ever be addressed - developers and publishers using players as paying beta testers.

Total War: Warhammer 3 came out today, and despite early reviews saying it was great, there are dozens of early complaints about how the game performs, AI and optimisation issues and crashes. Because the game isn't finished. They never are, nowadays, they're just pushed out so the publishers can make money, then the developers have to scramble to write patches and updates that fix all the issues that gamers are finding.

Cyberpunk 2077 is the most famous recent example of a game that simply wasn't fit for sale, and the developers knew it. They told their publisher that it wasn't ready, but were ignored and now the game is a joke.

[Rushmoras]

Don't trust reviews. A couple of days ago I was watching outsidexbox one of longer conversations on youtube (gaming news channel), and essentially, one of the ex video-game journalists said that if it is an AAA game, no matter how poor it is, they, as in major reviewers,  cannot rate it below 7. Though, I haven't trusted any reviewers in decades, because their opinion often clashed with mine.

And, these days bug and glitch filled releases are nothing new. At least, we get patches down-the-line. Pre-internet days, if you bought a glitch/bug filled game, you were stuck with it.

Edited February 17, 2022 by Rushmoras

[Anduin]

I only love about a third of HZD. But one of my biggest peeves is heroes and villains talking to each other, maybe at a distance or something, instead of just killing each other. During the Traitor's Bounty quest, I could picked off half my enemies instead of witnessing a shouted conversation. You two want each other dead, right? Cut the chatter and get to killing.

[Rushmoras]

Disproportionate balances in difficulty levels. So, for a while I was playing Vampyr, because I got it for free a while back on EGS store, and... oh, boy. Here's the gist of it:

The game difficulty is directly tied to how many named NPCs you kill (embrace) and get their XP, but you are locked-out of good ending, if you do that. Kill too many, and you get bad ending. Normal difficulty: If you do not kill anyone, you are severely underpowered and could get one shotted, because enemies are more than ten levels above you generally. You can, in theory, craft better gear (there are five levels in total, each containing two additional perks, but you can choose only one of them), but it is very hard to find parts. I completed Chapter Two (with the ghoul in the morgue) and was supposed to meat Lady Ashbury near the hospital, and I barely had parts to craft Level Two Weapon with Additional Blood Sucking Perk.

Now, I tried to play it with Story Mode, and... the combat is a joke. You can steam-roll through level 16-18 NPCs like it is nothing when you are level 3 yourself (out of curiosity I tried that). But, OK, I can understand that, it is meant for those who want to experience the story. However, what I can't understand is their decision to make crafting ingredients drop like flies on Story Mode. In Normal difficulty I had barely ingredients to scrounge for level 2 gear (and only one piece of gear) by the start of Chapter Two. Well, on story mode, by the end of Chapter One, I had enough to make Level 4 Gear and 4 items of medicine!

[Anduin]

On 9/17/2021 at 10:44 AM, Anduin said:

Stellaris. Free weekend on Steam. Great premise. Conquer the galaxy, bring aliens into your federation/empire, and so on. Only it suffers from the problem of the game tells you to claim the resources of a far-flung planet by building a mining station in orbit. Send the construction ship, queue up a mining station. What do you mean it isn't part of my territory? Then how do I claim it? All of a sudden, the tutorial goes awfully quiet on that subject, while pestering me about three more. At the same time, it told me to send a colony ship to some other planet, but when the ship gets there, there's no planet I can colonise. What the hell, game?

I'm violating Ron Swanson's advice, not just half-assing two things, but perhaps fifth-assing five things! There's too many things happening at once in this game, and too few instructions on what to actually do. No thanks.

Quoting myself, because another free weekend, the same problem. In fact, they might have made it worse. Please devs, introduce one concept at a time. Don't just pile things on top of each other. And when you say that I can do something on one particular screen, maybe highlight exactly what I can do there. Something about edicts? The three rulers of Earth? I know I was supposed to pay attention to or chose something, but I genuinely couldn't figure out what.