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Moments when it just went a bit too far or "Less is more" moments in gaming

I've got one. And it's one that might be hard to wrap your head around for series veterans that no the path exactly based on years of experience, but it's something that dawned on me during a recent replay.

The Safari Zone in Pokémon R/B/Y is stacked against a novice player in such a way that you would be forced to repeat it over and over again to progress the story.

Deep in the Safari Zone is an area that contains two plot-sensitive items. One appears like all other items, an ambiguous sphere that requires the player's examination to identify. The other is in a house in the area. Both are needed to proceed.

The problem is that the player only has 500 steps to reach these items. If the player doesn't already know the exact path, they will run out of steps and never know if they were any closer to the items. This necessitates playing the same area over and over again. Worse, this set up punishes the player for any exploration or Pokémon hunting.

I remember, as a kid, being so OVER the Safari Zone. What was once a bastion of rare and exotic Pokémon and possibilities was an excessive drag through repetitive stabs in the dark.

It's funny to think how, since then, the Safari Zone only takes one attempt. But as a novice, it was a painful episode that wouldn't end.
 
The third act (and beyond) of Gravity Rush 2. :/

Look the word "over the top" in the dicionary, the description says Gravity Rush 2.

Yeah, this is actually what I came to post, heh. While the first bit of Gravity Rush 2 was a slog, I fell in love with the first city when I got there and loved doing the small-scale superhero stuff. It was super refreshing to play a game where I felt like I was really helping people; all the stuff where you were helping the poor and taking on the corrupt was awesome.

Then it becomes about fighting ten billion Galactuses or whatever and I just tuned out.
 
Uncharted
When Drake is going on/up/across something that almost breaks, but then it doesn't. It's exciting the first couple of times but every game did it wayyyy too often. Same goes for the 'grabbing somebody by the hand when they're about to fall thing' which occurs seemingly in every location.
 

Toxi

Banned
Sister Friede and Gael from the Dark Souls 3 DLC.

Both go a bit too far in the "crazy over-the-top" style in their third stages. I'm talking purely about aesthetics here.

Gael flies around, teleports, shoots red homing skulls that cause lightning to strike the ground where they hit, flips 20 feet into the air while rapid-firing his automatic crossbow at you, and hits you with his cloak (Which is covered in red skulls). I know he's based on Guts and Guts is similarly over-the-top but still, it feels like so much. And then you have the music that, while good, is also really excessive with its bombastic chorus.

Sister Friede isn't quite that crazy, but she still dual-wields scythes while wielding the elements of ice and black fire. What is she, a Deviantart OC? Just the way she moves and attacks makes her look more like a Kingdom Hearts character than something from Dark Souls.

Both are fantastic bosses though (Friede especially), so it's not like being over-the-top ruins them. I just wish they were a bit more reserved in style. Even Bloodborne I felt didn't go that far with Maria or Gehrman (And I thought those fit the tone of Bloodborne better than Gael or Friede fit the tone of Dark Souls).
 
D

Deleted member 325805

Unconfirmed Member
Absolutely. a lot of gamers must like this though however there would be pushback (conversely, when a game dares to be 8 hours long there will be countless thread filled with 'rent for me' and so on).

Instead of difficulty sliders, I want a slider of how much filler there is in the game. I don't even want to have the option of choosing in game (like in open world game) because it can be hard to sort between the interesting stuff and the useless shit. Also it's distracting to see a map literally covered with shit to do.

For instance, Andromeda with only main quests and most side quests, but purged completely from errands, would be a far improved game.

Speaking of which: andromeda is a perfect example for the thread. It's a good game but hidden under piles of extremely boring-ass fetch quests.

Prey did this very well, one main story chain and a handful of side missions which were there own little stories, you never felt like you were just doing something for the sake of it.

I'm definitely in favour of quality over quantity, give me a really well made game that's 6 - 10 hours over the majority of 15+ hour games we get these days. And people will say "yeah but you don't have to do the filler content" and sometimes that's true, but for example in Black Flag my ship was woefully under-geared because I lacked the resources to upgrade it (because I skipped all shit that wasn't main story or proper side missions), so the navel missions were extremely hard for me as a result.
 
Every time I have to save the world in a Pokemon game. I'm friggin 10, how are there not adults on these cases?

As much as I love the Ace Attorney games, some cases get ridiculously convoluted now that every case involves the body being moved.
 
The Simmons fight in RE6. It literally takes up 1.5 out of 5 chapters of Leon's campaign. I'm pretty sure they just came up with all these boss fight ideas and decided to throw all of them in the game, which is awesome... but in turn it's seriously lacking in enemy combat.
 

SomTervo

Member
Absolutely. a lot of gamers must like this though however there would be pushback (conversely, when a game dares to be 8 hours long there will be countless thread filled with 'rent for me' and so on).

Instead of difficulty sliders, I want a slider of how much filler there is in the game. I don't even want to have the option of choosing in game (like in open world game) because it can be hard to sort between the interesting stuff and the useless shit. Also it's distracting to see a map literally covered with shit to do.

For instance, Andromeda with only main quests and most side quests, but purged completely from errands, would be a far improved game.

Speaking of which: andromeda is a perfect example for the thread. It's a good game but hidden under piles of extremely boring-ass fetch quests.



I don't remember this too much. But reconstructing my memories of the game, i am assuming it has to do with the Church-like religion with the ankh-looking symbol?

That filler slider is a mind blowing idea

I thought a similar pipe dream idea where a game could have a slider from "linear to open". Imagine a modern AC game but if you choose "linear" it just physically funnels you from main mission to main mission rather than having the whole city/world.
 

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
A lot of games (especially JRPGs) pile on the melodrama when a more subtle approach would be more effective.
Agree with this; more recently, Berseria, even if a enjoyable game and especially enjoyable when compared to more recent entries in the Tales series, was still way too heavy handed with a few things. Velvet's edgy outfit being the most obvious offender, but it was pervasive throughout the entire game - I'll be vague as to avoid spoilers, but Laphicet aggressively eating an apple in one scene, and Velvet freaking out about something for like a solid 10 mins in another come to mind. They were still a relatively effective scenes for what they were trying to do, but when the melodrama is so thick that it basically spells out what the writer wanted you to think during that scene, it's probably a bit too much.

I don't want this post to give anyone the wrong idea about Tales of Berseria. It's a flawed but very solid JRPG.
 

Menitta

Member
In Sunset Overdrive after you deal with the LARPers (I think). That game has a clear formula. Meet group, help group, group helps you. It got to a point where the player character makes a joke about this and then you do it again. Either have one less group or don't make the joke, because that's when I stopped.
 
It's not a specific moment, but it felt that almost every Comstock voxophone in Bioshock Infinite was superfluous after the first one, because the writing follows the same template:
-"I did/observed something, and it occurred to me that I am not worthy. But then God said "my child you are worthy, for *insert some epiphany about the thing Comstock did/observed*"

I always had the impression half the game was written by Levine because words sounded cool, not because they had some profound meaning
I feel like Levine is great at coming up with a powerful dramatic idea, and when it's quick and dirty it usually comes off well because of the cartoonish and simple nature is readable And impactful at a glance. One of my favorite moments from the original Bioshock is one of the first encounters with a splicer who is crying over a baby carriage that contains a handgun.

When it calls for subtlety or nuance, which Infinite complete lack of a horror tone and focus on race politics required, it usually becomes repetitive or even worse, muddled to the point of being meaningless.
 

eshwaaz

Member
The most recent example for me was Mafia 3. There is so much about that game that I love, but the developers got so caught up in the complaints that Mafia 2's open world didn't have enough to do that they padded the hell out of 3 with a shit ton of repetitive filler. There is enough quality content in the game to make for a satisfying 20 hour experience, but they went for a bloated 40 hour experience instead and really hurt the game.
 
The third act (and beyond) of Gravity Rush 2. :/

Look the word "over the top" in the dicionary, the description says Gravity Rush 2.
Agreed 100%. I only really liked the first act of GR2, but the third act was just so contrary to why I liked the series in the first place. Pretty disappointing.
 
All pokemon games since gen 4 could benefit from a "less is more" philosophy. Less cutscenes. Less mandatory dialogue. Less time spent dealing with your childhood friends or whatever the fuck, or dealing with some organization that wants to rule the world while talking your ear off as they do it.
 

Strings

Member
Almost everything I play is plagued by this issue, especially when it comes to cutscenes. Just get in late and leave early goddammit!

Like, I hated Xenoblade Chronicles X after finishing the main campaign in little over a hundred hours, but redownloaded it recently, after Xenoblade Chronicles 2 footage made me want to reconsider it...

Without exception, every single cutscene in the first five hours would be improved by shaving away at least 80% of it. Every. Single. One.
 
Mexico introduces a major pacing problem to an otherwise sterling game. When you cross the border, you leave the entire story behind and it's as if you're starting an entire new game. Then, when you finish, you resume the story you started in the first act.

Mexico struggles keeping the player engaged because its asking them to start over everything they've been invested in for an entire third of their adventure. I'm not saying the game would be better without it, but it's not very well integrated. So if the game would have gone from Act 1 ("Armadillo") to Act 3 ("Blackwater"), the game wouldn't really have been worse for it.

But all of Mexico is still great game. It just lacks the hook and asks a lot of patience to a player who was previously greatly engaged with the narrative.

Arguably this is the intent. John doesn't want to go to Mexico and get dragged into its problems. Far Away is the kicker when you get there with lyrics that describe frustration and futility.
 

KJRS_1993

Member
Andromeda is definitely a strong contender for this thread with the amount of crap you can do.
In the Journal, they could have literally nuked the entire "Tasks" section and around half of the region-specific quests, and the game would have improved dramatically.

Filler shite brings games down - stop wasting my time guys :(
 
The third act (and beyond) of Gravity Rush 2. :/

Look the word "over the top" in the dicionary, the description says Gravity Rush 2.
This. Me and my gf were just laughing together as it all unfolded. So much random shit they crammed into the end of the game.

I'm starting to feel this way about persona 5. It's freaking amazing but man it IS starting to drag. I'm at like 110 hours and I'm on the path approaching the final boss and tbh I just want to finish up the game at this point.
 
Sister Friede and Gael from the Dark Souls 3 DLC.

Both go a bit too far in the "crazy over-the-top" style in their third stages. I'm talking purely about aesthetics here.

Gael flies around, teleports, shoots red homing skulls that cause lightning to strike the ground where they hit, flips 20 feet into the air while rapid-firing his automatic crossbow at you, and hits you with his cloak (Which is covered in red skulls). I know he's based on Guts and Guts is similarly over-the-top but still, it feels like so much. And then you have the music that, while good, is also really excessive with its bombastic chorus.

Sister Friede isn't quite that crazy, but she still dual-wields scythes while wielding the elements of ice and black fire. What is she, a Deviantart OC? Just the way she moves and attacks makes her look more like a Kingdom Hearts character than something from Dark Souls.

Both are fantastic bosses though (Friede especially), so it's not like being over-the-top ruins them. I just wish they were a bit more reserved in style. Even Bloodborne I felt didn't go that far with Maria or Gehrman (And I thought those fit the tone of Bloodborne better than Gael or Friede fit the tone of Dark Souls).

Now fight them as a caster. Its like fighting The Flash who is inmune to magic....
 
Metal Gear Solid 4 - He had a hard life...

Kingdom Hearts - How many final bosses are there?

Okami - Fantastic game, but overstayed by 5-10 hours.
 
Lara having things go wrong in the tomb raider reboot.

Unlike Drakes happy go lucky attitude in Uncharted, lara screams in pain/fear as things continuously go wrong and it gets tired so fast.

Sbe is also repeatedly worried at the enemies presence despite being a very efficient killer. The whole game was whack.
 

Glass Rebel

Member
As much as I love JRPGs, they have a tendency to vastly overstay their welcome. Persona is a good example of this and I never really got the argument for having 70+ hours of game to "really get to know these characters".
 

DrKelpo

Banned
Now I'm officially dead. Thanks a lot dude. You killed me with your fundamental misunderstanding of BioShock's opening scene. You will go to prison for my murder. Even if you got the best attorney in the world, he'd tell you to take the plea deal.

RIP me, killed to death by poor BioShock feedback.

. . .
So seeing undersea creatures while under the sea destroys the illusion? Of what? That you're in a city under the sea?!

If there are too many of them crammed into the picture to create the illusion, then yes, it might come over as trying too hard.
Maybe it was a misunderstanding... I didn't mean to criticize the opening of Bioshock, it was brilliant. I just always thought the freaking whale was too much in the scene, hence the name of this thread "Moments when it just went a bit too far".

So Finale Fireworker, please tell me if this was a misunderstanding or if I missed the fundamental meaning of the whale.
 

Bastardo

Member
Dragon Age: Inquisition could have been a really damn good game by removing things.

Just:
- remove the shard collecting
- remove the unnecessary fetch quests (and every other quest involving jumping up a slope)
- remove the crafting
- remove shitty Inquisition traits (be able to spec all of them)
- remove mosaics / bottle / other unnecessary stuff hunting
- remove lots of the unnecessary dialog
- remove all side-characters, which you do not remember after the final playthrough.

BAM -> A mediocre 80 hour RPG sloth is now a great streamlined and a bit more linear awesome 40 hour RPG with emotions.
 

ActWan

Member
The finale in Condemned Criminal Origins where the old guy tells you to "kill the one responsible for this" without any context and then you fight some alien zombie ninja...
 

valkyre

Member
Well .... i know this is going to -for some unknown reason to me if I am honest- be a very unpopular opinion here but...

Persona 5...

The amount of bullshit unnecessary, repeated dialogue is second to none really....

I mean I havent yet finished the game, but 50 hours in and I am itching to smash the controler on my TV...

The game contains so much unnecessary shit it boggles the mind...you pull a lever that opens a door : "Oh the door is open now YAY!" my God.... really...

never mind that fucking gestapo-cat Morgana saying the same shit over and over and over again...

How this game gets a free pass for these things is literally beyond me...
 
I recently started playing through Assassin's Creed III again, and I was pretty blown away how slow the start is. There is so much slow bullshit to plod through and I haven't even gotten onto playing as Connor yet.

So far my first hour or so has been:

Long ass cutscene at the start.
Slow walking through a cave, interrupted by cutscenes every two seconds.
Boring shitty animus tutorials.
Dull theatre climbing sequence.
Awful lock picking mechanic.
More long winded cut scenes.
Walking around back and forth on a boat.
More cut scenes.
Running around on the ship tying ropes down. (seriously who thought this was fun)
More cut scenes.
Following Charles Lee around for a bit.
More cut scenes.
Following Charles Lee around for a bit more.
More cut scenes.
A tiny morsel of combat.
Slow escort mission.

I remember enjoying the game when it first came out. But after returning to it, the issues are pretty glaring. They should have just condensed it down a bit, and let the player loose in the frontier.
 
Well .... i know this is going to -for some unknown reason to me if I am honest- be a very unpopular opinion here but...

Persona 5...

The amount of bullshit unnecessary, repeated dialogue is second to none really....

I mean I havent yet finished the game, but 50 hours in and I am itching to smash the controler on my TV...

The game contains so much unnecessary shit it boggles the mind...you pull a lever that opens a door : "Oh the door is open now YAY!" my God.... really...

never mind that fucking gestapo-cat Morgana saying the same shit over and over and over again...

How this game gets a free pass for these things is literally beyond me...

Morgana is a treasure that must be protected at all costs.
 

Son Of D

Member
Kingdom Hearts goes crazy with final battles:

KH1
First you fight Ansem with a full party
Then Darkside again
Then Ansem on your own
Then Ansem attached to World of Chaos
Then the first Room Core
Then the artillery
Then you rescue Goofy
Then you fight the demon head
Then rescue Donald
Then the main core
And finally the final battle with Ansem

KH2
First you run to the ship
Then you attack the engines
Then you fight Nobodies outside the core
Then Throne Xemnas 1
After that you have a vehicle section against the robot dragon thing
Then Throne Xemnas 2
Then finally you're at Final Xemnas

I'm expecting KH3 to have even more.
 

hotcyder

Member
Absolutely. a lot of gamers must like this though however there would be pushback (conversely, when a game dares to be 8 hours long there will be countless thread filled with 'rent for me' and so on).

Instead of difficulty sliders, I want a slider of how much filler there is in the game. I don't even want to have the option of choosing in game (like in open world game) because it can be hard to sort between the interesting stuff and the useless shit. Also it's distracting to see a map literally covered with shit to do.

Goldeneye kind of does this. Higher Difficulty levels require you to do achieve additional objectives.
 
If there are too many of them crammed into the picture to create the illusion, then yes, it might come over as trying too hard.
Maybe it was a misunderstanding... I didn't mean to criticize the opening of Bioshock, it was brilliant. I just always thought the freaking whale was too much in the scene, hence the name of this thread "Moments when it just went a bit too far".

So Finale Fireworker, please tell me if this was a misunderstanding or if I missed the fundamental meaning of the whale.

I started playing it again recently and I can see how the whale might be a little eye-rolling.

Personally, though, what did it for me was the intro and the only time you hear the character's voice. It was really jarring and completely unneeded. Plus there is at least one bizarrely timed flashback to the family photo that is similarly unnecessary.
 

Creaking

He touched the black heart of a mod
I think a lot of you are misunderstanding (or skipping) the OP. The question isn't about game length.
 
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Joker fight on Arkham Asylum.
It was astonishing that something could be such a bad decision. It was like if the infinite monkey theorem came true.
 
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