[Dice]

So I've been playing a lot of first person shooters to give my new mouse a good testing. I really prefer older ones because anything remotely new has a bunch of scripted scenes where you lose control of your character. This is almost always because some crazy shit went down or because your character has to do something so badass they couldn't possibly trust you to control it.

I really hate that shit as well as most head bob effects because, as you may notice, in real life your eyes aren't a fucking camera. You have a massive range of peripheral vision and you constantly snap to different points of focus. There is no way to replicate this in a game, so anything that tries is some nauseating swinging camera that makes you feel like a drunkard with blinders on the sides of his head.

The sad thing is that seems to be something that will only continue to increase in games. I'm pretty sure it's what devs mean when they say their game will have "visceral" action or whatever.

[ponpo]

Full screen red vignetting when you're health is being lost.

[Santiako]

QTEs

Fucking QTEs

[raven777]

Full screen red vignetting when you're health is being lost.

even games like Diablo is doing this now

[Glass Rebel]

Stealth Half-Life thread but I agree, if you're gonna take away control from me in a FPS you better make it worthwhile.

[kafiend]

QTEs Fucking QTEs

Especially ones that move the fucking direction arrows to different places on the screen.

[Arklite]

They really need to tone down button prompts on everything. I don't need to know which button opens doors 5 hours into a game.

[Akuun]

Overuse of QTEs or scripted sequences.

Camera effects such as water or blood on the screen when your character isn't actually wearing a helmet.

Overuse of guide/handler type NPCS that make you follow them throughout every mission and tell you exactly what to do.

[Nealand Liquor]

Super sweet awesome grafix! over improved AI and creativity.

Oh and dumbing down everything because Johnny Dipshit's ADHD makes him frustrated when everything isn't handed to him on a steaming platter of shit.

[Tex117]

Tutorials that last 1/3 of the game.

[Fersis]

Full screen red vignetting when you're health is being lost.

Even worse: All the time vignetting ie: BFBC2 and BF3
(Though is art design not game design)

[ponpo]

even games like Diablo is doing this now

I noticed while watching a friend play last week. I guess the argument is that it's kind of peripheral and you don't have to glance at an HP bar but there's got to be other ways. Dead Space did it in a unique way but I'm not sure of many other games that aren't just HP bar or red screen.

[storafötter]

I hate the lazy design of beating the same bosses towards the end of the game. The only game where it is actually fun and less time consuming is in Mega Man games.

[Patryn]

Tutorials that last 1/3 of the game.

I was about to say this. I understand your game is complex, but do you really have to wait 20 hours before finally enabling me to play your game the way you meant for it to be played?

[Wyndstryker]

More linearity, less exploring

[Eusis]

Blocking off old areas with no advance warning, but then I do favor RPGs that are usually good about exploration, and this only REALLY stuck out to me in two RPGs: Operation Anchorage DLC for Fallout 3, and Mass Effect 2 in a non-combative portion of an early mission.

If this counts I've also been very offput by the growing dependence on auto saving. It's one thing to do this for the likes of Halo or Call of Duty, linear shooters where there's really not much need to sweat it and you can retry missions at your leisure anyway, it's another when the likes of Costume Quest and Silent Hill Downpour depend on it. Well, even in linear shooters I don't like how I feel like I HAVE to keep playing or else I'll risk losing progress, but at least in those I rarely lose much, and usually will die and know EXACTLY where I will be if I quit.

[Durante]

Chest high walls.

When I see an area full of chest high walls I cringe, because I know that "one more wave!" is about to occur.

Wave-based encounters, while we are at it. Even more than the above actually.

[echoshifting]

Full screen red vignetting when you're health is being lost.

This drives me to distraction.

[ScrubJay]

Regenerating health in everything. It's more convenient for a lot of modern FPS games but doesn't have to be in every single game.

[nemss]

Chest high walls. When I see an area full of chest high walls I cringe, because I know that "one more wave!" is about to occur. Wave-based encounters, while we are at it. Even more than the above actually.

This. Uncharted, I would almost cringe when I'd see the high chest walls. I knew the game was going to go from awesome to suck for the next 15 minutes.

[CadetMahoney]

can't change button layout.

[Eusis]

Regenerating health in everything. It's more convenient for a lot of modern FPS games but doesn't have to be in every single game.

I have a feeling a lot of complaints can boil down to popular design choices for linear shooters that have less utility outside of them or are outright terrible fucking ideas to copy.

[we.are.the.armada]

Weak character vs weak enemies
Mandatory training stages
Inconsiderate fail states
Inconsiderate check points or lack of

[Dice]

Full screen red vignetting when you're health is being lost.

Camera effects such as water or blood on the screen when your character isn't actually wearing a helmet.

Oh definitely. Any full screen effect should be entirely optional.

[SalsaShark]

intrusive hand-holding or word boxes over letting you learn mechanics through gameplay in a cleverly designed level with that "tutorial" purpose.

[SolidSnakex]

Regenerating health. Max Payne 3 reminded me of how much fun can be had when you're low on health while trying to figure out what to do to stay alive. Just jumping behind cover isn't going to help much since you aren't going to regain health that way. You've got to come up with actual strategies to make it out of a fight or else you're going to die.

I'm really happy that ND decided to dump that feature for The Last of Us. I hope that more developers go back to persistent health.

[Eusis]

This. Uncharted, I would almost cringe when I'd see the high chest walls. I knew the game was going to go from awesome to suck for the next 15 minutes.

I think we could probably qualify "requires X amount of combat" to be game design I'd rather avoid. Given what Uncharted's styled after some amount is to be expected I think, but it feels like the series always wears out its welcome there. Annoying thing is some of those games would probably be even shorter without it, but short and sweet is better than long and drawn out.

[Raitosaito]

Tutorials that last 1/3 of the game.

Why is this so true. . .

[JasonMCG]

Bullet sponging.

[CorrisD]

Doing things in threes, I'm really tired of doing something, then having to do it again, and then one more time.
And they are almost always just a waste of time to make a stage longer while introducing nothing new.

[EDarkness]

What I hate most is fighting a boss, kicking his ass all over the map, then the cut-scene kicks in with my guys saying he's too tough to beat. What the hell!?!? I just made the boss lick my boots in record time, yet the fight was too tough? Ugh.

Which brings me to another thing I hate, and that's getting beat by plot. Why waste my time letting me hit the guy for 1 damage when the game was simply going to kill me anyway? Or when boss pulls some cheap shit that my character (or me for that matter) would have never got suckered into and the game just lets me stand there and take it. Ugh.

[nemss]

The shaved head protagonist.

[zlatko]

can't change button layout.

This is the one that should allow me to sue the company. Jesus fuck christ I hate when games do this in the year 2012. :/

[Net_Wrecker]

- Useless pistols
- Checkpoints before a cutscene/line of dialogue during a difficult section of gameplay
- OTE's that have me doing crazy stuff with 1 button press that I can never do in actual gameplay (Note: Not talking about context sensitive attacks)
- Floating guns in FPS's. I want to see my lower body
- Lack of realtime shadows in FPS's. I want to cast shadows when I stand directly in front of light sources. I'm not a ghost.
- Unskippable tutorials
- Unskippable "non-cutscene" conversations
- Perks in shooters
- Traditional boss battles in games that shouldn't have traditional boss battles
- Enemies + damage sponges that don't react to being hit by attacks

[Papercuts]

I can't stand quicktime events. I actually liked them a lot in RE4, but I think I've despised nearly every other use of them.

Lack of options, let me map the controls to whatever I want. Let me disable your shitty low health filter. Etc.

Perks/xp and general carrot on a stick design that infects nearly every MP experience today. What happened to playing games just for the gameplay?

[Perkel]

Full screen red vignetting when you're health is being lost.

This. Easly the worst fucking thing ever.

As of lately Diablo did this in worst possible way.

[Mailenstein]

Cel shading.

It pissed me off big time in the DQ series.

[Night_Trekker]

"We need objects that explode when a player shoots them. Put in some red, explosive barrels."

So fucking lazy and uncreative. I don't care that it's an easy way to let the player know immediately what to expect when interacting with them. Try harder.

[CaptainSchwann]

Competitive multiplayer thrown in just for the sake of having it.

[Nocturnowl]

Regenerating Health and all the tropes that tend to tag along with it is the main one for me, often leads to hiding behind walls twiddling your thumbs while waiting for the screen to return to normal so you can actually see what you're doing. To top it all off this no doubt involves bullet sponge enemies that come in waves.

[Akuun]

- Perks in shooters

On a related note, equipment unlocks and RPG progression system in multiplayer. Can't I just have all the damn guns without spending 250 hours playing each class?

[Orayn]

Narrow FoV in first person games. Looks terribawful.

[SuperEpicMan]

Excessive text in a cut scene etc. If I wanted to read a book I would. Also self-indulgent cutscenes, by which I mean the likes of Metal Gear Solid which has far too much dialogue and waffle in the cutscenes, every 5 minutes its like watching a sequel to das fucking boot made by filmmakers on acid. It could seriously be chopped down, whilst maintaining the necessary points.

I also don't like it when games plow on from level to level with next to no gaps where I can call it a day. I like it when a game provides a kind of transition from event to event, so that I can save my game without feeling like I am stopping at an integral moment.

[Cjdamon042]

- Shiny objects telling me I can interact with them or that's the direction I'm supposed to go.
- Pretty much exclusive to Fable, but the breadcrumb trail. Leave me alone! I want to explore!
- "Skip" being displayed throughout the entirety of a cutscene. Why?
- Unskippable cutscenes. Horrendous when it comes to retries.
- Lack of a body in first person games, same goes for shadows if the body isn't present.
- Effects displayed on-screen like rain and blood. If I'm Samus or Master Chief, fine, but if I'm not wearing a helmet, why is it showing up like that? Especially horrible for third person games as why the hell would that happen? Makes it seem like there is a camera actually following me Super Mario 64 style...
- Headshots that don't kill or at least seriously injure enemies. Horrible in Uncharted, especially with buffed up enemies. Just because you wear a hat doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to seriously injure you with a headshot.
- Shoving repeated information down your throat to tell you what you need to do. Once is enough, let me look in a brief/journal if I forget.
- A lot more I can't think of right now.

[Wolf Dawgz]

Tutorials that last 1/3 of the game.

This. It's annoying when I just want to sit down and play a game,but I spend most of the time doing tutorials that I don't need. Just put control instructions in the menu with a little animation and description of how it's done.

[Entropia]

1. Hand-holding tutorials as part of the main game. This is what the manual is for, alternatively have a tutorial mode.

2. Button prompts. Again, this is for the manual. Unless it's an entirely unique encounter I don't need to see what button I need to press to do something I've done many times before.

[Kokonoe]

can't change button layout.

This. I do not like being forced to use controls that aren't my preference. I rarely touch imported PSP/PS3 games because of having to use O instead of X for confirm.

[D4Danger]

tutorial levels. I know how to move the camera, thanks.

edit:

Tutorials that last 1/3 of the game.

yep.

[TheOnlyMook]

- Shoving repeated information down your throat to tell you what you need to do. Once is enough, let me look in a brief/journal if I forget.

Came to post this. Holy shit is this annoying

[SuperEpicMan]

This. It's annoying when I just want to sit down and play a game,but I spend most of the time doing tutorials that I don't need. Just put control instructions in the menu with a little animation and description of how it's done.

I think Assassins Creed 2 was the worst offender, seems like half the game is tutorial. The best example of not doing it is Arkham City, it just drops you in lol