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What is the pettiest thing that pisses you off in a game?

Savantcore

Unconfirmed Member
I've just started playing Rise of the Tomb Raider and everything is all well and good, and as expected in a character-driven singleplayer game, there's a lot of commentary from the lead.

Plenty of games do it - Tomb Raider, Spiderman, Uncharted, Horizon - and it's fine. But I noticed that when I hear Lara's voice, she's actually speaking out loud. Why! Who does that? I'm not just overhearing her stream of consciousness, and it isn't just the odd verbalised thought, it's constant, out-loud chat.

You'll just be walking around like this:

giphy.gif


And she'll be muttering to herself. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I generally don't talk to myself for hours at a time and it really gets under my skin when I see Lara bathing in the sound of her own voice.

What petty things grind your gears?
 
Skill trees and RPG systems in games that don't need them.

Ubisoft towers and endless pointless tat collectibles in games that don't need them.

Please stop making all AAA titles identical.
 
Destiny has a sprinting cooldown.
The game never tells you about it either. You have to wear a special item to get rid of it.
It's so damn stupid. Why does running need a cooldown? Might as well add a stamina bar while you're at it.
 
Subtitle fonts and colors. A few games have subtitles that are barely visible! I can't play games without subs on (not gearing impaired, just love seeing character names/places spelled out!).
 

RRockman

Banned
Main character falls in combat, the game is over in standard non action RPG. Or alternatively RPGs with many characters that don't let you switch to reserves after the main party is down.
 

Apples_89

Member
The constant foliage clipping (except for the red tall grass) in Horizon. For a game so incredibly polished, this oversight was inexcusable and always distracting once I noticed it.
 
Forced slow walking sections annoy me so much. I want to play the game at my pace, please.

I do have to say though that if I'm alone I'll constantly talk my thoughts out loud so I never saw it as odd when video game characters did that, I'd likely do the exact same in their situation.
 
Deeke[VRZ];244532115 said:
Subtitle fonts and colors. A few games have subtitles that are barely visible! I can't play games without subs on (not gearing impaired, just love seeing character names/places spelled out!).

I wouldn't say this is petty, it's actually a pretty serious issue.
 

Servbot24

Banned
Weird stiff faces. I just can't handle so many WRPGs because the characters look like disturbing puppets.

Please stop making all AAA titles identical.

I'd argue this is not a petty complaint and is actually a very serious issue. Well as serious as game design goes.
 

bosseye

Member
Idiotically low stamina. I'm replaying Dying Light and Crane can only swing a small pipe back and forth a couple of times before he is completely out of puff (combat stamina) and starts doing pathetic love taps instead of cracking skulls. It means if you get mobbed you can't fight your way out of it, he starts gasping, you get eaten. Just as well you can upgrade stamina eventually.

Also, see Alan 'asthmatic pensioner' Wake who basically has to put his hands on his knees, hang his head and scream for air after about a 10 metre run.

Also bonus choice, idiotically fast dropping hunger/thirst bars. I don't know about anyone else but I can manage at least a couple of hours without eating and drinking, but so many survival games have your character ingesting themselves after 10 minutes of fasting.
 
A couple gens ago I started to get real upset when games didn't have rag doll physics. There was a time when most games had it, and it felt like each encounter was a little different and tactile seeing enemies fall and bounce around. Then you had the few games that lagged behind and it was disgusting to see a canned death animation with clipping through the environment. I remember Call of Duty maintaining death animations for a while and thinking it looked quite dumb.

Soo dumb, I know. But I love when games are reactive to everything. One reason why I adore Breath of the Wild so much.

I had a buddy back in the ps2, Xbox, GameCube era who would always bitch about "blob" shadows for characters and would loose his shit when a game had dynamic shadows (Splinter Cell was porn for him).
 
Flinching from taking gunfire that temporarily impedes your control.

Frequently being knocked back or pinned down (complete with QTE mashing to break out of it) in FPSes. Dying Light comes to mind. Fuck those volatiles.
 

_Rob_

Member
Automatically triggered text boxes that stop you in your tracks. Even if it's important information, please let me decide if I need to stop!
 

Ban Puncher

Member
'Production Babies' credits.


Ooohhhh, you managed to breed. Well done, nerd.


Maybe I would not have found your game in the bargain bin a month after release if you spent more time crunching and less time horn-dogging.
 

Savantcore

Unconfirmed Member
Idiotically low stamina. I'm replaying Dying Light and Crane can only swing a small pipe back and forth a couple of times before he is completely out of puff (combat stamina) and starts doing pathetic love taps instead of cracking skulls. It means if you get mobbed you can't fight your way out of it, he starts gasping, you get eaten. Just as well you can upgrade stamina eventually.

Also, see Alan 'asthmatic pensioner' Wake who basically has to put his hands on his knees, hang his head and scream for air after about a 10 metre run.

Also bonus choice, idiotically fast dropping hunger/thirst bars. I don't know about anyone else but I can manage at least a couple of hours without eating and drinking, but so many survival games have your character ingesting themselves after 10 minutes of fasting.

Oh yeah, stamina is a weird one. Like, they can run for about 10 seconds before almost passing out but then five seconds later they're good to go again. Constant running is unrealistic but an endless reservoir of drip-fed stamina is even stranger. Just let us run constantly, Christ.
 
Idiotically low stamina. I'm replaying Dying Light and Crane can only swing a small pipe back and forth a couple of times before he is completely out of puff (combat stamina) and starts doing pathetic love taps instead of cracking skulls. It means if you get mobbed you can't fight your way out of it, he starts gasping, you get eaten. Just as well you can upgrade stamina eventually.

This drove me nuts in Dragon's Dogma. Totally agree.
 

Dervius

Member
Third person shooters where the magazine never leaves the gun, they just kind of touch it, and do the motion of putting an invisible new one on (looking at your Quantum Break).

It's a minor detail but one that can be immersion breaking.

I can deal with the lack of actual shell casings.
 

blazeaire

Member
Not being able to set dialogue to instantly appear so you have confirm twice for every text box to make it appear and then missing some small bits cuz you pressed too fast and it was a short sentence
 
I've just started playing Rise of the Tomb Raider and everything is all well and good, and as expected in a character-driven singleplayer game, there's a lot of commentary from the lead.

Plenty of games do it - Tomb Raider, Spiderman, Uncharted, Horizon - and it's fine. But I noticed that when I hear Lara's voice, she's actually speaking out loud. Why! Who does that? I'm not just overhearing her stream of consciousness, and it isn't just the odd verbalised thought, it's constant, out-loud chat.

Heh, I clicked on this thread to write this very thing. "It's some sort of cave!" Yeah no shit. I can see it. Show, don't tell. Sheesh.
 

laxu

Member
Repetitive, slow animations for constantly recurring tasks. Looking at you, 3D Zelda games and your chest opening animations.

Obscuring screen or changing its tint when you are low on health or hit. I hate the stupid monochrome low health view in many games.
 
'Production Babies' credits.


Ooohhhh, you managed to breed. Well done, nerd.


Maybe I would not have found your game in the bargain bin a month after release if you spent more time crunching and less time horn-dogging.

Congrats, you win for being most petty. Actually sound pretty bitter as well.


I realize I never actually said mine. Inverse of an earlier in a way. Character falls two feet and immediately breaks their legs.
 

Joey Ravn

Banned
Multiplayer-only Achievements/Trophies.

Forced dubbing/subtitling. It was very common last gen, especially for region-specific games, like Pokémon. If I bought the games here in Spain, they would only be in Spanish and fuck. that. shit.

Toxic online communities and fanbases. I refuse to engage with a game like Overwatch or Rocket League solely due to the amount of vitriol you get if you don't play exactly how others want you to play.

When people claim that "X is better game than Y" as if they were trying to convert you into their religion. OK, Horizon is so much better than Breath of the Wild. Just let me play the games and decide for myself, using my own parameters.
 
'Production Babies' credits.


Ooohhhh, you managed to breed. Well done, nerd.


Maybe I would not have found your game in the bargain bin a month after release if you spent more time crunching and less time horn-dogging.

This made me laugh out loud at work, thank you.

Boob windows.

Mostly because they remind me that me nothing more than weak, hormonal ogre.

And this nearly did too, except I was on guard from the previous guy. Never change, GAF.
 

Prithee Be Careful

Industry Professional
Cutscene -> walk twenty feet -> cutscene. You don't need me to do that for you game. You just go ahead and finish what you're saying and then I'll carry on.
 

Aureon

Please do not let me serve on a jury. I am actually a crazy person.
The constant foliage clipping (except for the red tall grass) in Horizon. For a game so incredibly polished, this oversight was inexcusable and always distracting once I noticed it.

That's not really a solvable issue. For a game as good-looking as Horizon, tradeoffs have to be made somewhere.
 

finley83

Banned
Unfixable frame pacing on PC games for me. The game itself can be great but if I can't fix it, even if the issue is relatively minor, it drives me crazy to the point where I can't enjoy it. Happened recently with Mafia 3 which I really enjoyed but found I spent so much time playing around with NVidia Inspector that I was wasting what lite free time I have on something completely unenjoyable.

Also I really hate the way Adam Jensen's head constantly clips through the collar of his trench coat in Mankind Divided. I happens in literally every conversation and I can't believe no one noticed it or bothered to fix it.
 

Oshimai

Member
There's something very specific in side-scrolling games that I can't stand.

When the character or NPCs faces left or right, their weapon handedness changes.

For example, when the character is walking to the right of the screen, they'll have a sword in their right hand and a shield in their left. But the second they face the right, their shield is on their right and their sword on the left.
 
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