Support NeoGAF

[ChorizoPicozo]

amnesia

 

[AncientOrigin]

No all those are actually really good when done right doesn’t matter if games books or movies.I took other for special cases like when a game would try to inject the trans topic into you.Or some political or some agenda this is for me the only time where I would loose interest in the game.Other than that every topic could be amazing if done good

 

[SJRB]

Dishonored 2 is one of my all-time favourite games and it has both time travel and alternate realities. Same goes for pretty much every FROM game. It's all about the execution.

I enjoyed Far Cry and Crysis until they both introduced mutants/aliens. Just ruined the flow of the game for me.

Same goes for Uncharted. I always "nope" when the monsters appear.

 

[Lupin3]

Dreams... fuck dreams! In both games and movies alike.

 

[anthraticus]

When I'm watching 90% cutscenes.

 

[StueyDuck]

A games story goes to shit whenever they incorporate shitty writers. Like whatever forspoken is meant to be.

 

[buenoblue]

Amnesia is my favorite, but I forgot

 

[Laptop1991]

Prequel retconning is the worst, stick to the original story and don't change it so it doesn't make sense anymore, i don't like reality into dreams and vice versa either, i'm not a fan of it even in tv shows and movies, also over the top morality as well, antagonist's or the bad guys don't need to be understood or redeemed for me, just fight them as they are, bad! lol, i like time travel and clones in games and stories.

 

[sigmaZ]

Anything that comes out of right field to try to add depth to the story in the 3rd act. (JRPGs and anime are often guilty of this). It's called the resolution for a reason.

 

[calistan]

When it tries to add emotional depth by showing characters feeling bad about something that forms the entire basis of the game:

Lara Croft crying about having to kill somebody in a cutscene, then spending the rest of the game calmly headshotting strangers with a bow and arrow.

Niko Bellic escaping his criminal past by becoming America's greatest spree killer.

 

[PillsOff]

bad writing

 

[Kumomeme]

woke

especially lgbt.

 

[Shivvy24]

Woke ...

 

[CGNoire]

Too much lore....at least if the story is anything horror related. Mystery is far superior.

 

[kyussman]

Feminism.

 

[Wildebeest]

Multiverse is where storytelling goes to die, but what really kills story telling in games is when characters talk too much and everything is generally very rambly and unfocussed.

 

[supernova8]

Blood Dragon was great though

True but that was already going to be a load of nonsense. I guess it was partly because information didn't flow as quickly back then, but I remember being totally confused with Far Cry when the mutant things appeared half way through. I almost thought it was a temporary troll move before the big fucker ran up and one-hit killed me.

 

[kuncol02]

None, and at the same time all of them. They aren't reasons why any story fails, but are often signs of creators writing themselves into corner of higher ups forcing sequels of stories that never supposed to have continuation. It's not about what is in story but why and how it's used.

 

[ClosBSAS]

I think we can all agree it's when woke agenda kicks in and also time traveling. That shit sucks

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Disappointed that loli robots/1000yo dragons is not on the list.

 

[RagnarokIV]

Other.

When initial storyline is finished, but the franchise keeps going, often start and stopping attempted "second arcs," once they realize that they aren't hitting as big. This is a thinly veiled criticism of the same shit in television shows, anime, and movies, but totally applies to this hobby as well.

Recent examples: FFVII reeeeeing.

Kingdom Hearts, a series so confident in it's new direction post-Xehanort Saga to immediately start the new storyline with a game that has Xehanort as a final Boss, directly followed by a game about his origin story.

Metal Gear. This is like gaming's Dragon Ball. Was supposed to finish at the Frieza Arc and have the entire story wrapped with a neat bow but goddamn employers and fans, so I'm gonna stretch it's corpse out. MGS2 was a thought provoking, meta narrative that played with player expectation but knew when to reel it in. It was almost prophetic in some ways, and should definitely be held up as a preserved title. Snake Eater came next, and it was short, punchy, poignant. Wasn't necessary to the story, but it didn't step on any toes.

Come MGS4, Kojima is just so fucking over it. "You were never supposed to know the Patriots identities, you idiots. This is like an autistic child refusing to eat dinner because you never find out what happened to Tom fucking Bombadil after the Ring was destroyed in Middle Earth. Fuck it, guys, Sigint was a Patriot. Para Medic, too. Big Boss, he hated the Patriots. Fuck it, he was a Patriot, too,"

By MGSV, dude couldn't even be arsed to direct cutscenes so it was just one brilliant gameplay sequence to the next bridged by tape recordings of DA VOH KULL CORRD PARASITES.

Resident Evil. Fuck, we really shot our load blowing up the fucking setting in 1999. How about we rip off that Dagon B-horror movie and put it in a Spanish place. Maybe Africa? Okay, so hear me out: The Family is an Illuminati group and the new big bad. Until the next game, now it's The Agency. Or The Unit. Or The Shield or some shit. Actually, it's the BSAA. Oh, the BSAA are the good guys. Well, uh...fuck it, that was a different branch. The main one has Zombies and shit in it.

Just LEAVE IT ALONE if it's logically finished. I give Naughty Dog mad respect for going this long without shitting out Uncharted 5-12.

100% the MGS and DBZ examples.

 

[Banjo64]

Retcons. U4, as much as I like it, ‘here’s Sam - no, no one’s ever referenced him, please care though’

 

[clem84]

This is not when a game already has one of these as its core. For example, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver series. They don't introduce time travel down the line when a story is already set, but it's part of its core from the get go.

This is for games that want to 'develop' its story further and overcome stuff like previous closed endings or plotholes by introducing time travel or trying to make some convoluted 'plot twists' for example, in detriment of previous established stuff and which in turn derails the story even further.

In other words, break reality too egregiously. I agree. This is when most people give up. The way out of these is to write better stories that don't involve breaking too many rules.

 

[graywolf323]

I’d go with dreams because FFVIII got real trippy due to that

 

[kvltus lvlzvs]

Nomura is just the undefeated master of incorporating all of these, isn't he?

 

[Griffon]

Honestly all those plot devices are fine.
A good writer will make it good, a bad writer will make it bad.

The Wheel of Time books have almost all of those and it's pretty damn good (do not watch the butchered series), whereas the marvel cinematic universe does too and it's fucking dogshit.

 

[Camreezie]

When characters sexualities are core plot points

 

[ssringo]

Franchises go to space when they're out of ideas but want to keep the money train going.

 

[Gp1]

When they spam multiple sequences that were never meant to be.

That and time travel/dimensions

Ps... I'm looking at you ff7re

 

[Guilty_AI]

Disappointed that loli robots/1000yo dragons is not on the list.

He said go to shit, not make it better

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Anything Tetsuya Nomura touches.

 

[DevilMayFlyForAWhiteGuy]

I’m getting tired of alternate reality/multiverse stuff. It’s like a lazier version of time travel because the writer can use it to just have multiple versions of the same character(s) without having to worry about consistency in characterization/world building, and hand wave any inconsistencies inherently.

Part of the reason I dropped Bayonetta 3 was because of that. The whole multiverse thing didn’t seem like it really added anything to the story and was done so lazily it felt like a convoluted way to have Bayo just wear different outfits.

 

[Dynasty8]

Political agendas, diversity, inclusivity etc.

Not that there's anything wrong with any of these things on their own but as a rule of thumb, if those things become the priority for you as a storyteller then the story always ends up being preachy and insufferable with a lot of cringe and sanctimonious bullshit attached.

This. Forcing wokeness in games, movie and TV just ruins it for me. It's as if modern writers forgot how to create a coherent and thoughtful story and have put their focus on virtue signaling to the world.

 

[cireza]

When it is a manga and it starts having some success. Then it becomes shit. Verified 100% of the time.

Time travel can be good. Steins Gate was excellent in that regard. Chrono Trigger was great as well.

Reality into dreams also has a great example with Catherine (not the remake). Amazing game.

 

[BbMajor7th]

Most predictably, the story goes to shit when endless sequels are tacked on one after another.

 

[diffusionx]

Bioshock Infinite has time travel, clones, alternate realities, and in the DLC, retconning. What a stupid, horrible game.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Bad writers lol

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

How is "get woke" not an option? Ha!

 

[Lambhalf]

Anything Tetsuya Nomura touches.

This should be the main answer. Didn't he introduce time travel into Kingdom Hearts? That story was already complex.

 

[Dr_Ifto]

I want to add, that one thing I hate is last minute left field bosses. Like when there comes a boss that does not make sense due to the way the story went. I hate when the goodguy turns out to be the bad guy. It was in a recent AAA game, and I hated it. Just hated it. Still love the game, but I hate the boss's motivation. Like, his motivation was the same motivation as the hero so why did he flip and try to get him killed? I know why they specified it in the game, but.....lets be real. It was a leap.
I also hate bosses that were not even hinted at in the game. FFIX I am calling you out here!!

 

[Foxt3r]

American politics aka woke bullshit. I am just fed up with that crap

 

[Mozzarella]

Obviously and i can agree that when the writers are primarily focused on political correctness and its requirements to follow specific ingredients then yeah that makes the story worse in most cases.

But aside from that and focusing on the poll options, i think its gotta be: Resurrection of Characters, the cliche of characters who are shown to be dead on screen only for them to return later at the most appropriate time possible is one of the worst things for me. Hello Yakuza 0

Close second would be Time Travel, but that element can come up with some pretty good stories, however resurrecting dead characters is 99% used in poorly written stories, like in Yakuza.

 

[saintjules]

Pennywise is back lets gooo

Nope. He's gone. Perm'd this time.

 

[German Hops]

Pennywise is back lets gooo