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Ever notice recurring things in games that for some reason really irritate you?

Gifmaker

Member
I noticed that in some Nintendo games (probably others too, but Mario Party specifically comes to mind), there is this weird transparency effect where the models don't get really transparent, but instead use a kind of pixelated / mosaic texture effect that just shows every other pixel opaque and creates this weird fake transparent pattern. I will have to find a screenshot, because describing it is kinda hard.
 

Nezzeroth

Member
When games suddenly stop the player control to show off the the landscape or where to go.



Frustrated Angry Video Game Nerd GIF
This is a good one. Because it is such a small thing but it’s incredibly irritating. Let me figure out where I need to go, don’t assume I’m stupid.
 
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Bartski

Gold Member
The aforementioned clipping and all micro-level collisions are where I'd hope to see this gen making a difference, but I don't hold my breath as priorities are way too often elsewhere... It's always a bummer whenever I see all the horsepower and budget went into the game looking pretty at the cost of physics and interactivity, RE Village is a perfect example.

Also LOD and texture pop-in, to the point I much prefer worse graphics across the board but free from this shit
 

KillaJamm

Member
I totally hear the OP about clipping, but I feel like it’s a really tough thing to solve. Especially as physics get more and more complex.

Like, a tyre clipping through the fender of a car after a crash for example, it’s hard to imagine exactly how the developer would mitigate such an issue given the random nature of procedural damage.

I absolutely get the issue, but I think it’s just something we’ll have to live with for now, given the presumed complexity of a solution.
I hear that, I just want a beard that doesn't go into my chest that's all.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Most hack and slash games have your character or enemies slashing away hitting each other yet there's zero impact effect or animation getting hit. It's like nothing happened unless it was a special power move stunning the character/monster.
 
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TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
Weirdly specific one, but putting good character development or plot details in casual in-game banter that gets cut off by a cutscene or drowned out by combat. So many games do this. That's one area I give Naughty Dog a lot of credit for. They essentially made it so thar events like that just pause the conversation and it's picked up again when your characters have down time.
 

GymWolf

Member
I can forgive clipping because thats computationally taxing to have every single object and piece of clothing have full physics and collisions.

But bodys not ragdoll'ing nah.

That just puts me out of it.....i know its more realistic for dead bodys to just drop once dead.....but its a videogame, I expect Hollywood level flying.

On Topic
A weird one thats very specific.....dynamic lights not casting shadows....whenever I see the effect an angel gets its wings.
If my gun is making these huge flashes or ive got a torch....how the F is it not casting any shadows?
No it is not.

A body that glue on the terrain no matter how inclined it is or a body that falls down every time with the same animation or a dead body not reacting to external forces like explosions and stuff is not realistic, it is the safest way because not everyone is good with making weighty ragdoll that doens't glitch, but it is not the most realistic.
 
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Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
No it is not.

A body that glue on the terrain or a body that falls down every time with the same animation or a dead body not reacting to external forces like explosions and stuff is not realistic, it is the safest way because not everyone is good with making weighty ragdoll that doens't glitch, but it is not the most realistic.

Explosions...sizeable explosions at that will move a body.
You can watch videos of dumbasses making gasoline bombs and they dont go flying, you actually need quite a lot of force to send a body flying.
And theres practically no bullet that will ragdoll a person.

So by more realistic I meant dead bodys just falling....not running the same animation but effectively switching off all animations and letting gravity take over.
I just prefer my shotguns to send bodys flying.

Pretty much everyone uses Havok or PhysX for their physics these days.
Its basically just devs who decide they dont want ragdolls.
Even The Last of Us II used Havok.
 

arvfab

Banned
Weirdly specific one, but putting good character development or plot details in casual in-game banter that gets cut off by a cutscene or drowned out by combat. So many games do this. That's one area I give Naughty Dog a lot of credit for. They essentially made it so thar events like that just pause the conversation and it's picked up again when your characters have down time.

This was Guardians of the Galaxy biggest sin.
 

GymWolf

Member
Explosions...sizeable explosions at that will move a body.
You can watch videos of dumbasses making gasoline bombs and they dont go flying, you actually need quite a lot of force to send a body flying.
And theres practically no bullet that will ragdoll a person.

So by more realistic I meant dead bodys just falling....not running the same animation but effectively switching off all animations and letting gravity take over.
I just prefer my shotguns to send bodys flying.

Pretty much everyone uses Havok or PhysX for their physics these days.
Its basically just devs who decide they dont want ragdolls.
Even The Last of Us II used Havok.
I'm not talking about exagerate flying bodies (although in some games its funny to have those), but if i launch a granade in a pile of bodies i want to see some reactions, same if a car explode etc.

I'm more of a realistic ragdoll type of guy, something like rdr2\mp3\tlou2 type of ragdoll over gears\bulletstorm exagerate type of ragdoll with extra light bodies, like in tlou2 if you hit a body on the ground when you walk, they have a realistic but weighty reaction, they don't move all over the place like jello just because you touched them with one foot.
 
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Drizzlehell

Banned
When games suddenly stop the player control to show off the the landscape or where to go.



Frustrated Angry Video Game Nerd GIF
Oh god, this is the worst.

I remember playing something recently where not only the camera had to swing around and zoom at whatever piece of scenery you just manipulated by pulling a lever or pressing a switch but it also had to play a stupid musical sting when it did that. And it was driving me up the wall.

Like yeah, thanks game for zooming at the cocksucking door that I totally wouldn't notice just opened because I'm a fucking troglodyte that is incapable of establishing causality.
 
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nemiroff

Gold Member
Forced walking
Unskippable cutscenes
Game boot videos/ads
Forced music (halo and cod used to have it, but it's better these days)
Stealing player control
Frequent loading screens in open world-like games (f.ex. Outer Worlds)
Walking animation looking like ice skating
Vehicles with sound that doesn't match visual speed (Days Gone f.ex.)
Missing lower bodies in FPS games
 

CitizenZ

Banned
The fucking back tracking in open world/ semi open world games because the cock suckers wont put either fast travel from anywhere or put plenty of fast travel points to avoid wasting the players time. The last 2 open world games I played Greedfall and now Sinking city absolutely ruined the entire atmosphere and experience are perfect examples. As an example in Greedfall, im still pissed of about it, the main place where you will receive most missions it takes close to 30-40 seconds to get from arrival to the interaction point. I figured over 2 hrs of gameplay was doing just that.
 

John Bilbo

Member
In some console ported FPS games running is janky as hell. When you press the run button the player character starts moving like a freight train on tracks and you have to move your mouse around like a crazy person if you want to steer even moderately left or right.

FPS games from the same era also include respawning health with no health pickups in levels. I believe Bulletstorm had this health system which didn't really fit the adrenaline filled pace of the game.
 

NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
Unskippable cutscenes should be a crime. Some cutscene-heavy games had a skip option in the 5th gen already. Super Mario Galaxy not having it in 2007 made me mental, and the lack of this option is the reason I never replayed the first Kingdom Hearts until it got ported to more recent systems.

Bad motion handling is terrible. I tried Control for about half an hour, and I don't understand how anyone can discern anything while panning the camera in that game.

Bad control mapping. Having a jump button that forces you to lift your thumb from the run button, or do some form of "the claw" to jump while running. Run-jumping in Breath of the Wild with the default controls was easily the worst thing in the game.
 
Forced cautious stealth missions if I really want stealth I’ll play hitman but trying to jam them into a games chapter breaks up the momentum.

This. They did it in one of the Jedi games years ago. Might have been Jedi academy. Just at point you've got everything unlocked, your basically Mace Windu on steroids and... HERE'S A FUCKING FORCED STEALTH MISSION. When your spotted, game doesn't even give option to go lightsabre medievil, it's just a lame GAME OVER.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Boot up game....

1. First party console maker logo (owner of studio)
2. Game studio logo
3. Powered by.... game engine x
4. Dolby logo
5. Licensed through pro league x
6. Licensed through players association x
7. Do you accept terms of service?
8. Enter email or create account on publisher's site to play game
 
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Kataploom

Gold Member
Forced cautious stealth missions if I really want stealth I’ll play hitman but trying to jam them into a games chapter breaks up the momentum.
I don’t care and even like stealth in action games but I’ll always hate too much action in stealth focus games like in The Evil Within, loved the first two chapters and dropped it due to action oriented sections of chapter 6 because the character controller is not designed for that kind of gameplay, it’s like cutting my legs and ask me to win against an national champion in sprinting, I think it’s just cheap level design and difficulty not even counting the scars resources
 

Aesius

Member
Another one that the Metro series does:

Multiple conversations happening at once because there's a shit ton of NPCs shoved into a tiny space. It's fucking stupid. I'll be following a character who is talking to me, and as I follow him, I trigger 3 other conversations and they're all happening at once! How am I supposed to follow all of them?
 
1) When either the player character or a secondary character make quips hinting a solution in an area where you’re supposed to figure out a puzzle. I was playing Control and had to do a puzzle that required looking at a bunch of white boards. It wasn’t even a minute into it and another character in the room just kept repeating “I bet these whiteboard drawings have something to do with it,” over and over again. Yes game I figured that out at the start, I’m trying to get the rest of it hashed out ffs.

The last Tomb Raider game let you turn stuff like this off in the difficulty settings and it was a godsend. Hell older games like Zelda and Resident Evil already got this right by having your character turn their head at important objects without saying a word. God I hate hand holding design.

2) Games that use checkerboard rendering that have a lot of ghosting. For example games like Alan Wake (original) have this and RE2 and 3make as well and it’s very noticeable when not dealing with enemies, and really annoying to me.
 
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Jimmy_liv

Member
When games suddenly stop the player control to show off the the landscape or where to go.



Frustrated Angry Video Game Nerd GIF
This!! Everytime... In fact, when I lose camera control at any time too.

Forced tutorials and unskippable cut scenes.

I just don't get how that design decision gets made, we've been moaning about it since the dawn of gaming and yet some designer still thinks 'yeah, we' ll have this cut scene so you can't skip it. We'll have it right after that overly long tutorial too and then we'll hold off giving the player control whilst we show them around a bit. Just lemme play goddamit
 
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Games that purposely leave out content only to sell it to you later for a high price in DLC or microtransactions.

Poorly placed checkpoints.

Artificial difficulty. Games where basically it takes you a plethora of shots to kill the enemies, but they can eliminate you in one or two good shots.

Not being able to skip a cutscene before a difficult or annoying part or boss fight.

Forced multiplayer and online only games.

GAAS

Bloated open worlds.
 

KillaJamm

Member
Weirdly specific one, but putting good character development or plot details in casual in-game banter that gets cut off by a cutscene or drowned out by combat. So many games do this. That's one area I give Naughty Dog a lot of credit for. They essentially made it so thar events like that just pause the conversation and it's picked up again when your characters have down time.
Been playing through Gaurdians of the Galaxy's and it's guilty of this, so I get ya.
 

KillaJamm

Member
Yep squeezing through a tight gap or boosting an NPC to a ledge. Notorious Sony staples.
I think a lot of this was down to loading, it's practically a loading screen half the time so maybe this gen they should really tone back on it.
 
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I think it's to a large degree down to "wasting my time". Be it forced walking, following some slow guy etc. (observing or trailing to what AC did (but doesn't anymore) when it's done well is fine I think), or hidden load times. Horrible.

This also includes bad load times, bad check points (Control was horrible in this regard and older japanese RPGs often had Savepoints before long cutscenes (unskippable) and Bossfights).

Also starting a game with 390 logos on boot (worse on PC when game demands restarts on changing settings...)

Forced game starts on first boot. Again worse on PC because it often doesn't even let me configure settings to my machine. Stop this frikkin shite.
 
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