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Generally accepted things in gaming that baffle you

"Shop" characters in RPG who say the same line every time you talk to them. DON'T SAY NOTHING AT ALL.
 
Ocellatus said:
This. If DLC is ready on launch day, it should have been on the game disc or should at least be free.
This 100%. Fair enough there being launch DLC, stuff that couldn't be included due to the game needing to be pressed and the content not ready, but charging for it annoys me.
 
I don't get why companies do that Battle Music thing in RPG, some of the Best RPGs are the ones who make sure to change up the battle music. Most RPGs at best though tend have 2 normal Battle Songs, a Boss Song, and maybe a few big boss songs.
 
Marleyman said:
I can't think of an FPS lately that DOESN'T have regen health; it is insane. Regen health on a regular human being character is fucking dumb and lazy.
Battlefield games don't, which is just another reason why I adore the series.
 
ronito said:
Wester RPGs that don't let you customize your character. Like the witcher. "You can be anyone and do anything! But you have to look like this."
I think it makes sense in the context of The Witcher's universe, actually. I remember watching an interview with them talking about how you weren't going to be Geralt, and they realized that it was a waste and being Geralt would be cooler than being "random other Witcher."

I think it's akin to someone making a spy RPG set in the Bond universe where you get to make your own 00 agent. Screw that! I want to be Bond!
 
Steve Youngblood said:
I think it makes sense in the context of The Witcher's universe, actually. I remember watching an interview with them talking about how you weren't going to be Geralt, and they realized that it was a waste and being Geralt would be cooler than being "random other Witcher."

I think it's akin to someone making a spy RPG set in the Bond universe where you get to make your own 00 agent. Screw that! I want to be Bond!
Oh it's fine to be Geralt but at least let me customize the appearance.
 
You character will cut down hundreds upon hundreds of bad guys with guns or swords or whatever... only to reach a cut scene showing 2 guys standing at a gate and then you hear "This entrance is guarded! We have to find another way in!"

Oh really? Guarded huh. Glad to see those two guys are enough to deter me after I just slaughtered half the army. Lame!
 
Mattdaddy said:
You character will cut down hundreds upon hundreds of bad guys with guns or swords or whatever... only to reach a cut scene showing 2 guys standing at a gate and then you hear "This entrance is guarded! We have to find another way in!"

Oh really? Guarded huh. Glad to see those two guys are enough to deter me after I just slaughtered half the army. Lame!
Along similar lines, you have scenes where you smash through doorways and the like, but the world is filled with "locked" doors that are impervious to anything and everything. This is especially bothersome in games that have lockpicking.

I think I like the way Fear handles this - they even let you "try" to open most doors, only to have them jammed by junk on the other side.
 
ronito said:
Oh it's fine to be Geralt but at least let me customize the appearance.

It's been a loooong time since I read..what is it called? The Last Wish? The book that the Witcher is based on. Pretty sure they describe his physical features in the book so it'd be weird/disrespectful to the original text to have you recreate him in a different way.

I could be completely wrong though, so feel free to correct me.
 
Marleyman said:
I can't think of an FPS lately that DOESN'T have regen health; it is insane. Regen health on a regular human being character is fucking dumb and lazy.
Team Fortress 2, which is one of the reasons I love it.

Also, while someone Mentioned Battle Field 2, one thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't actually tell you your HP in the HUD.
 
firehawk12 said:
Yeah, pretty much the Valve-style mute protagonist thing somehow being more "immersive".

Also, WRPGs have good stories while JRPGs have shitty stories. Boggles the mind when you consider the typical Bethesda/BioWare tales that people are quick to apologize for in the western press.

To add on to this, the entire thought that JRPGs are DEAD FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!! and the only way to improve them is to use the same tired cliches from western games instead. And by that I mean making them copies of Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins. I'm not saying Japanese developers shouldn't take examples from those games when it comes to design decisions, but they shouldn't emulate everything from them 100%. If I wanted to play a game that mostly had western design philosophies, I'll play a western-developed game.

Sure, some of the major releases on consoles have been less than satisfactory for some, like FFXIII [though I liked it myself despite its flaws] and a lot of Japanese developers have had trouble shifting to HD in general [though apparently it's also affecting western developers in a way but a lot people seem to conveniently ignore that], there are still lots of goods JRPGs on handhelds, and even then, there were some pretty acclaimed JRPGs released on consoles, like Tales of Vesperia, Lost Odyssey, and Valkyria Chronicles, and the former two are pretty traditional in a sense. They weren't exactly big time sellers or anything, but most JRPGs aren't outside of Final Fantasy.

I guess even if JRPGs die off on consoles [I kinda doubt that though] they'll still live on handhelds, and I guess if you hate handhelds then I guess it's really the end of JRPGs for you. I mean, there's there's fine line between being concerned and spewing out doomsday prophecies without taking a good look at the situation. I wonder if people are just scared that JRPGs are just coming out as much as they were back in the PS2 era.

Speaking of storylines, call me overly cynical, but while I agree that video games in general need to improve on them [crappy storylines plague both the east and west] I trust the people who are writing them much more than random video game forum member #4564, especially since they're usually so vague it could mean anything or something so ridiculous that it's quite obvious the only person who would enjoy a storyline like that is the person posting themselves.

Also, people who put too much emphasis on the age of the characters themselves. Both developers and fans alike do this. I'm sorry, I refuse to take anyone who says "21 year olds are extremely mature and are capable of saving the world much better than a 16 year old" or something of that nature seriously. As a former 21 year old, I can safely say that I was not mature enough to save the world. For that matter, I don't think any rugged 60-year-old war veteran is mature enough to save the world.

Another thing--people who think western-developed games are less sexist than eastern-developed games. I'm not exactly "protesting" this or anything but you'd have to be in denial to think that was the case. Both regions have their issues with portraying women in some fashion. I don't know, there just seems to be alot of people who are bashing eastern developers for things that western developers have done this generation. It's like it's the popular thing to bash on eastern developers because everyone else is doing it. True, they have their problems, but still. Do people actually find this sort of thing fun to do? I grew out of that mindset ages ago.

I guess overall I just hate the snark that's accepted around these parts, but that's hardly a problem exclusive to gaming. It's pretty much everywhere on the internet.

Swifty said:
Do you think you can name me some other JRPGs that have smooth thematic transitions between overworld and combat?

I think Kingdom Hearts I and II do this, but I'm not exactly sure. They do solve the "one battle theme only" problem though.
 
How quickly I can toss grenades in FPS's. I pull the trigger, and magically, my gun is put away and I throw a grenade, then I'm armed again. It happens in the matter of seconds.
 
Sethos said:
Those mind-numbing tutorials forced upon us every single time, it pisses me off. What happened to the good ole' days with a separate menu option called "Tutorial" or "Training".

I know how to crouch, I know how to shoot, I know how to look up and down.
I assume you're referring to Portal 2 and it's actually a brilliant thing. The first game I remember doing it was InFAMOUS, but I'm sure it's been used elsewhere. When they as you to look up or down they're actually checking to see if you prefer 'normal' or 'inverted' aiming controls.
 
Yeef said:
I assume you're referring to Portal 2 and it's actually a brilliant thing. The first game I remember doing it was InFAMOUS, but I'm sure it's been used elsewhere. When they as you to look up or down they're actually checking to see if you prefer 'normal' or 'inverted' aiming controls.

Wow, that's rather mind-blowing. Never occurred to me. Awesome.
 
I'm baffled by how much people care about realism in games. To me, the most enjoyable games are those that don't try to hard to be realistic.

Edit: /rant. I guess it was a bit off-topic.
 
ronito said:
Why do 90% of all JRPGs have only one battle theme? You spend most of the game battling.


Good god, this.

Any game where you have to find a key to a door and your character is, you know, like the biggest dude ever and also has a gun.

Just kick the damn thing in or shoot the lock. Find another way to impede my progress. Something that makes sense.
 
Oh, another one:
Audiologs > cutscenes.
Yeah, I'm sorry Ken Levine, both are pretty much equally silly.

NotebookJ2 said:
To add on to this, the entire thought that JRPGs are DEAD FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!! and the only way to improve them is to use the same tired cliches from western games instead. And by that I mean making them copies of Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins. I'm not saying Japanese developers shouldn't take examples from those games when it comes to design decisions, but they shouldn't emulate everything from them 100%. If I wanted to play a game that mostly had western design philosophies, I'll play a western-developed game.
Oh yeah, that's so fucking tired - especially when WRPGs are essentially made by two companies these days.

I honestly wonder if the Japanese press spend their every waking moment talking about how Mass Effect is the worst game ever. :lol
 
Yeef said:
I assume you're referring to Portal 2 and it's actually a brilliant thing. The first game I remember doing it was InFAMOUS, but I'm sure it's been used elsewhere. When they as you to look up or down they're actually checking to see if you prefer 'normal' or 'inverted' aiming controls.
Halo is the first game I recall doing that, though they made it a bit more obvious.

They do though.
No, they don't. Also, Time =/= Content. Suikiden 1 may of only been 25 hours long, but it had a hell of a lot more content then Suikoden 3, which took over 50 hours but felt like if the game only had a third of the content of Suikoden 1. So much of the main story was shifting you characters from place to place, there was no bosses, little in between towns, few dungeons, ect ect.
 
Marleyman said:
I can't think of an FPS lately that DOESN'T have regen health; it is insane. Regen health on a regular human being character is fucking dumb and lazy.

It's no more dumb than before where the player character was a tank with enough health to withstand tons of damage at one time, and able to regenerate every bit of it instantaneously with a pickup or consumable, even while in the heat of battle. It's just a different design philosophy.
 
Yeef said:
I assume you're referring to Portal 2 and it's actually a brilliant thing. The first game I remember doing it was InFAMOUS, but I'm sure it's been used elsewhere. When they as you to look up or down they're actually checking to see if you prefer 'normal' or 'inverted' aiming controls.

Pretty sure Halo was the first to do this
 
Yeef said:
I assume you're referring to Portal 2 and it's actually a brilliant thing. The first game I remember doing it was InFAMOUS, but I'm sure it's been used elsewhere. When they as you to look up or down they're actually checking to see if you prefer 'normal' or 'inverted' aiming controls.

No, I'm referring to almost every single game since they got rid of the concept of separate tutorials. Portal 2 is far from the first but it's still annoying. I set my own controls and if I need it inverted I'll do it in the options menu - It frustrates me to a point where I refuse to play the game(s).

Sick of being treated like a greenhorn by developers, it just kills everything for me in the first 15 minutes.

By the way, first 30 minutes of Portal 2 is just a nitwit tutorial where you have to do those super easy puzzles, no access to the second portal etc. just like the first, to baby you into the game. Suffice to say, I stopped playing after 30 minutes.
 
Roto13 said:
Do you seriously not understand that some types of games only work in local multiplayer with split screen? Is this concept really beyond your grasp?
I do, but I don't approve of them. There are plenty of games that do handle local multiplayer well, without splitscreen.
 
Pikelet said:
Pretty sure Halo was the first to do this

Yeah, but he was implying that Portal 2 does so without "asking" the user. You're asked to look up and based on the movement on your mouse, the controls are inverted/regular. Halo just lets you try regular and inverted and gives you a prompt on which you prefer.
 
Exclusive / timed exclusive / pre-order demos. A demo is an attempt to convince me to buy your game. How could you not want me to have it?
 
Buying your way around effort. I'm not talking shortcuts like buying an account with a modestly kitted out character on a server you're looking to move to to save time, I'm talking ALL of it, with nothing to do with this "finished" result.

"Swaddling" in games, where the design never lets you really fail, or even succeed before you're allowed to ever. Feels like I'm being told to do something, and GlaDos does it a hundred times better.

Single player in Fighters other than Arcade mode or Practice.

ronito said:
Why do 90% of all JRPGs have only one battle theme? You spend most of the game battling.

Strong punches on trigger buttons?

Not every dev team is blessed with Shoji Meguro or Hitoshi Sakimoto.

No, they don't. Also, Time =/= Content. Suikiden 1 may of only been 25 hours long, but it had a hell of a lot more content then Suikoden 3, which took over 50 hours but felt like if the game only had a third of the content of Suikoden 1. So much of the main story was shifting you characters from place to place, there was no bosses, little in between towns, few dungeons, ect ect.

Gets it.

I think my fastest clear of S1 was...12 hours? Maybe less? Persona 4 clocked in at 108. Fun is the true metric.
 
Yeef said:
I assume you're referring to Portal 2 and it's actually a brilliant thing. The first game I remember doing it was InFAMOUS, but I'm sure it's been used elsewhere. When they as you to look up or down they're actually checking to see if you prefer 'normal' or 'inverted' aiming controls.

Of course they are, but I don't need them to do that. Plus, it didn't work in Portal 2. I'd already noticed it wasn't inverted and deliberately looked down instead of up, and it didn't change my controls or ask me to change them.
 
Loading. It should've been gone now but it just sticks and it baffles me that we put up with it. I HATE it. Portal 2 is amazing but the loading is very annoying and it surprises me that so few complain about it. At least on PC it should've been minimal.

It seems like only Nintendo cares about it and that's why they are still the best.
 
Sethos said:
No, I'm referring to almost every single game since they got rid of the concept of separate tutorials. Portal 2 is far from the first but it's still annoying. I set my own controls and if I need it inverted I'll do it in the options menu - It frustrates me to a point where I refuse to play the game(s).

Sick of being treated like a greenhorn by developers, it just kills everything for me in the first 15 minutes.

By the way, first 30 minutes of Portal 2 is just a nitwit tutorial where you have to do those super easy puzzles, no access to the second portal etc. just like the first, to baby you into the game. Suffice to say, I stopped playing after 30 minutes.

WTF?!
How can one gamer be so bitter ?
 
The slow, unskippable and often repeated text in the Super Mario Galaxy games (and plenty of other Nintendo titles as well). I disliked reading the same lines everytime I wanted to look for purple stars.
 
Auto-aim;
dumbing sequels down for mainstream market;
lack of advanced graphics options in PC games;
space simulators focused on mouse + keyboard;
quick-time sequences;
day 1 DLC/DLC already on disc;
7-page b&w manuals;
DRM.
 
Rush2thestart said:
Dual analog as an acceptable control method and pointer aiming as not.

Yes. I'd sell my soul to live in a world where this wasn't the case. Nothing wrong with dual analog, but pointer aiming should've been at least a standard alternative by now.

:(
 
The fact that most games require barely any usage of skill or intellect.

Mediocrity. And, to some extent -- since these 2 are related -- consoles.
 
The "level up" system is JRPGs. It's so archaic, and just a really bad idea in general.

The problem I have with it is that it fundamentally breaks the difficulty of the game. If ever the game seems challenging, players are encouraged to do boring grinding rather than use strategy. They're not encouraged to take advantage of the fun of the difficulty. Also, if a player actually enjoys battling, they are punished for it by getting over-leveled and then having an easy game later on.

This post made under the following assumption: Challenge is fun.
 
The_Technomancer said:
How would racing games work without splitscreen?
Pixel%203.jpg
 
''''''''''''''''''''''No, I'm referring to almost every single game since they got rid of the concept of separate tutorials. Portal 2 is far from the first but it's still annoying. I set my own controls and if I need it inverted I'll do it in the options menu - It frustrates me to a point where I refuse to play the game(s).

Sick of being treated like a greenhorn by developers, it just kills everything for me in the first 15 minutes.

By the way, first 30 minutes of Portal 2 is just a nitwit tutorial where you have to do those super easy puzzles, no access to the second portal etc. just like the first, to baby you into the game. Suffice to say, I stopped playing after 30 minutes.''''''''''''''''''''



While that guy sounds pretty extreme, I too am very sick of being treated like I've never played a game before. PC game design from the-late 90's had 3 things that I pretty much need miss VERY hard these days.

1. separate tutorials.
2. LAN multi-player options
3. Did not treat every 'player' as if they have never played a video game in their life.
 
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