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Let's talk about modern game design trends you don't like

Chairman Yang

Chairman Yang

if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
Here are two that came to mind:

* completely removing HUDs for the sake of "immersion". It can frankly hurt the gameplay sometimes by making information harder to access. And what's immersive about not knowing how hurt I am?

* putting regenerating health systems in everything, thanks to Halo's commercial success. I mean, it definitely works for some games. But Resident Evil 4 reminded me how traditional health systems can have a level of sustained tension and strategic management that regenerating systems don't. It doesn't help that the whole regenerating concept is very incongruous and silly in certain settings (like being a WW2 soldier in Call of Duty).

I'll post more later. What do you think are some modern trends in game design that developers are blindly following, whether or not it helps their game?
 
Chairman Yang said:
Here are two that came to mind:

* completely removing HUDs for the sake of "immersion". It can frankly hurt the gameplay sometimes by making information harder to access. And what's immersive about not knowing how hurt I am?

* putting regenerating health systems in everything, thanks to Halo's commercial success. I mean, it definitely works for some games. But Resident Evil 4 reminded me how traditional health systems can have a level of sustained tension and strategic management that regenerating systems don't. It doesn't help that the whole regenerating concept is very incongruous and silly in certain settings (like being a WW2 soldier in Call of Duty).

I'll post more later. What do you think are some modern trends in game design that developers are blindly following, whether or not it helps their game?
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It's a pity regenerating health instead of the streamlined weapon carrying system wasn't copied. There is something anachronistic about playing an action-packed game like Resistance and have to pause the game to select your weapon depending on the situation. It kills the flow, IMHO.
 
In before "Non-games!!!".

Personally all the stuff that has been bugging me lately are overused artistic choices...Bloom, blur, slow-motion, faded tones. Stop trying to make games 10% gameplay and 90% SFX!
 
Instigator said:
It's a pity regenerating health instead of the streamlined weapon carrying system wasn't copied. There is something anachronistic about playing an action-packed game like Resistance and have to pause the game to select your weapon depending on the situation. It kills the flow, IMHO.
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Tap R2 as light as you can and it will automatically give you the next weapon without stoping the gameplay.
 
The never ending tutorial.

Keyfile microtransactions.

Auto-Save which is actually Auto-Ask-If-You-Want-To-Save.
 
recharging shields and health are basically the worst and most lazy decision an FPS designer can make.
 
I disagree about HUDs, they should have dissapeared long ago for certain games. I´m all for out the box ways of checking basic information. If a game want to be realistic, having a bar that says how dead you are is absurd.
 
I've seen the Halo driving system in a few games and I definitely don't like that (one stick for acceleration, the other for camera control). I would rather have the ability to look around without turning.

Also, bald space marines.
 
dog$ said:
Auto-Save which is actually Auto-Ask-If-You-Want-To-Save.
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Ew...Yeah. I also hate the '"Do you want to save over this file?" "Do you really want to save over this file?" "I mean, do you really REALLY want to save over this file?"' prompts.
 
Answering all the questions and a game presents to the player.

So few games are open to interpretation in the same way that movies and literature are. Perhaps it is because the scale of these projects- and that it is hard to represent one person's key idea. Solely because there are too many cooks in the kitchen.

I don't know. Perhaps that's a little vague but it's been a while since a game has made me say "but.. why?"
 
Stages with no music

Battle themes that never change

No character select or customization and the abundance of military characters with either a shaved head or a mohawk. I don't give a damn if it's "realistic".

QTE'S, or whatever they're called these days.

and I hate how my character will always reload like hes at a shooting range instead of reloading like he's in the middle of a shootout.
 
Any 360 game that requires the blade to come out everytime I want to save. Tacky and unprofessional as all hell.

A general lack of good boss-fights.

QTEs in general just need to die off. I'd rather just watch the cutscene instead of having to look for big flashing buttons or directions to press.
 
Thoren said:
Wii
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Oh Lord.

I agree that QTEs are getting old very quickly. I despise games that are stingy with health potions and similar supplies but don't include a 'reload from last checkpoint' button, forcing you to either waste a potion or put the contoller down and wait to die if you make a mistake [Ninja Gaiden Sigma, I'm looking at you here].
 
QTEs


Viva Pinata does a really annoying thing, which is a quickload that's disguised as an autosave.

Does any other game do this?
 
*HUDs and Reticles, get rid of as much of the first as possible please and I never want to see the latter again, IS or bust.

*Have to agree with the health re-gen shit.

*QTEs or whatever the **** you want to call them. Either let me watch a cut-scene or make me play out the action in game.

*Making every game easier. Stop doing it.

*Scripting all the events in your game and designing levels or missions based around that, it's been done so many times and for so long that I can see the trigger points long before the shit happens. It's like when you watch traditional animation (background paintings with layered cells for animation) and part of the background is a different color because instead of being watercolor or acrylics or whatever on paper, it's painted on clear plastic cell; so you know that something is going to happen to it and it will either explode or move before it actually happens.

*Making games shorter. Stop that too.
 
I dont know how popular this is at the moment, but Ive run into it enough in the past year for me to use it here. I cant stand the holding the players hand throughout the early stages of the game creating the longest tutorial. Instead of just letting me play the game at the pace it should be, Im forced to play in staccato with the gameplay stopping every few minutes for a npc to 'enlighten' me about the games wonderful use of the X button. Just annoying.
 
Any QTE that requires me having to constantly tap a button need to die off. God of War in particular was terribly guilty of this. Why the hell should I have to tap a button to open a door?

Licensed music. Generally this stuff sucks monkey butt. Gimme some themes that actually go well with what I'm doing and are tailor-made for the game. Even worse is when EA throws in their stupid fake disc-jockeys that are annoying as hell. See Burnout or SSX. It's also pretty bad in DDR, like Fall Out Boy in Suprnova. Urgh.
 
Oh gawd do I hate long ass tutorials and intros. I'm so excited to bring a new game home and try it out. Only to find out it takes 5 hours just to get close to the meat of the game. By then I am so bored and tired I usually just go bed.

Games so locked up there is little to do at first or important game modes are unavailable suck too.
 
A screen that says "Loaded Successfully" and waits for me to press a button. WTF? Give me a message if it doesn't load successfully.

Unskippable cutscenes.

One that I've noticed cropping up recently happens in shooters. If you're too close to a wall you'll kind of put your gun up and be unable to shoot. Realistic I guess, but so annoying.

Multiplayer achievements.

Cheating AI. This is by no means limited to modern games, but jesus. Improved AI is usually the first thing to pop up whenever there's an argument about what increased computing power can provide in addition to better graphics. But I'll be damned if I see it. Insta-headshot isn't better AI. Seeing around corners isn't either. And neither are the CPU (oldschool) suddenly being able to break tackles at the end of a football game, or miraculously having the soccer ball bounce the computers way more often depending on the difficulty setting.
 
1:
making games longevity with filler crap. A good game should be replayable in one sitting once you finished it once or twice. Now i NEVER want to replay games because they are really tedious and repetitive once you know all the "surprise".

2:
Being everything at once. mixing gameplay element can work but there is freaking limit to that. Too many diferent gameplay just give an empty undifferenciated game in the end. I prefer a lot the old school way to give very simple primitive that can combine to give an acceptable gameplay set, then fight the repetitive sensation by simply ramp up difficulty a lot so that you need to master the gameplay. Now i NEVER have to master anything to finish games, they are just a walk in the parc and the super variety of gameplay is an illusion as all other games feature the same stuff so overall they are, combined, just as repetitive exept that you still don't have to master anything.

3:
Super filled with detail but not filled with stuff. If we take the Wii as an exemple, it should be possible to spend on less detail on ennemy but have more ennemy variety. The modern limit is no longuer the CPU to have lot of stuff, it's budget. So spend more wisely the resources on things we can actually interact/play with.

4:
Standardised voice acting. I swear i hear the same intonation-tone-accent in all game. It sound as bad as american anime.

5:
Forced tutorial, i ****ing don't want to play a tutorial as a "first level".

6:
licenced music
 
Having to hold hands with some non-playable character and lead them from point a to point b. Hey Ashley, how about picking up a gun and ****ing help me for once you loving useless bitch. You were the worst part of RE4.
 
Nobody mentioned stealth missions?

And for the loading bar I've always hated the one that loads to 99% quickly and then pauses for like a minute on 99%. If you are going to put that bar in make sure it actually means something.
 
Boss battles that use mechanics that are entirely different from the rest of the game. Also, forget QTEs, cutscenes just suck period; If I wanted to watch a movie, I'd rent a fricking movie.
 
I dont like that games become more and more movie-like.
Instead of taking games to an even more interactive milestone, games become less interactive and more movie-esque. Besides nearly every Nintendo-game, only Fable 2 and Mass Effect look like they do the right attempt.
 
Unlockables - because somehow a game is better when they only give you half of the game to start out with

RPG Level-up systems - contradictory game design. Oh look, let's stick RPG elements into an ACTION game, where the game actually gets easier as you play! No skill required!

Story - GET OVER IT. Video gaming has awful storytelling ,so stop shoveling this crap into almost every single genre and every single game. So many series have been tainted/destroyed by this recent abomination
 
My #1 pet peeve about the last generation is easy games that have been simplified for the masses. The worst offender of this is Halo 2, I'd have to say. Seems like Bungie's motto around the office is "If it ain't broke, lets fix it just because".

And quick time events. They never really bothered me until I played through Spider Man 3. HORRIBLE.
 
Barf_the_Mog said:
Having to hold hands with some non-playable character and lead them from point a to point b. Hey Ashley, how about picking up a gun and ****ing help me for once you loving useless bitch. You were the worst part of RE4.
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Have to disagree here. Ashley was the best implemented NPC in this sort of situation up to that point. Remember Silent Hill 4? Yeah, utter shit and it just got worse once you had to lead THAT bitch around...through the same levels!

But I'm all for mission objectives that involve a bit more thought and finesse that just shooting everyone in sight. Some lives ARE worth protecting.
 
Mixing the game's realm and the player realm.

- Leave the tutorial out of my main game.
- Leave the instruction in a menu or the booklet.
- Fuck imposing effects on my eyes like you knew when i am to see well or not, when i want (or am supposed) to be focusing on X thing and don't think that blurring tue fucking screen will fool me into thinking that your god damned graphics are scrolling faster behind it.
- Oh and fuck your non-convenient "no hud". Go the DKC way if you don't like it.

tks.
 
Same-system re-releases - Even though I've bought every same system re-release in the RE series, I can't help but be annoyed whenever it does occur. Most recently it was with DMC3SE.
 
Minigames. Pressing random button to get some cutscene to progress forward is not my idea of fun. I think they worked well in Resident Evil cuz they were just meant to keep you on your toes. But in games like where it seems like NO button is safe from popping up (could be directional input, face button, Trigger, whatever) and I just have to memorize everything is just stupid
 
Tsubaki said:
Story - GET OVER IT. Video gaming has awful storytelling ,so stop shoveling this crap into almost every single genre and every single game. So many series have been tainted/destroyed by this recent abomination
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God YES. Cinematic in general have ruined a lot of genres.

TrueReligion said:
Multi-platform, dumbed down garbage

Examples: Fallout 3, Tom Clancy Series.
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Really, so you've already played Fallout 3?
 
-Games with downloadable content you have to pay for.

-Excessively long cutscenes or dialog due to verbal diarrhea.

-Guys that look like girls.

-Characters that look like they were designed for pedophiles.

-Escort missions where the the character you have to escort has terrible AI. Yes, walk right into the line of fire you stupid ****ing idiot! Oh and escort characters walking out on the road and getting run over in GTA games was always fun. Failing in a game due to something beyond your control is unaccetable.

-Stealth levels in games that aren't supposed to be stealth games (almost always comes off half assed and annoying).

-Short games in genres that shouldn't be short (FPS or any type of action game with little replayability that's under 10 hours).

-Licenced music. I ALWAYS turn that shit off.

-Save points. At least let me save anytime and put me back at the last checkpoint or something when I play the game again. Nothing worse when you suddenly have something to do and you have no idea when the next save point will be. This is less a modern game design and more of a remanent of past consoles with limitation that had to be worked around (like random battles in RPGs).
 
My only complaints with gaming are either price and related issues (so not game design) or things that have been with gaming as long as it has existed. The latter primarily being that games are far too basic and simplistic in their premise and execution, depth is only added in the gameplay itself instead of in story, conversations etc. I don't want to have to dig through a 200 page manual to play a game, I would like some games that actually make me think though.
 
I've always hated invisible walls. Crazy to think they still exist in some games. And far fewer platform/adventure games in development than the 16 and 32-bit eras.
 
Seeing your enemies on radar...

I'm glad Halo Fans like it but please leave it out of my shooters...

I mean how far do you have to stretch "logic" for that lame ass shit to make sense?

"Hey I see a bad guy on my magic radar!"

"Wait, he's gone!"

"OH MY GAWD HE'S CROUCHING!!!"

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