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What game design choices do you consider 'not respecting your time'?
- Thread starter cormack12
- Start date
Winter John
Gold Member
One hit kills. Meaningless hour long cut scenes. Basically most of Persona 5
Stealth horror (but could include any stealth game). I mean we're to the point of sitting in a locker for a hour to get an Alien to move out of the room as content. I'm about 2 hours in on RE7 and I basically quit. I miss the Silent Hill 2 days of horror. Hiding for a minute or two, or to setup some kills - okay, wasting hours sitting in a locker or behind a desk - a waste of time.
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Belmonte
Member
Great games were made to work with one hit kills or harsh checkpoints, Contra for example. But I never saw any justifiable reason for unskipable cutscenes after a checkpoint and before a hard boss. Very enerving to see long winded cutscenes every time you try to beat a boss/stage when the game knows you will need lots of tries.
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Heimdall_Xtreme
Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
Tutorials. I hate them... in the past your learn alone how to use a technique or weapon or even better you have a manual with color in 50 pages.
ienjoyrawfish
Member
Random battles in RPGs.
Thank God that shite has been consigned to the dustbin of video game history where it belongs.
Thank God that shite has been consigned to the dustbin of video game history where it belongs.
mcz117chief
Member
ftfy. I shudder just thinking about some of those Seymour fights in Final Fantasy X
Mista
Banned
THIS!!!!
IzukuMidoriya
Member
Crowded user design in-game. Example, Overwatch.
I love the game, but look at this crowded mess. For someone like me, who easily gets distracted from the center of the screen, this is just awful.
I love the game, but look at this crowded mess. For someone like me, who easily gets distracted from the center of the screen, this is just awful.
Threeshotgamer
Banned
DunDunDunpachi
Patient MembeR
Unskippable cutscenes and unskippable tutorials...
DunDunDunpachi
Patient MembeR
Another one would be arbitrarily locking important game mechanics behind story sequences. If it's a linear game, fine. But if you wanna be "Metroidvania FPS RPG hybrid" then you have to allow some role-playing. This is especially obnoxious in open-world games where mechanics might not be introduced or discovered dozens of hours into the game due to the player putzing around in the earlier sequences.
This is something BotW handles flawlessly, by the way. You can do anything in pretty much any order, and that's how a true open-world game should be done.
This is something BotW handles flawlessly, by the way. You can do anything in pretty much any order, and that's how a true open-world game should be done.
Bryank75
Banned
Destiny, oh there's a new 'power level'
Still get killed by dreg in starting area with same amount of hits.
Destiny , remember all those guns you collected over the last 3 years?
We're taking them away and putting them behind a brand new paywall or season pass and if you do pay up and do the new 20 step quest, the gun is a nerfed skin of your old gun pasted on a gun you already have.
Still get killed by dreg in starting area with same amount of hits.
Destiny , remember all those guns you collected over the last 3 years?
We're taking them away and putting them behind a brand new paywall or season pass and if you do pay up and do the new 20 step quest, the gun is a nerfed skin of your old gun pasted on a gun you already have.
TacosNSalsa
Member
Think you mean cut scenes after check points ..but yes this. Also missions with multiple objectives that are far away from each other . I remember some of Diablo 3s missions were like this , 3 out of 4 objectives would be bunched together then the last one would be all the way on the other side of the map. Also the game showing you a description of what you pick up all the time.. like yes Devil May Cry 5 , I've been playing for over 50hrs , I f*cking know its a gold orb.
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Sqorin Hammerfarf
Banned
Having to wait 8 hours before I can play again unless I buy gems to skip the wait.
Actually, those do respect my time because when I see that, I stop playing and suddenly have tons of time.
Actually, those do respect my time because when I see that, I stop playing and suddenly have tons of time.
Airola
Member
The most annoying thing is when there's some 2D platformer and the first level is your basic platforming parts with text on screen telling "press A to jump."
RokkanStoned
Member
This, unskippable tutorials. Also, unskippable cutscenes.
Meowzers
Member
-Anything in tutorials that mention controller inputs.
-Unskippable cutscenes.
-When EA Sports mentions they've 'changed things' in a latest patch
-Tutorials or any part of a game repeating themselves over and over when you don't understand something.
-The plastic wrap on a new game and your nails are too short and can't find anything sharp enough to remove it
-Angering your cat so they scratch the plastic sleeve off your new game, but they're not playing ball.
-A plastic sleeve that's tighter than you and your friend in high school.
-If you're reading this far, it means I need a tutorial to even get the fucking CD out of the box!
-Unskippable cutscenes.
-When EA Sports mentions they've 'changed things' in a latest patch
-Tutorials or any part of a game repeating themselves over and over when you don't understand something.
-The plastic wrap on a new game and your nails are too short and can't find anything sharp enough to remove it
-Angering your cat so they scratch the plastic sleeve off your new game, but they're not playing ball.
-A plastic sleeve that's tighter than you and your friend in high school.
-If you're reading this far, it means I need a tutorial to even get the fucking CD out of the box!
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brap
Banned
Shit like in Wolfenstein The New Order where you're normally playing the game then you have to go some place and find shit and talk to people. Like I'm fucking playing an FPS here I don't wanna talk to all these stupid people and find shit for them. Doesn't fit in the game at all and literally nobody would want this shit in the game.
TheMay30thMan
Member
I’d like to believe that if I made the conscious decision to play a game, no matter how bad or tedious certain parts of it may be, it’s not disrespecting my time. If anything, I am if I keep playing.
Mistershine.
Banned
Unskippable cut scenes after checkpoints, making me watch the same shit every time I die.
Infinite enemy respawns until I reach a cut off point.
Not a direct waste as such, but enemies that can spam special abilities meaning the fight goes on longer than needed.
Infinite enemy respawns until I reach a cut off point.
Not a direct waste as such, but enemies that can spam special abilities meaning the fight goes on longer than needed.
Fuz
Banned
"Here's how your character can walk. (Click to proceed) Now press the button to walk right. (Click to proceed) Good! Now press the button to walk left. (Click to proceed)..."
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shark sandwich
tenuously links anime, pedophile and incels
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 made it a point to waste as much of your time as possible at every opportunity...
- blades are distributed through gatcha mechanics. You can easily spend 10+ hours farming to get the good ones
- 30 second unskippable animation every time you open a core crystal (which you will do hundreds of times when farming those blades) (they made this skippable in a patch months after release)
- only way to make Poppi good is by grinding a 3 minute retro arcade game for hours
- you can send your inactive blades out on missions to gain XP while they’re idle. Which means interrupting the game every ~5 minutes for a couple minutes of dicking around in menus
- that process includes unskippable voice acting. Plus most missions require various combinations of skills, with no way of filtering your blades by those skills.
- Ursula (best healing/fist blade) requires you to do well over 100 of those missions to fully power her up, easily hours of screwing around in menus just for that.
- tons of treasure chests and interaction points that require blades with certain combinations of skills to be equipped = more tedious dicking around in menus, only to switch it all back as soon as you make the skill check.
- almost all the quests (story or sidequest) break down into multiple generic MMO-style fetch quests or extermination missions
- blades are distributed through gatcha mechanics. You can easily spend 10+ hours farming to get the good ones
- 30 second unskippable animation every time you open a core crystal (which you will do hundreds of times when farming those blades) (they made this skippable in a patch months after release)
- only way to make Poppi good is by grinding a 3 minute retro arcade game for hours
- you can send your inactive blades out on missions to gain XP while they’re idle. Which means interrupting the game every ~5 minutes for a couple minutes of dicking around in menus
- that process includes unskippable voice acting. Plus most missions require various combinations of skills, with no way of filtering your blades by those skills.
- Ursula (best healing/fist blade) requires you to do well over 100 of those missions to fully power her up, easily hours of screwing around in menus just for that.
- tons of treasure chests and interaction points that require blades with certain combinations of skills to be equipped = more tedious dicking around in menus, only to switch it all back as soon as you make the skill check.
- almost all the quests (story or sidequest) break down into multiple generic MMO-style fetch quests or extermination missions
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01011001
Banned
Walking behind a fucking NPC or slowly walking in general.
walking with Atreus in your arms in God of War... I almost quit the game right there.
all in all, stupid wannabe cinematic bullshit with zero gameplay value but that still needs constant player input in order to advance.
MAKE IT A CUTSCENE! so I can drink something or just relax for a moment instead OF HOLDING THE FUCKING LEFT STICK FORWARD FOR 5MIN! FOR FUCKSSSAAAKKE!
yeah, so to make it short, no slow walking cinematic stuff... ok?
walking with Atreus in your arms in God of War... I almost quit the game right there.
all in all, stupid wannabe cinematic bullshit with zero gameplay value but that still needs constant player input in order to advance.
MAKE IT A CUTSCENE! so I can drink something or just relax for a moment instead OF HOLDING THE FUCKING LEFT STICK FORWARD FOR 5MIN! FOR FUCKSSSAAAKKE!
yeah, so to make it short, no slow walking cinematic stuff... ok?
HeresJohnny
Member
Weapons that break after only a bit of use. I hate that shit!
Fetch quests suck too. The ones in Wind Waker and Metroid Prime 2 were especially bad.
Fetch quests suck too. The ones in Wind Waker and Metroid Prime 2 were especially bad.
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McCheese
Member
The old school Final Fantasy MMO (11?) which fucking took XP away when you died.
You could spend a few hours grinding, then die due to lag, and have 20% of that XP just removed, it could even level you down from what I vaguely remember of it complete with its own sound effect (I've forgotten it now, but like to think it sounded like a long wet fart).
You could spend a few hours grinding, then die due to lag, and have 20% of that XP just removed, it could even level you down from what I vaguely remember of it complete with its own sound effect (I've forgotten it now, but like to think it sounded like a long wet fart).
V
Vader1
Unconfirmed Member
The rewards for shrines and korok seeds.
Fuz
Banned
Reason why I don't play Path of Exile.
LordClansman
Member
Obligatory fetch quests to advance the main story.
Vbrasa
Member
I understand the concept of the thread, but it sounds super entitled. A game isn't wasting your time, you're wasting your own time by playing a game.
If games have mechanics that you don't like, don't buy them if you think THEY are wasting your time.
Games can have annoying parts to them, and you can dislike things about them, but the moment you say "These developers are wasting MY time" you're entitled, because you made the conscious decision to get hype over a game, go out and buy the game, and then play the game.
On the topic of the thread: I think sluggish controls (looking at Kingdom hearts 1 and 2) where an enemy can turn its trajectory midair during an attack, or whatnot, but the player has no way out of it. No air dodging, nothing. Hollow Bastion was the most miserable gameplay I've ever experienced.
If games have mechanics that you don't like, don't buy them if you think THEY are wasting your time.
Games can have annoying parts to them, and you can dislike things about them, but the moment you say "These developers are wasting MY time" you're entitled, because you made the conscious decision to get hype over a game, go out and buy the game, and then play the game.
On the topic of the thread: I think sluggish controls (looking at Kingdom hearts 1 and 2) where an enemy can turn its trajectory midair during an attack, or whatnot, but the player has no way out of it. No air dodging, nothing. Hollow Bastion was the most miserable gameplay I've ever experienced.
cormack12
Gold Member
Yes I did. Good catch.
I think you're thinking too much about mechanics here. Let's take a base example of receiving a quest in a town that sends you miles away to recover some artifacts. Then when you have them, you have to walk all the way back to hand them in. That, to me is a waste of time. Maybe not in certain types of quests but for every fetch quest then it's a chore. And game designers obviously know this, things like Ubisoft not requiring you to return to town in AC is a good example of designers implementing some quality of life choices for the player. Based on the fact that they've acknowledged it's daft to ask for this superfluous behaviour. If anything RDR2 is a good example of how people tire or every simulation, and the looting mechanic in AC:O a game type compromise.
It can impact on your experience and your judgement of the overall game but not be enough to stop playing. Software overall is the subject of iteration and improvement. As games become bigger and more complex, it's not unreasonable to think they need to trim the fat or indulgence. Previously, land masses were not as big so doing something as inane as returning to quest giver would be 30 seconds or something. Now it can be a few minutes, and that depends on how active the obstacles are. Just want to return these 5 ice shards? Fine, oh wait you just run into a bandit camp, and aggroed a wolf etc. While sometimes this is part of the fun, sometimes you just wanna hand the quest in.
Fast Travel that is not 'fast' and has loading screens and delays. Fast travel should be like in Watch Dogs 1 imo, and definitely not like in Odyssey.
Rest
All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
Game intros that fucking drag on and on and on, and then they finally give you the controls, only to wrench them away three seconds later for more cutscene.
Knock that shit off devs, get to the point with the story and then don't take control away from me. Or, if you're going to have stupidly long intros, don't tease me with the game starting, just do your stupid long ass shit uninterrupted, so I can go get a sandwich or something, and come back when it's time to play.
Knock that shit off devs, get to the point with the story and then don't take control away from me. Or, if you're going to have stupidly long intros, don't tease me with the game starting, just do your stupid long ass shit uninterrupted, so I can go get a sandwich or something, and come back when it's time to play.
The Bloody-Nine
Member
Boss runs towards the end of a game. I've beaten all of these assholes before, and you're making me beat them again? In a row?? Hate it.
cireza
Banned
Pick up useless shit every two steps to craft stuff that could be picked up directly (= instead of picking hundreds of materials you could actually be picking up tenths of useful ammo or items directly).
Start the game with a nerfed down character and unnerf him using time wasting and often obscure skill tree (= force on the player a shitty skill tree rather than giving him a choice between a few meaningful upgrades/skills that actually change the gameplay/approach).
Absurd secondary objectives or missions that are in no way related to what is actually happening or your current objectives (= stuff like crouch 3 times in a fighting game during normal gameplay, so stupid)
Interesting story actually told in the longest way possible, with the same stuff repeated again and again.
Combat in RPG with no intelligence required : everyone attacks and wait for the end of battle, or do exactly the same actions at each battle.
Unpredictable events that put to waste the previous 10, 20, 30 minutes or hour of gameplay.
Grinding in any game can be tolerable if the gameplay is good and grinding is limited. Meaning that it is not too repetitive and still fun/interesting.
Start the game with a nerfed down character and unnerf him using time wasting and often obscure skill tree (= force on the player a shitty skill tree rather than giving him a choice between a few meaningful upgrades/skills that actually change the gameplay/approach).
Absurd secondary objectives or missions that are in no way related to what is actually happening or your current objectives (= stuff like crouch 3 times in a fighting game during normal gameplay, so stupid)
Interesting story actually told in the longest way possible, with the same stuff repeated again and again.
Combat in RPG with no intelligence required : everyone attacks and wait for the end of battle, or do exactly the same actions at each battle.
Unpredictable events that put to waste the previous 10, 20, 30 minutes or hour of gameplay.
Grinding in any game can be tolerable if the gameplay is good and grinding is limited. Meaning that it is not too repetitive and still fun/interesting.
Zannegan
Member
Probably long cutscenes in general, not because I don't respect story or its place in games, but because in 99 cases out of 100, the story would be better if it were told in fewer words. This is what drives me nuts in a lot of otherwise excellent JRPGs, Xenoblade 2 included.
Something something brevity is the soul of something.
Something something brevity is the soul of something.
BunzLee
Member
For me it would be extensive traveling time or decreasing the amount of quick travel options. I would prefer having the choice if I want to get there "the quick way" or take my time. If you need to increase my playtime by having me go out on endless journeys, you're obviously lacking content somewhere else.