What do you consider to be the biggest sin in gaming?
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This could be anything, ranging from how a game is designed, to how it's played.
To me, a game's biggest sin is when a game breaks its own rules to give challenge to the player. What I mean by this is this:
Every game has its own set of "rules" that are set by its design. Everything from AI logic, to animations, to general movement, has to abide by these rules. But there are certain games that essentially break themselves to give the player a challenge. Especially in multiplayer games, where there is no real viable alternative to human intelligence (not yet, anyways). This is usually accomplished in two ways: A) Create a situation in which no person can reasonably overcome by use of pure skill, or B) Abuse and hack the actual game mechanics to counter and negate the player's quick skill.
For instance, take a fighting game like Dissidia. This game ALWAYS breaks its own rules to give the player a challenge. And since Dissidia's MP is ad hoc, you'll end up fighting against the CPU most of the time. It's one of those games that do both of the aforementioned sins. In the Story mode, you'll usually either go up against cupcake AI manikins that are incapable of lasting longer than 10 seconds in a match, or you'll go up against AI that you have to be extremely lucky to beat. At its most ridiculous, you can end up fighting manikins and bosses with 20 stacking, redundant accessories (when the player will certainly never be able to acquire that many), in addition to the cheating that occurs in the actual gameplay vs. the CPU. Madden (and most competitive games in general) also has a habit of breaking its own rules using warping, glitching, defying it's own systems, and of couse comeback AI.
A good example of a game that doesn't break its own rules is Heart of Darkness. It's an extremely difficult game, but that difficulty isn't created by cheating the player. It's created by adjusting various types of situations randomly by switching enemy types and enemy counts with different types of platforming obstacles and puzzle solving. The player never feels cheated when he/she beats a stage, and there is a true sense of accomplishment, rather than a sense of frustration.
To me, a game's biggest sin is when a game breaks its own rules to give challenge to the player. What I mean by this is this:
Every game has its own set of "rules" that are set by its design. Everything from AI logic, to animations, to general movement, has to abide by these rules. But there are certain games that essentially break themselves to give the player a challenge. Especially in multiplayer games, where there is no real viable alternative to human intelligence (not yet, anyways). This is usually accomplished in two ways: A) Create a situation in which no person can reasonably overcome by use of pure skill, or B) Abuse and hack the actual game mechanics to counter and negate the player's quick skill.
For instance, take a fighting game like Dissidia. This game ALWAYS breaks its own rules to give the player a challenge. And since Dissidia's MP is ad hoc, you'll end up fighting against the CPU most of the time. It's one of those games that do both of the aforementioned sins. In the Story mode, you'll usually either go up against cupcake AI manikins that are incapable of lasting longer than 10 seconds in a match, or you'll go up against AI that you have to be extremely lucky to beat. At its most ridiculous, you can end up fighting manikins and bosses with 20 stacking, redundant accessories (when the player will certainly never be able to acquire that many), in addition to the cheating that occurs in the actual gameplay vs. the CPU. Madden (and most competitive games in general) also has a habit of breaking its own rules using warping, glitching, defying it's own systems, and of couse comeback AI.
A good example of a game that doesn't break its own rules is Heart of Darkness. It's an extremely difficult game, but that difficulty isn't created by cheating the player. It's created by adjusting various types of situations randomly by switching enemy types and enemy counts with different types of platforming obstacles and puzzle solving. The player never feels cheated when he/she beats a stage, and there is a true sense of accomplishment, rather than a sense of frustration.
There are a lot of RPGs that do that shit and irks me like nothing else. Enemies that suddenly have the ability to move when they shouldn't (XCOM, Fire Emblem, Valkyria, etc.). Enemies that have access to entire combat defining mechanics that you're not even properly introduced to, let alone equipped to use yourself (Front Mission). Incredibly stacked gear like you mentioned.
its lazy as fuck tbh, and I lose a bit of respect for the devs that let that shit fly. Its not challenging, its just bullshit.
its lazy as fuck tbh, and I lose a bit of respect for the devs that let that shit fly. Its not challenging, its just bullshit.
Metroid Other M is full of sins
-Tells you not to ever use a skill. Informs you that the skill is disabled. Skill is disabled in game. Game quietly enables skill without telling you. Must use skill to beat a final boss.
-Cutscene hell. Constant tell, not show.
-Pointless collecting as replacement for hidden objects
-Forced game into a control scheme when playtesting showed another control scheme worked better.
-automated targeting and dodging
-Where's Waldo Pixel Hunt : classic sin of old PC adventure stories
-Tells you not to ever use a skill. Informs you that the skill is disabled. Skill is disabled in game. Game quietly enables skill without telling you. Must use skill to beat a final boss.
-Cutscene hell. Constant tell, not show.
-Pointless collecting as replacement for hidden objects
-Forced game into a control scheme when playtesting showed another control scheme worked better.
-automated targeting and dodging
-Where's Waldo Pixel Hunt : classic sin of old PC adventure stories
Then there was that Ninja Gaiden bullshit with the nuclear turtles
parry doesn't block a single explosion all game long - but its the ONLY way to survive their death explosions
parry doesn't block a single explosion all game long - but its the ONLY way to survive their death explosions
Games that don't respect you as a player, or your time. It's why I do not play f2p games or most mmos. The obvious padding and repetitive mission design is simply not something I will tolerate.
Another sin is the sudden introduction of new antagonists who you have to fight with no context as to why they are evil and why you are fighting them.
I'm looking at you, Necron... and virtually every character in Final Fantasy XIII.
I'm looking at you, Necron... and virtually every character in Final Fantasy XIII.
By jWILL253 Go To PostAnother sin is the sudden introduction of new antagonists who you have to fight with no context as to why they are evil and why you are fighting them.pssh, why would you not want to fight space pope
I'm looking at you, Necron... and virtually every character in Final Fantasy XIII.
By Dipro Go To Postcutscenes.ehhhhh i'm on the fence with this. some people hated xenosaga for it, i like storytelling that's good.
cutscenes to open doors though or to break up action is bad though
Not the biggest but I really hate moments in games where the controls are taken away from you and you're doing some ridiculously boring, unstoppable slow walk and talk section.
Multiplayer achievements, especially stupid shit that doesn't assist in a win. Halo was notorious for having these. So on spawn you basically had team mates running around doing dumb shit like just trying to stick people all game. The smarter folks managed to get full parties of "achievement hunting" so at least people actually trying to play the damn game didn't suffer that crap.
In Destiny you had the most tedious and repetitive dungeons and bosses ever. Just fucking bullet sponges. Then on top of that no guaranteed drops of any kind. Sitting through the same ordeals over and over without a single drop or upgrade was monumentally stupid.
Related to the above Destiny had no real reward system for actually being the top player. You'd play a game of PVE or PVP, do crazy good, get absolutely shit all in loot and just to piss you off further the RNG would decide the person practically AFKing deserves a purple.
For some reason Borderlands 1 had no minimap on screen, just a dumb waypoint that meant fuck all thanks to barriers like hills and shit.
Multiplayer mechanics that effectively slow the game down can EAD, I'm looking at you Armor Lock in Halo.
I'll post more later, my ire for dumb shit in games knows no bounds.
In Destiny you had the most tedious and repetitive dungeons and bosses ever. Just fucking bullet sponges. Then on top of that no guaranteed drops of any kind. Sitting through the same ordeals over and over without a single drop or upgrade was monumentally stupid.
Related to the above Destiny had no real reward system for actually being the top player. You'd play a game of PVE or PVP, do crazy good, get absolutely shit all in loot and just to piss you off further the RNG would decide the person practically AFKing deserves a purple.
For some reason Borderlands 1 had no minimap on screen, just a dumb waypoint that meant fuck all thanks to barriers like hills and shit.
Multiplayer mechanics that effectively slow the game down can EAD, I'm looking at you Armor Lock in Halo.
I'll post more later, my ire for dumb shit in games knows no bounds.
By Dipro Go To Postcutscenes.
Unskippable cutscenes.
Yeah, MP achievements/trophies are ultra terrible. Especially if the multi is broken or has a very short lifespan.
By db Go To PostThe worst was definitely "run people over in a ghost/mongoose" bullshit. God.I had to work waaay too hard to get that sparrow kill.
so much fun
oh, and fuck all of halo 4's enemies
Halo 4 enemies are just annoying. There's no real challenge, also tedious crap. It's just like "oh cool it warped away, oh cool it resurrected itself."
I hate obscure or unexplained routes in games. For example, in Bloodborne, figuring out where the shortcuts are is undeniably non-obvious, and not only that, but the learning curve of the game is so steep from the beginning that even getting to the first shortcut is undeniably difficult. The reason this is an issue because the save progression of games like that is purposefully hard and if you die (WHICH YOU WILL) it makes it a chore to get to the point you need to get to, and thus, makes the experience repetitive as hell.
I guess my bigger point is... if you're gonna make a game difficult, at least make it rewarding in some ways. Make my experience enjoyable and not frustrating.
Microtransactions.
I'm still pissed at EA for ruining Popcap. I put untold hours into Peggle and PvZ and the sequels were insultingly barebones and greedy.
I'm still pissed at EA for ruining Popcap. I put untold hours into Peggle and PvZ and the sequels were insultingly barebones and greedy.
Mandatory tutorials, that explains everything. God, it's horrible. I can't even count how many games I got pissed with before even being done with the tutorial.
By db Go To PostSave points are dumb, games that still have them why.This is actually the worst trope of games from Japan.
By Xpike Go To Postnot having any bit of level design in the actual game. See: Ubisoft open worlds, EA, among others.
This is also pretty bad. Rockstar is considered the kings of open-world design, but that seems to be mostly by default. Most open world games have lots of shit in them with no uniqueness about anything in it, or large expansions of nothing in between small pockets of something. Even Skyrim isn't all that unique.
I hate when developers try to get feedback from people who don't play their game.
I'll use Gears of War as an example as it's the most obvious case. Gears of War comes out, it's supposed to be this third person cover based shooter. As all games do, once they end up in the hands of real humans and not braindead testers, things don't work out as you envisioned. The game becomes a fast paced, close quarters shotgun fest fighting over power weapons to help your team gain the upper hand.
The people that played it loved it. The people that don't play video games for longer than a week cried and wanted a "tactical" shooter. (its got regen health, tactical isn't even a possiblity) The fans pretty much just wanted Gears - one shot active sniper and no host advantage. What does Epic do? Ignore the fans and listen to the non-fans.
We get a bigger host advantage, nade tagging, ragdoll concussion grenades, stopping power, etc all to make a more "tactical" game. Surprise fucking surprise, the game comes out and the playerbase isn't too happy. The non-fans move on to play other shit like they always do while us fans are stuck with some broken fucking mess of a game. Takes about 7 title updates to make the game even average, most of us just go back to Gears 1.
Look, I know most developers don't care about releasing a quality product and just want money, but there's nothing worse than listening to people who will ignore your game two weeks after launch just to play the next new title. You piss off your fans and please no one because those people don't care enough to stick around.
I'll use Gears of War as an example as it's the most obvious case. Gears of War comes out, it's supposed to be this third person cover based shooter. As all games do, once they end up in the hands of real humans and not braindead testers, things don't work out as you envisioned. The game becomes a fast paced, close quarters shotgun fest fighting over power weapons to help your team gain the upper hand.
The people that played it loved it. The people that don't play video games for longer than a week cried and wanted a "tactical" shooter. (its got regen health, tactical isn't even a possiblity) The fans pretty much just wanted Gears - one shot active sniper and no host advantage. What does Epic do? Ignore the fans and listen to the non-fans.
We get a bigger host advantage, nade tagging, ragdoll concussion grenades, stopping power, etc all to make a more "tactical" game. Surprise fucking surprise, the game comes out and the playerbase isn't too happy. The non-fans move on to play other shit like they always do while us fans are stuck with some broken fucking mess of a game. Takes about 7 title updates to make the game even average, most of us just go back to Gears 1.
Look, I know most developers don't care about releasing a quality product and just want money, but there's nothing worse than listening to people who will ignore your game two weeks after launch just to play the next new title. You piss off your fans and please no one because those people don't care enough to stick around.
Taking away (too much) control from the player. Your tutorial, cutscene, dialogue sequence, etc better be damn important for you to just make me stop playing the actual game for it.
The Half Life series kind of has this problem when it locks you into rooms, but I've been replaying it recently and just love how you flow from section to another without being interrupted. Developers can still learn so much from it.
The Half Life series kind of has this problem when it locks you into rooms, but I've been replaying it recently and just love how you flow from section to another without being interrupted. Developers can still learn so much from it.
By Omega Go To PostI hate when developers try to get feedback from people who don't play their game.Yeah, this is so true. Developers/publishers are so quick to try and please people who aren't playing their game that they forget about the people who never stopped playing and what they liked.
...
Look, I know most developers don't care about releasing a quality product and just want money, but there's nothing worse than listening to people who will ignore your game two weeks after launch just to play the next new title. You piss off your fans and please no one because those people don't care enough to stick around.
Agree with db on multiplayer achievements, hate that shit
huh
By Omega Go To PostLook, I know most developers don't care about releasing a quality product and just want money
huh
I don't think this happens much anymore, but shitty minigames for the sake of variety. Platformers in the PS1/64 and PS2 era were PLAGUED with this shit.
splatoon is half brilliant game decisions, half extremely horrible decisions that just completely ruin the experience. Why does matchmaking never work and you always go up against S+ teams? Why is there no way to play ranked modes with random people without any penalty? Why is the equipment you can get random? Why can't you have custom loadouts, instead relying on Nintendo giving you loadouts and treating them as "new" weapons? Why is there even a map rotation?
oh and collectathons
for fucks sake its not fun. even kids hate easter egg hunts after the first time
ubisoft pls
for fucks sake its not fun. even kids hate easter egg hunts after the first time
ubisoft pls
The homogeneity among AAA games annoys me. Within the genre lines, everything looks and feels very similar. Brown and grey militaristic shooters. Bloated fetch-quest RPGs.
The copy cat titles. You're not going to steal a player base unless your game ins genuinely different. Don't just give the same mechanics under a different name.
The endless ruining of a franchise in chase of the summer block buster. If your original game was profitable, and the player base wants more, don't ruin your player base by altering what made the game fun in the first place. If you want to release a different game, release it as a different game, don't try and cash in on the name.
The endless ruining of a franchise in chase of the summer block buster. If your original game was profitable, and the player base wants more, don't ruin your player base by altering what made the game fun in the first place. If you want to release a different game, release it as a different game, don't try and cash in on the name.
By Hitch Go To PostDemanding mid in Dota 2 and fucking it up beyond repair.#JustDotaThings
#kefuffle
By Fenderputty Go To PostSo you were a fan of MGS4?worst game i've ever played.
no, wait.. Heavy Rain was worse. Both were written by a 12 year old (i hope).
By Kikarian Go To PostWhen the protagonist doesn't speak.when the protagonist speaks.
By Kikarian Go To PostWhen the protagonist doesn't speak.Eh. if their voice was really terrible i'd find it worse than not speaking at all.
I don't like games that force you to name the protagonist. Especially when it's not even a character you created
Not really down with using my name in games, or joke names I'm certain to be sick of 40 hours later.
Not really down with using my name in games, or joke names I'm certain to be sick of 40 hours later.
By FootballFan Go To PostLocked dlc/gameplay on the disc already since launch but you need to pay to unlock.^^^^^
Fuckkk that
