Video Game Pet Peeves

[Lookingglassman]

I love video games, but at times things happen or don't happen that burn my butt. My pet peeves are:

1. Difficult Puzzles. I hate playing a game and it is flowing well and then all of a sudden I come upon a difficult puzzle that really means nothing in the game, but I can't advance until I solve it. An example is Assassins Creed Black Flag. I was enjoying the flow of this game, then after completing a certain level I am back in Abstergo running around trying to hack stuff for some security guy. I couldn't stand the puzzles trying to move that little ball across the screen to the other side.

2. New games coming out that are multiplayer only. I hate multiplayer. I am a single player guy and when I see a game I want then see the dreaded "No single player campaign" my hopes get deflated. I have played multiplayer, but I find it rather boring because it seems like all you are doing is running around a small map shooting at others. I love single player campaigns that advance and where I have time to think how I am going to tackle a problem to keep playing.

3. I miss cheat codes. I remember on older systems games had cheat codes like unlimited ammo or invincibility, but newer games do not really have this and when you do get a cheat code it is not really worth it. Games like Dead Rising would be great with cheat codes because there are thousands of zombies and so many interesting ways to kill them that if a person was invincible they could rack up huge amounts of kills and have the time to experiment with finding and making different weapons.

Those are just a few of mine. Do you have any?

 

[Kronos]

I agree with all three of those, some others for me..

Incomplete games coming out and them being finished with "add ons"

A big bad boss who you fight over and over and they just won't die even when you defeat them, it gets really hold, it's just lazy story telling

 

[Lookingglassman]

I hear you. I hate boss fights that are nearly impossible to beat. I buy games to have fun, but paying $60 for a game that just becomes tedious is crazy. I never buy games new anymore. I always wait until they come out and then check out the reviews from regular folks who play them then if they sound like fun games I buy it when it is on the used rack. The cool thing about buying games used is if I get it home and it sucks I can take it back within 7 days and get my money back.

 

[Retu]

Lazy boss designs in MMORPGs. Typically the only difference between easy and hard bosses are how much hitpoints they have and how much damage they do per hit.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Unskippable cut scenes, case in point Okami, have the game, never been able to play it because of the intro, or what i have been able to stomach of it before i quit it, even left it on, went to make a cup of tea, came back, it was still on.

Hate that with a passion, same with movies and Tv i own on BR/DVD that have piracy warnings on them at the beginning that you can't skip by because i have to be warned about piracy on my bought media.

 

[John Clark]

Another vote for unskippable cut scenes, especially where they are at the point where you have more cutscene than game. If on your first time of that point of the game, ok if it is important to the story, but if you get killed shortly after and have to repeat it again and again, it gets annoying

Cheats can be entertaining for the second time around (single player only), just to experiment and have a little fun.

I'm also not one for multiplayer games. I'll admit they're great for some people, but they are just not my style.

 

[Unicron]

I agree about games being pure multiplayer. I don't mind having such a feature, but I like the single player perspective too. To me, that's always been part of the fun. I also used to enjoy my old school NES Game Genie for fun playing around with the game code. Some of the codes didn't really do anything practical, but did have very amusing effects (one SMB3 code would make the game unplayable by freezing the screen, but would cycle through the entire soundtrack).

 

[Owain Taggart]

How about loot crates. First started off as a game mechanic used in F2P MMO's, which is understandable given that they have to make money, but then they started making their way to paid MMO's, then to general multiplayer games and then single-player games. It feels like a cheap tactic to get more out of a customer who's already paid for their game.

 

[Rincewiend]

How about loot crates. First started off as a game mechanic used in F2P MMO's, which is understandable given that they have to make money, but then they started making their way to paid MMO's, then to general multiplayer games and then single-player games. It feels like a cheap tactic to get more out of a customer who's already paid for their game.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Owain Taggart]

Oh yep, it's in game alright. They took the ball and ran with it.

 

[JD]

Another vote for unskippable cut scenes, especially where they are at the point where you have more cutscene than game. If on your first time of that point of the game, ok if it is important to the story, but if you get killed shortly after and have to repeat it again and again, it gets annoying

Cheats can be entertaining for the second time around (single player only), just to experiment and have a little fun.

I'm also not one for multiplayer games. I'll admit they're great for some people, but they are just not my style.

I'm gonna have to go with the unskippable cut scenes too. I love story heavy games, most of the time I'm playing a modern console game for the story just as much as the gameplay, but it does get annoying when you have to sit through the same 10 minute cutscene every time you die in a hard area.
I do play some multiplayer stuff occasionally, but I definitely prefer single player. The main reason I skipped the first new Star Wars: Battlefront is because I wasn't interested in just multiplayer.
Another one that's related to that for me is games with super short single player stories. I really enjoyed the campaigns in the first two Call of Duty: Modern Warfare games, but they were so short I was glad I got them cheap years after they came out. I understand they were mainly supposed to be multiplayer games, but I wish they would have put more in there for those of us who prefer single player. I've run into this with a few other games, mostly first person shooters, and it always bugs me.
One of the other things that bus me not only in games, but in general, is ridiculously skimpy costumes in the women.
Luckily they seem to be moving away from this now, I'm playing Horizon: Zero Dawn right now, and I was a bit surprised that pretty much all of the different costumes pretty much cover Aloy from head to toe.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Lazy boss designs in MMORPGs. Typically the only difference between easy and hard bosses are how much hitpoints they have and how much damage they do per hit.

I agree whole-heartedly.

Good [inovative] mechanics seem to be a thing of the past. Everything now just seems to be retreads and sort of new spins on old ideas. It seems like the only ones even trying are SE and FFXIV, but even that hasn't been as great recently. And Blizz seems to be completely out of ideas.

 

[Lookingglassman]

I'm gonna have to go with the unskippable cut scenes too. I love story heavy games, most of the time I'm playing a modern console game for the story just as much as the gameplay, but it does get annoying when you have to sit through the same 10 minute cutscene every time you die in a hard area.
I do play some multiplayer stuff occasionally, but I definitely prefer single player. The main reason I skipped the first new Star Wars: Battlefront is because I wasn't interested in just multiplayer.
Another one that's related to that for me is games with super short single player stories. I really enjoyed the campaigns in the first two Call of Duty: Modern Warfare games, but they were so short I was glad I got them cheap years after they came out. I understand they were mainly supposed to be multiplayer games, but I wish they would have put more in there for those of us who prefer single player. I've run into this with a few other games, mostly first person shooters, and it always bugs me.
One of the other things that bus me not only in games, but in general, is ridiculously skimpy costumes in the women.
Luckily they seem to be moving away from this now, I'm playing Horizon: Zero Dawn right now, and I was a bit surprised that pretty much all of the different costumes pretty much cover Aloy from head to toe.

I hate short single player campaigns also. Multiplayer just doesn't do it for me. The few times I have played there has been little kids playing and all they did was curse and call everyone the "n word". They were good at the game, but the whole time I was thinking, "Kid I served in the real Army and fought in a real war. You wouldn't have a chance against me in real life."

 

[tomswift2002]

How about games that are based on movies or TV shows but then are no fun to play.

I remember a few years ago there was a little hype when it was announced that a game based on the 1964 Rankin/Bass “Rudolph” Christmas special was announced. I was really hoping that it would be a good game, like the “From Russia With Love” James Bond game. Unfortunately the Rudolph for the Wii felt more like a demo than an actual game (I remember beating it in 11 minutes). It was a few mini-games that felt like they were part of a bigger game that was to be released—-why they ever put them on disc instead of making them downloadable is head scratching!

 

[Jeyl]

Security measures that are based on puzzles.

Puzzles, by definition, are meant to be SOLVED. If your security system can be solved by anyone, are we really breaking in?

 

[JD]

^This just reminded me of another one, puzzles that kill you when you fail. It gets really annoying when you are working on a hard one and it keeps reloading every time you die, which tends to happen to me a lot in those kind of situations.

 

[Random_Spock]

I love video games, but at times things happen or don't happen that burn my butt. My pet peeves are:

1. Difficult Puzzles. I hate playing a game and it is flowing well and then all of a sudden I come upon a difficult puzzle that really means nothing in the game, but I can't advance until I solve it. An example is Assassins Creed Black Flag. I was enjoying the flow of this game, then after completing a certain level I am back in Abstergo running around trying to hack stuff for some security guy. I couldn't stand the puzzles trying to move that little ball across the screen to the other side.

2. New games coming out that are multiplayer only. I hate multiplayer. I am a single player guy and when I see a game I want then see the dreaded "No single player campaign" my hopes get deflated. I have played multiplayer, but I find it rather boring because it seems like all you are doing is running around a small map shooting at others. I love single player campaigns that advance and where I have time to think how I am going to tackle a problem to keep playing.

3. I miss cheat codes. I remember on older systems games had cheat codes like unlimited ammo or invincibility, but newer games do not really have this and when you do get a cheat code it is not really worth it. Games like Dead Rising would be great with cheat codes because there are thousands of zombies and so many interesting ways to kill them that if a person was invincible they could rack up huge amounts of kills and have the time to experiment with finding and making different weapons.

Those are just a few of mine. Do you have any?

That's me too! I really don't like games that try to force multiplayer on you. Or have very little single player.

I hate, hate, hate escort missions in games. Since said being keeps on wandering away and I end up getting killed. Pokemon Rescue Dungeon games are notorious for it. And I end up trying to avoid said missions like the plague.

I also hate when games are full of bugs and glitches. I remember playing one game that wouldn't let me get past a certain point (Lufia: The Ruins of Lore), it would just freeze right during a battle. And no matter how I tried to approach it at, whether it was coming from a different direction/section, it would always end the same way. Made the entire game a waste of time. It was corrupted plain and simple.

 

[SPCTRE]

Checkpoints right before unskippable cut scenes

this hardly happens anymore tho

 

[PureCrimson]

Mandatory puzzles will generally put me off entirely on a game. It's why I could play Bioshock Infinite, but why I couldn't play Bioshock 1.

Puzzles that block the path.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Just thought of something else. When you come to The Witcher 1's last encounter, you're thrown at not one boss encounter, but two. The first one is difficult enough, the second one is my death since I have very little way of recovering. That's one peeve in itself: Encounters made more difficult by throwing long and difficult encounters at you. I've never been able to finish the game because of this. Unless you've dabbled in potion making which I had fully assumed was optional, then you're screwed as it makes it mandatory at this point.

This leads me to a second peeve: Games that completely change their rules or game style during the final encounters. As an example, I think it was Two Worlds II, a fairly good open-world rpg, where at the end you're trying to fire arrows at a dragon to bring it down, all the while it's breathing fire on you. Nevermind the fact that you've got to be precise with your ballistics. Can't we have a regular RPG encounter? I seem to remember something similar happening with the first Dragon Age.