The Nag Thread

[MagitekAngel]

Exactly like it sounds; what little details in your favorite games annoy you? Emphasis on little things, as opposed to "E.T., because it wasn't a renaissance of the human spirit." Open to all platforms and generations.

 

Madworld: The default audio balance leaves the commentators too quiet to hear over the music and game sfx. I have to to into the settings and fix it manually. I wanna hear the sarcastic banter and sex jokes.

[zylon]

"I am Sinistar. Beware, I live!" rings a bell...

[Chris Leach]

The thing that bothers me most about games is when they decided that they needed to add an f'in training mode for every game mode possible. So I play through shooter game #1. 1st level is a training mission. I beat the game and wait a year or two for Shooter game #2. 1st board is an f'in training level. Didn't I just play and beat Shooter game #1? Why the training board?

Then I buy adventure game #1 and play through it. 1st board is a training level...Great I really didn't know that pressing the Obtuse button was gonna be the jump button, then sure enough I beat that game and wait a year or two and another adventure game comes out. #2. 1st board is another f'in training level. WTF YGTBFKM! I just beat adventure game #1 and I've played games before, do I need a training level on every game that I play. I was raised on Atari. No training wheels there.!

 

Sink or swim......bxtch!

[CGQuarterly]

I'm with Chris on the training levels.

 

I also dislike cut scenes that can't be skipped, games with too many intro screens, and people who throw away boxes/manuals.

 

Chris

[Kripto]

I hate games which force you to go through a long configuration process before you can play at all. Many racing games fall into this catergory in that they force you to outfit your car based on a certain amount of cash you start. It should be optional or required in a career mode, but a quick-race option should always be present.

[Austin]

I'm with the above three posts. Actually, I wouldn't call that a "minor" nuisance.. I can't stand needless training missions at the start of games. I'm not a monkey.. I know how to move a couple of thumbsticks and experiment a little bit, and that's part of the fun in playing a new game.

Edited February 3, 2010 by Austin

[+thegoldenband]

Where do I begin...

 

Games with unnecessary delays in the UI, especially after you get killed or when you try to reset. If I'm attempting a difficult sequence over and over again, having to wait 5-10 seconds between attempts only adds to my frustration.

 

RPGs in which you can't get text to display instantly or near-instantly, but have to wait for it to ticker-tape onto the screen. Bonus points if you can't cancel out of a conversation with an NPC, especially one you've talked to before.

 

Driving games in which the CPU cars' main motivation is to screw you over, not to win the race.

 

Fighting games in which the "hard" level just means that the CPU does more damage than you do, even with the same character and the same attacks. Street Fighter II is a major offender.

 

Platform games with enemies that respawn endlessly, even if you're stationary and not advancing the screen. Particularly annoying are heat-seeking enemies that instantly respawn right after you kill them. In some games this is OK, but usually it tends to destroy your ability to strategize, and leads to a lot of cheap deaths.

 

Games in which the last level is in a completely different gameplay style, and is brutally difficult and/or cheap. This is OK if the game offers password/save, stage select, or unlimited continues, but it's inexcusable otherwise. The worst offender I've ever seen in this department is Back to the Future for NES, but there are many others, including Toys for Genesis.

 

Any games in which NPCs refer to specific buttons on your controller. Especially aloud. It's a real mood-killer.

 

Game music that's based on classical pieces, or other famous tunes, but which is full of wrong notes or poorly chosen chords. The notes/chords they screw up are often the best part of the tune! This happens a lot with ringtones as well; I had an ex whose ringtone was "In the Hall of the Mountain King", with all that melody's quirks whitewashed away.

 

Action games that require memorization to complete a given level. I've always been of the opinion that every level in an arcade/action game should theoretically be completable by a first-rate gamer on his or her first attempt. Of course, we all improve with practice and get a "feel" for a level, and that's fine. But if you have to memorize patterns to even have a chance, it's a sign of bad design, and usually means that there's too much cheapness or, paradoxically enough, randomness going on.

 

(Pac-Man and similar games are exempted from that last one, though -- I'm mainly talking about shooters and platformers.)

Edited February 3, 2010 by thegoldenband

[roland p]

Games where enemies are born over and over again after you killed them...

 

Or stuff like: kill an enemy, move 2 pixels backwards, move forward, there he is again!

[Vic George 2K3]

Unskippable cut scenes is my main beef. If I've seen the cut scene once and I die and go back to where I've seen the cutscene again, there should be an option to skip over the cut scene and continue. Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask requires you to see the cut scene where Link transforms into a Deku Scrub, a Goron, a Zora, or a Fierce Deity only once, then afterward you can just skip over it by pressing the same C button for the mask.

 

As for training missions...I hate to say this, but we're NOT living in the days of the Atari 2600 anymore. As games get more difficult to learn how to play, people are going to need to know how to play the game before they get into the serious action. However, for those who already know how to play the game and enjoy it enough to play it again, those parts should only be an option that can be skipped. Jettisoning them altogether would be stupid in my opinion.

[Emehr]

Training missions are typically a deal breaker for me. By the time I get through them I'm mentally exhausted from all the "take two steps, get interrupted by the text or narrator telling you precisely what you have to do, do it, possibly fail because the controls are poor, finally succeed, take two more steps, get interrupted, etc". When the game decides I'm finally up to the task of playing it without the training wheels, I turn it off, shelve it for an indefinite period, and never go back to it because I don't remember how all of the controls work and would rather stick my head in a public toilet than go through those training levels again. Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings is an offender in that regard. If I remember correctly, so is Splinter Cell. But I can't say for sure. It's been sitting on my shelf for at least five years.

 

Annoying boss music is another nitpick of mine. I know it's usually meant to get the player excited and on edge but the repeating, high-pitched, three-note attack on my ears just means I'm going to mute the TV until I'm finished taking care of the boss. Zelda: A Link to the Past comes to mind. Love the game but I can't take the boss music for more than fifteen seconds.

 

Having to click through half a dozen or more developer/producer/publisher/distributor/the guys who answer the phones/the guys that programmed the music library/etc. logos before I see the start screen. I don't care! Show me that shit when I beat the game.

 

Load times. We can fit 8GB of data on a piece of plastic the size of a postage stamp and we're still using discs for our media? Stop the madness!

[Reaperman]

training missions for some games are a hassle. Others do them better (I kind of didn't hate portal's training missions)

 

but the worst is a game that *NEEDS* an annoying training mission and doesn't provide one. X3 Reunion comes to mind:

 

• 
   
  
• "here's your first mission--do it"
  
• -what, where am I? How do I do stuff? Space is big! Look at all those menus! What was I doing again? Who are those guys? Where are the rest of my guys?
  
• "please read your 100+ page manual before attempting to start a game. The wonders of space are only to be enjoyed by the chronically boring."
  
• -[static and lasers] The IFF system labels pirates as friendly as default [static] WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO ME?
  

Edited February 3, 2010 by Reaperman

[VectorGamer]

Pitfall II - moving Harry all the way back to the last checkpoint when you die

 

Pole Position - not qualifying for the race because you wrecked in qualifying even though you finished the lap before time expires

 

Any space shooter games that do not allow multiple shots to be fired. Galaxian & Space Invaders for example.

[+save2600]

I agree with just about everything stated here. Especially load times, which is one of the largest reasons I do not care to own a CD/DVD based gaming system. And one thing that hasn't been mentioned yet are 3D aspects and camera angles. Again, when 3D adventuring took over in the late 90's, I pretty much decided that gaming (or at least, that aspect of gaming) no longer appealed to me. That roam around a world thing, wasting time walking or running around - trying to find somebody or something just doesn't interest me. To make matters worse, it almost always seems like you're this really tiny character or the camera is being dragged around on a sled, near the ground or something. Guess I'm mostly just thinking about many N64 games (South Park and Mario World are great examples), so I'm sure some of this has been addressed and corrected today - but I've seen modern 3D games briefly too and am still not impressed. Guess that format or genre still doesn't interest me today. That brand of 3D is best utilized for driving games IMO.

 

Classic gaming wise, I hate it when poorly designed controllers get in the way of enjoying a game! The Colecovision & 7800 quickly come to mind. 5200 has got to be up there too, but I'd say even that setup is better than the former.

Edited February 3, 2010 by save2600

[Vic George 2K3]

Having to click through half a dozen or more developer/producer/publisher/distributor/the guys who answer the phones/the guys that programmed the music library/etc. logos before I see the start screen. I don't care! Show me that s--- when I beat the game.

 

I don't really need to see how many hands were in the production of the game when I start up a game to play it.

[Video]

Something that roasts my tails is games that DON"T remember your settings. Like a control preference. Fighting Fantasy for DS does this, you have to go in and manually set it for inverted every time you turn the system on....now my system is constantly running out of batteries because I just close it so I don't havve to remember to reset the options

 

Games where ass controls ruin the game, take a game that doesn't need an option, or tries to force everything to work on one button. I got a controller with 8 buttons, so you have jump, run, attack etc all attached to one button, nice. Just look at the DS, likely the game in it requires some stupid bullshit like blowing on the mic (or talking to it, slightly less stupid) or using the stylus when there's a perfectly good set of buttons on it

 

Unskippable cutscenes, I don't mind seeing it the first time (unless of course, it sucks) Many games were killed for me due to this, and poor placement of spawnpoints, usually right bbefore a cut scene, that's right before a major fight....in other words, you're going to see it, again, and again, and again.

 

And of course, crappy training missions. Halo did it right, it felt like part of the game, Driver did it WAY wrong (do all these unreasonable stunts that you won't use again in the game, etc)

 

And system related, not game related....handhelds (or controllers) with built in batteries. I don't like that every time my DS runs down, or my PSP, that I have to go home and plug it in before I can play it again. Would 2AA's really been that hard to use? (actually my DS does use three AA's Still rechargeable, but I can cary a few extra sets)

Edited February 3, 2010 by Video

[Rik]

Any game with a time limit.Pitfall for the 2600 comes to mind.IMO,it could have been much better without the time limit.

[Rik]

Any game with a time limit.Pitfall for the 2600 comes to mind.IMO,it could have been much better without the time limit. Being able to choose how many lives you have would have been better.

Edited February 3, 2010 by Rik

[jaybird3rd]

I dislike platform games that require pixel-perfect precision when walking, jumping, falling, etc. Spelunker is one example of the "fall one pixel and you die" school of design: the game shouldn't kill me if I walk off the edge of a tiny little hill in the middle of the floor! Jumpman was another unforgiving game when it came to falling:

 

 

Walking off the edge of that mound at the bottom will kill you, but jumping off of it won't. Why?!?!?!?! Shouldn't these video game characters know how to step down?!

[MagitekAngel]

I'm gonna throw another one out there: games that take forever to get up and running again after you get a game over. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a serious offender, as was recently noted on AVGN.

[Emehr]

I'm gonna throw another one out there: games that take forever to get up and running again after you get a game over. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a serious offender, as was recently noted on AVGN.

Yes! It's especially irritating when it doesn't even go back to the main title screen. The game presents a continue screen and when you hit "continue" you have to sit through a load screen. It's like "Why does it have to load? I died in this level, the level should still be in memory! Did it dump the entire contents of RAM thinking I *wasn't* going to continue? Who programmed this crap?".

[shadow460]

lol, those who don't like long loads after losing a fight should stay away from Virtual On. It has to load two or three times into the Saturn. Even the quick continue option isn't that fast, either.

 

Red Alert 1: whenever a single scout ant/light infantry/grenadier harasses your ore truck until it dies. Just put a gun on the stupid truck! Anyone play Red Alert 2 and see how much damage an elite War Miner does? Even a War Miner fresh from the factory can take out lone tanks without assistance.

Another RTS irritant is the one or two infantry that alwyas manage to just barely dodge the tank that's trying to run them over, and they seem to have infinite hit points.

Building a unit and it stops with only a liver left. Just loan me the $5 and finish that Titan!

 

Status effects in RPG's. Just whip my tail the normal way and stop cheating me out of a victory.

 

Points in RPGs. OK, having hit and magic points is OK, but having to use a different kind of point for every action you do is bull. That goes double when you are surrounded by enemies who just love to leech away everything except you hit points, then nickel and dime you to death. (Crisis Core, I am looking squarely at you).

 

The DS Lite battery. When it dies I wanna swap it and go. Sony lets me change the battery in the PSP using nothing but my fingers. Why can't I change the one in the DS Lite without having to lug around a screwdriver and a big hammer to knock the battery out? And while I railing on the DS, if I wanted to draw something, I'd get a pencil and paper. I'm holding the DS to do one thing: play a game. Give me a joystick and some real controls, not a fake pencil and paper.

 

Running out of bullets in a clip in any FPS. Unreal Tournament '99 did it right. If you've got 400 rounds for your pulse gun, you don't run out after you've only fired six of them. You run out after you've fired 400 of them. I understand it's for "realism", but come on, give me something that doesn't run out of bullets in the middle of every stinking firefight. I'll take a lightsaber or a Moonraker laser for crying out loud! Just throw one good weapon into each level that I don't have to constantly reload. the worst offender? Perfect Dark with that stupid shotgun. You hit Z several times to finally get off one burst while she's reloading and once you shoot, guess what Joanna does? She starts reloading again! In the meantime you've got three Skedar coming right at you and you're screwed! If I wanna reload all the time, I'll play Virtua Cop, OK? At least it gives me a light gun, no trying to aim with this stubby little stick.

 

Cartridges with load times. Goldeneye! What's the point of paying $20 extra for the cart if it's still going to have a load time? Cart based games with long load times are worse, and the worst are games that can be installed to a flash type drive and take even longer to load! wipEout purE!

[VectorGamer]

How could I forget the painful load times for those CD based games?

 

Here are some more:

 

Driving games - the controls are horrible. A little touch of the controller and you spin or hit a wall. Most driving games I have played on the PS1 and PS2 are like that. EA's F1 Racing is actually one where the controls are excellent.

 

Another racing game bitch: we were playing Gran Turismo on the PS2 the other night and at times you can't see what the hell is up ahead. Where's the road? It seems that the view from the cockpit is too low...

[Cebus Capucinis]

Two. Words.

 

ESCORT MISSIONS

[Kris Snyder]

Any games that have one or more enemies that steal special and/or unique items from you. Including such stalwarts as The Legend of Zelda, Kid Icarus etc. Heck, that issue alone is what made the original Descent better than its sequel!

 

"He-he-he-he-he! You can't catch me!"

[Eltigro]

I agree with the training missions to a point. I think they should still be there, but optional. Of course then, very few people will play them. Maybe offer a nice achievement for finishing the training mission...

 

I've always been annoyed by the AI in sports games. Baseball games come to mind pretty quick... I hit a fly ball and the screen scrolls out to left field... well waddaya know, the CPU fielder is exactly where he needs to be to make the catch. If the CPU hits a fly to the outfield, I don't even know which way to move until my player is on the screen and by then it's too late to make it too the ball.

 

Someone mentioned driving games... I just hate how the CPU cars stick to the road MUCH better than your car. A little bump, and they might swerve just slightly, but my car is spinning out of control and into a wall facing backwards and now my left front tire is damaged... c'mon, really? And that other car is just fine?