Gaming Pet Peeves

[Tao]

Gaming Pet Peeves, we all have them and you're a liar if you say you don't.

Poor design choices, irritating necessities, lackluster implementation, predatory monetisation, there's a plethora of things and reasons for them that irritate even in your most favorite game or worse still, *gasp* ruin it!

What are those things that show up in games that really grinds your gears?

 

[Tao]

Unskippable credits.

*flips table*

I hate unskippable credits.

I understand the purpose of the credits, giving credit where it's due to the people who just made the game I finished. It can serve a variety of things from getting your name out there to people who liked your work in it and want to hire you or for people who just really really want to know who provided the catering during development. Problem is, I don't care about either so it's just a long segment at the end of a game that stops me from playing or enjoying the game.

It's also a nice indicator that I have in fact finished the game...Thanks for the heads up, now let me skip it.

Extra hatred goes out to those games that add extra unnecessary fluff to the credits just to drag it out even longer. Do I care about the babies born during development? Do I care about the names of the developers dogs? No, I don't, it's just making the experience even worse. Just let me play more.

Or what about all the various language translations. Ever care who did the voice for 'random NPC 15' in German? Probably not, but they're going to tell you who did it in German, English, Spanish, Korean and Gorlakian.

A special irritation to those games that do let you skip the credits, but not right away, and you've pressed every button combination already to make sure you couldn't...Then there's a certain point in the credits where you're just suddenly given a prompt to skip them, or you accidentally press a button whilst moving the controller and suddenly 10 minutes into it you now have a prompt to skip.

Nigh unforgivable are credits sequences that are overly long and stupidly slow. Grand Theft Auto V will forever be burned into my memory as the game with a disgusting 40 minutes of unskippable credits. There's just no need at all. 99% of people having to sit through that can do absolutely anything with the information, so why force them to sit through that? I could have literally done so much in that time instead of sitting there thinking "surely it's going to end in a minute" for 40 minutes.

And lastly, a special place in hell for the unskippable credits sequence and a post credits cutscene. I've probably wandered off doing something else whilst the credits roll, or maybe I've gone to release the poop I had been holding in for the past 30 minutes because I didn't want to leave during the obvious final battle...Then I hear voices coming from the TV mid dump...Off to Youtube to see that.

All of this could be avoided by making all credit sequences skippable and selectable from the main menu...Which nobody will ever willingly click on.

 

[Envy]

Save locations/objects - This is so archaic, let me save everywhere.
2D/3.5D game design - Also, archaic. I suppose if it is released costing half or less of modern games, that's fine. But we've got games like BD/SP, LGP/E, and Link's Awakening HD out there costing $60. But at the end of the day, I'd prefer they'd make a 3D game instead. It's so much more immersive. 2D game design, sprites, etc. are the result of the limited hardware when they came out, so using them in modern games is bizarre.
MIDI music - Again, a result of hardware limitations. Now, perhaps it's more fair to expect every company to be able to fund an orchestra or other kind of ensemble to play their music, but we have some of the biggest franchises in existence like Pokemon still using MIDIs.

When I hear a MIDI oboe or English horn it really ticks me off because I know of a fantastic recording artist who has been used in many games, both AAA and Indie. Use her! lol

 

[Newbiemayor]

When games make me choose between one legendary item or another. I don't care if I have to grind for 10 hours I want both of them

 

[Xara]

i feel the same way as you when it comes to credits you can’t skip, and they’re definitely a pet peeve of mine as well. i respect their purpose and believe that anyone who contributes to creating a game or anything deserves the credit they’re due, but man can sitting through credits be annoying, especially when you just want to continue playing the game.

 

[Croconaw]

I hate save locations. I want to be able to save anywhere. I don’t like credits you can’t skip that last over five minutes. I’ve one time had ten minute credits I couldn’t skip and I wasn’t happy about it. I don’t really have too many pet peeves with games because I don’t play competitively for the most part. I just play for fun, but I do have a few pet peeves.

 

[.: Meri :.]

Games where the impact of choices doesn't make any sense, or the choices are deliberately misleading on the outcome. (A big reason why I just use walkthroughs and spare myself the anxiety.) Stuff like "What's your favorite color?", and it's fine if you pick red, but if you choose blue a major character dies fifteen hours of gameplay later. Or, for misleading ones, stuff like "Do you want to spare or kill the villain?", where spare means "spare them the suffering of living" and kill means "kill them with ~kindness~".
Also, I hate when choices are virtually identical (with wildly different outcomes), or phrased painfully vaguely, to the point where you have no idea what you're even choosing. Honestly, I'd rather have fake choices, or even none at all.

 

[Midoriya]

Puzzles in games that aren’t puzzle games. Especially when there’s too many of them. Genshin Impact is one of the games I love that is guilty of this, especially once you reach Inazuma. There are other examples as well, but I’ll leave it at that.

 

[Tao]

Puzzles in games that aren’t puzzle games. Especially when there’s too many of them. Genshin Impact is one of the games I love that is guilty of this, especially once you reach Inazuma. There are other examples as well, but I’ll leave it at that.

I'll take a semi related detour on that to games that suddenly change the rules without telling you and expect you to do something you've never had to do thus never knew you could do.

Most games where I've hit a total dead end in progress are mostly due to this, not knowing to do a thing to progress because it literally happens "never" before or after that point, so it doesn't even cross my mind as a possibility. Sometimes it's stupidly cryptic, sometimes it's something stupid obvious IF it were any other game, but if a Mario game forced us to run into a specific Goomba rather than jumping on/over it to proceed, I bet a lot of us would be stuck for ages baffled to what we're supposed to do before we run into the Goomba.

The most recent example that springs to mind was Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in the snowy area, you have to stand in a certain spot that doesn't have a waypoint or any other indication that the spot is where you're supposed to be to cause icicles to fall and create a bridge. Literally nowhere in the game to this point do you have to stand somewhere that doesn't have a waypoint or skill marker to proceed, EVERYTHING is marked in that game, so when I reached the dead end and saw the waypoint was nowhere near that place, I turned around and assumed it was the wrong way. All those icicles I could see to me where static scenery because up until that point, anything that wasn't marked was just static scenery.

 

[amemome]

Games that encourage micro-transactions for you to play more levels or lock more plays behind a time limit are so annoying. Lots of mobile games are like this and I am very ok spending money occasionally, but holy cow just let me play levels freely without having to wait 15 minutes for a recharge...

 

[SkyKnight03]

Locking content or story progression behind collectibles. A recall a couple of the Mario platformers making me backtrack through levels for star coins.

 

[ChocoPie22]

I hate unskippable credits, cutscenes, and dialogue. Sometimes in Genshin, I'm trying to speedrun through a quest, but there are five cutscenes that I cannot skip throughout the quest and it takes me an hour to complete instead of 30 minutes. Some dialogue in games as well has a whole monologue that you have to sit through and it's so boring. I haven't run into any particularly annoying credits, but there was one from a game I don't fully remember where it was just a few minutes, so it didn't bother me that much.

 

[Alienfish]

- Pointless cutscenes no one reads except lore geeks.
- Tutorials that are way harder than the game you must complete and almost never do they tell you anything usable lol.
- Bad adaption of the touch screen yet they still use it (looking at you BDSP games lol).
- Games where you need to look up/watch videos of everything in order to progress (Phoenix Wright where you at?) unless you have that one mindset like the devs.
- I do agree on micro-transactions but those games I've used it for has more or less been of my own will rather than force even though I did spend quite some.
- Most platformers where you need to time your runs and jumps perfectly like, buh-kay no thanks. I get it's part of the game but some are really obnoxious with that. Also the same type of games like Super Mario where monsters are added every single inch to some levels so you get stuck on them.

 

[Neb]

I have a lot.

- Games with achievements that no sane person would ever attempt.
- Excessive bottomless pits or instant kill obstacles in platformers.
- Long, unskippable cutscenes.
- Unfunny jokes
- Voice lines that get repeated constantly.
- Harder difficulty levels that are actually easier than “normal.”
- Visual novels with really strict requirements for getting a specific ending (Even visual novels I like often do this)
- Loading screens whenever you want to pause the game.
- Long dungeons in JRPGs that have no save points.
- JRPGs that require excessive grinding just to fight one boss (Neptunia 1 Rebirth)
- Sparse checkpoints in platformers.
- Puzzles that require you to use a pen and paper (unless it’s Professor Layton).
- Puzzles whose solutions are randomized every playthrough.
- Short music that loops constantly.
- Bland protagonists with no personality.
- Harsh penalties for dying (this is why I dislike most rouge-likes).
- Gameplay that is only enjoyable if you spend an absurd amount of time playing competitively.
- Locking characters behind gacha mechanics.
- Flat, literal translations of dialogue.
- Super detailed character models with low-poly scenery (I know this one is petty, but it’s really distracting)
- JRPGs that don’t have any MP restoring items.
- Games with weird camera controls that you can’t change.
- Enemies with an absurd amount of health.
- JRPGs that don’t have any reminders on what to do after taking a long break.

That’s all I got for now.

 

[VanitasFan26]

I have a lot:

1. Games that don't let you skip tutorials. Its annoying whenever you try to replay a game when you beaten yet you have to go through the tutorial again.

2. Puzzles. I just don't like them in general because they can be so confusing and time consuming to figure out.

3. Direction: Whenever I go back and play older games I sometimes have trouble figuring out what you're suppose to do yet games back then didn't have any sort of "Goal" or "Objective" that told you what you need to do.

4. Backtracking: Games that force you to go back to levels/worlds that didn't make you progress that you need to have certain powerup/item to get the collectable that you're suppose to get. Its way too time consuming

5. Grinding: Now I like RPGs, but if there is one thing that bothers me is trying to grind to a certain level just to defeat a really hard boss. Even trying to gain EXP tends to get tiresome when you're just doing the same thing over and over again.

6. Escort Missions: Oh my god I cannot stand them! It basically forces you to protect characters in games to prevent from taking damage and it tends to be very slow and boring.

7. Only have one Save File: I don't know whats been going on with modern games having only one save file, because if you wanted to replay a game but you still wanted to keep a 100% complete save file it forces you to have to delete it just to start over. I miss the days when older games have multiple save files.

8. Don't get too close missions: This is probably an issue I have in most GTA games where you get to a mission where you cannot spook or get too close to someone that you're suppose to follow. I really don't like it. It just makes the experience feel too slow.

9. Cutscenes: Now don't get me wrong I like seeing cutscenes in video games but man it can be tiresome seeing a lot of them when you're just trying to play the game and yet it doesn't let you skip it whenever you seen it already. Feels like I'm watching a movie rather than playing the game.

10. The AI: I don't know sometimes the AI in games don't seem to function right and they tend to do a lot of dumb things that they are not supposed to do. Most games tend to have this problem whenever the AI just walks in place toward an object or they just wonder in circles. Its a common occurrence I noticed recently.

 

[ZeldaCrossing64]

Wonky controls, especially on the Wii. This mostly applies to Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, and a bit of Wii Sports. I don't have a Nintendo 64, but I have the online one on my Switch. And the controls may have been fixed, but I still struggle with them. Also, controlling Zora Link in Majora's Mask, even on the 3DS version, was incredibly sucky.

Different controls between games. Why is bowling different between Wii Sports and Switch Sports?! On Wii Sports, you have to let go of the B button. But on Switch Sports, you have to NOT let go of the ZL/ZR button. It gets really confusing.

Unskippable credits, cutscenes, dialogue, and tutorials. Just let me play the game, god dammit. I'm not 100% sure, but I think Twilight Princess was that first Zelda game to have skippable cutscenes, which I am grateful for. (I could be wrong, it could be Minish Cap or Wind Waker.) That's one thing I don't like about Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.

Backtracking, which is ironic 'cause there's a ton of that in Legend of Zelda. I do like Twilight Princess, but my god there's a lot of backtracking to do. No wonder I'm only at the Lakebed Temple.

Camera angles, I have so much trouble with them. What's worse is games where you can't move the camera yourself, so the game does it for you. What I like about Breath of the Wild (and Switch games in general) is that you can move the camera freely.

Games that are long and have way-too-difficult puzzles. This mostly applies to Twilight Princess, but WHY is that game so difficult. Seriously; 10 dungeons, lots of backtracking, and other miscellaneous challenges to face. Maybe I just absolutely suck at Legend of Zelda.

Near-impossible challenges. This is a bit like the last pet peeve, but why is Switch Sports powerhouse tennis so difficult?! I still haven't beaten the NPCs, or maybe I just suck. I was able to beat normal and strong modes on my first try, though!

Save locations. Majora's Mask is my favorite Zelda game, but why can't you save anywhere like in Ocarina of Time? It's literally a sequel to that game! You have to save with those stupid owl statues that I still haven't figured out. At least it's a tad bit easier on the 3D version.

Pointless achievements. Why beat 'em? The only satisfaction you get is from doing a mundane task, 100% completion, and bragging rights. And yes, this is coming from the person whose trying to get all the Nook Miles achievements in ACNH. But I was thinking of Minecraft and The Binding of Isaac while typing this.

Annoying companions. Three words: SHUT UP, NAVI!

 

[MiniPocketWorld]

Microtransactions. This is something that will make me not play the game at all. Like, if it is microtransactions for customization and stuff like that, that is fine... it is a way to support the developers and show your love for the game you spend hours on, but I am talking about microtransactions to progress through the game. Especially if you bought the game.

Questions that you have to answer that determine stuff in the game that appears to have nothing to do with each other. Especially when it comes to customization. Though there have been times they still allowed you to choose after going through all the questions, I just wish they didn't do the questions because that was time wasted... and just an annoyance to me mostly. Luckily, I don't run into that kind of thing very often at all.

Lack of a map in a game that you have to find things by location. I don't care how vague the map is, just give me something to refer too so I don't have to hop online just to save time. Or when you have a map, but no marker of where your character is and the environment doesn't have much for landmarks. I don't know why you would ever make a map without a your character marker on it.

 

[Alienfish]

Lack of a map in a game that you have to find things by location. I don't care how vague the map is, just give me something to refer too so I don't have to hop online just to save time. Or when you have a map, but no marker of where your character is and the environment doesn't have much for landmarks. I don't know why you would ever make a map without a your character marker on it.

Tbh I hate even vaguer maps more than no maps, some are completely mirrored or the directions are way off the view you have on the map...Or it just changes direction cause the view implemented screws over lol.

Also yeah clothes/hats/etc. locking behind levels/badges/achievement, like why do I need to be level 44 for a ****ing shirt in PoGo lol

 

[Flicky]

1. Since I've just been reminded of how much I hate them: Invisible barriers. Seriously, just put up a bunch of bushes, or trees, or walls, ANYTHING that tells me I can't go this route.

2. Games where I have to have a companion throughout the game that I really don't like. I wish more RPGs would allow you to choose who your friends are.

3. Hyper petty, but I hate seeing models clip through other models. When I was a kid, I figured that by the time I was an adult, that would be a thing of the past. Nope, still present in every game I play.

4. Slow, unskippable tutorials. Thank you, game, for telling me how to move using the joystick.

5. On that subject of tutorials, games that ask 'would you like to learn how to use this?', then promptly tell you how to anyway after you decline

6. Long boss levels. Yawn. I hate boss levels in general, so one that has 5 different forms is the last type of break I want from the regular gameplay.

 

[-Mars-]

--