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What do you like/dislike in Videogames?

Archive: 53 posts

I know this is a pretty general-sounding question, although to clarify, I did say "in videogames", not "about videogames". This thread is meant for discussing certain things you like or dislike in some games, whether it's something really unique used in only a couple games, or something broadly used in a bunch of games. It could involve the use of story progression, replayability, using given controls an interesting twist, whether it be touch controls, motion controls, or just your standard console/PC controls, or whatever.

Like I've said, it doesn't have to be something only used in one game. You can talk about what you like in some games, what you think is okay but has room for improvement, or what you completely dislike. I'll start off with an example of my own.

---------------------------------

One of the things I really liked about in Psychonauts was how they gave us a great and reliable companion, Agent Cruller. when you get past things like how hilarious he is throughout, you can always call to him, but he is never following you, slowing you down. Don't get me wrong, it can be interesting having a companion with you, I'm not dissing it when games do it. But it seems like there have been some griefs with companions, whether they're way too slow (i.e. Yorda from Ico) or telling you the most obvious things, but not helping you when you actually needed help in some cases. (i.e. Fi from TLOZ: Skyward Sword)

Agent Cruller always gave useful information when I was in a pinch, and it was easy to get his attention, just wave that strip of bacon around. <3

2012-02-18 02:24:00

Author:
Dragonvarsity

Posts: 5208

I like games with a great sense of immersion, games with great art and games that aren't afraid to take risks. Like Rayman Origins, pretty gutsy releasing a 2D game in retail instead of just releasing it through digital distribution means. I think it's great when producers don't give into the temptation of dumbing their games down to appeal to a broader audience. I love games that put innovation, fun gameplay and creativity above graphics or other stuff that sells.

About the stuff I dislike:
I really start grinding my teeth when I have to complete tasks requiring a finesse the gameplay doesn't have. For example, that race challenge in LBP1 where we had to go through a circuit twice, and some platforms were really narrow so we had to do miraculous jumps with LBP's floaty and loose physics. It's madness.

Another thing that I find very frustrating are co-operating NPCs whose AI really sucks. Like Sheva in Resident Evil 5. She's careless and stupid. I give her great weapons and she just keeps using that crappy pistol. I'm injured but not too seriously so I want to use a small healing item on myself, but she doesn't get the fact that I can frickin' heal myself and tries to make me use a big, rare healing herb. I set up some mines, she doesn't realize they're for the enemies, goes pick them up and returns them to me like a dog fetching a newspaper.

Also, escort missions. My eternal nemesis. They're just not fun! There hasn't ever been a fun escort mission in the whole history of videogames. Unless the escortee does something useful like driving while the player shoots or vice-versa (but that hardly qualifies as an escort mission). These missions are just a frustrating chore. Especially when the AI is dumb making the escortee have a death wish, when they're too drawn out, when one little mistake makes us start it all over again, the person we're protecting requires constant babysitting, etc. There are great games that would've been perfect if not for the stupid escorting aspects. Goldeneye, Resident Evil 4, and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.
The thought of fighting alongside Farah still gives me nightmares. If I'd get too separated from her, the sand monsters would corner her and finish her off in less than half a minute. If I put myself between the monsters and her, the wench would put arrows in my back, which actually did damage. And this wouldn't happen only if I suddenly stepped into her line of fire, she would actually fire in a monsters direction regardless of me being in the way or not

2012-02-18 14:25:00

Author:
SnipySev

Posts: 2452

Thanks for the in-depth thoughts Snipy! I haven't played any of the games you mentioned there, but yeah, companions can be a pain in the butt sometimes. :F

2012-02-20 02:15:00

Author:
Dragonvarsity

Posts: 5208

Some things i dislike in games...

Games that have over the top generic stories that have been more then done to death. AKA Random generic good guy must save the world from a crazy emo madman, and he must create a random team of other overly boring generic characters to help him in his quest, AKA most RPGs.

When Games like most RPGs-games main & pretty much only gameplay is to battle grind... and little to nothing more then grinding... meaning all you do is battle battle battle... again and again and again... in a pointless quest to up your levels and other stats just like 10000000 other games just like it. basically Full games that don't offer good variety in their gameplay.

Games that try to badly mix serious story elements with comedy story elements... pick one or the other, not both. i can't take a serious story seriously if it has to many random moments of comedy in it, and i can't enjoy a comedy story if it keeps randomly becoming serious at times. *mew

I don't like war stories normally.
--------------

Things I like in games.

Good well made stories that have not been done to overly much and that you can feel the writer enjoyed what he made and it was more then just a job to him and that you can tell he put his soul & time in to it.

I like games that are very silly goofy and have a good handful of comedy... like newer Sonic games or LBP. but it better NOT have any breaking the forth well jokes, at least not to many.

I like very artistic serious story games like Limbo or ICO.

I like a good feeling of adventure in my games.

I normally like well made Minigames in my games.

I like for the main character to be a girl yet for that fact not to be a focus in the story and for the story to be made the same way as if she was a guy for the most part. for some reason most stories can't write a good female character. a lot of the time the story feels like a bad joke at that point. i think a lot of writers don't know how to handle a female main character... so they do odd things like put her in unneeded over the top sexy outfits and make the story about girl power and other dumb annoying things that ruin a story normally. best way to make it imo is to write the main character as a guy then trade him off with a female once your done

then just edit some things around like change her personality little and stuff. but yeah. point is it's rare to find a cool female character in a game. *mew

Games that offer good variety in their gameplay.

Pure other-worldly Fantasy stories and characters. like a Dragon guy or Sonic the hedgehog or Elfs and so on.

-----

Well that's some things i can think of right off the bat anyways.

2012-02-20 03:27:00

Author:
Lord-Dreamerz

Posts: 4261

Likes:

Cleverly designed maps or menus.
Games that know their AI is bad so they don't have NPCs doing anything above their capability.
Interactive loading screens, even if it's only something like Omega Boost had.
Fun minigames.
In RPGs, having no minimum party size, so you can have only 1 person in your party or whatever you want.
End-game content.
Games that aren't afraid to let you make mistakes.
Dislikes:

The bureaucratic menus and health warnings that seem to plague this generation of games. THIS GAME SAVES DATA AT CERTAIN POINTS ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO CONTINUE CHECKING FOR DLC SYNCHRONISING TROPHIES NO SAVE DATA FOUND WOULD YOU LIKE TO CREATE ONE?
Long load times.
Unresponsive controls.
No mapping options for controls.
Unskippable custscenes.
Shops having no purpose because they don't sell anything useful, and you having hundreds of thousands of in-game currency by the end of the game.
Having to shadow a NPC whose walking speed is slower than your walking speed but whose running speed is faster than yours, so you constantly have to stop and start WHY.
DRM.
Invisible walls.
All the armies of the world descending on you when accidentally steal something or commit some minor offence.
Loading times for menus.
Regenerating health.
Trophies.
NPCs that follow you that get caught on scenery.
NPCs that follow you and attack everything nearby or try to attack monsters far too strong for them or you.
Infinitely respawning enemies until you reach a certain point.

2012-02-20 16:15:00

Author:
Ayneh

Posts: 2454

Nice lists fumet and Ayneh. ^^ It is interesting the amount of AAA games that have regenerating health....anyway though, here are some thinks I like/dislike in video games, as a list like what you guys have done. xP

What I like in video games
----------------------------------
1. The ability to train with certain powers/items, like a tutorial room.
2. A great guide to help you in sticky situations, yet not really bugging you (Like Dr. Cruller, Psychonauts)
3. The ability to adjust the size of the in-game screen, incase it didn't automatically match up with the TV, or the PS3 messes up, making it too zoomed out or zoomed in, like it has for me before, when moving the PS3 to other TVs.
4. Subtitles option
5. Recognizing previous game data (Whether it be being able to transfer over all unlocked things from LP1 to LBP2, or simpler things like UC2 giving you extra cash and an achievment, after recognizing you beat UC1)
6. The ability to replay exclusive parts in the games, like cutscenes and boss battles. I also like when certain gameplay (whether you have the ability to replay or not) gets formed into a minigame. (Oh how I wish the Demon Trials from "Batman: AC" could've been made as a minigame, as because it was sort of a "one-time only kind of challenge", the only to replay it is start the game over)
7. Co-op missions
8. Being able to switch difficulty mid-game

What I dislike in video games
--------------------------------------

1. Way too many challenges you have to go through before being able to get to any sort of story progression (If there is a story to the game I mean)
2. Video games based off movies
3. Overusing cutscenes for simplistic things, like pulling a switch
4. Overly long waits for things like load times, transportation, ect.
5. When there's a news section in a game, and when there's a notificaiton for new news, it really isn't news, but the same ad to try another game by that company (This is the case with some mobile games like Doodle Jump)

2012-02-22 21:21:00

Author:
Dragonvarsity

Posts: 5208

i do like games with a quick gameplay. Games that require coordination and ability. I also like RPGs, or anything RPG like. I like games that include a good story, good art, and also nice cutsenes.

I do not like games about simulation (except for Spore, which is actually more adventure-like) and I hate any kind of Facebook game. ANY. They are boring, they are all about time, and they are not fun. I know because I once were adicted to the evil thing pepole call FarmVille created by that evil corporation called Zynga.

I do like games almost nobody else I know likes. I am not a fan of the aimy-reloady-rooty-shooty-action games, but they are still better than FB games.

I also like games about this whole play-create-share thingy, just like Spore, LBP, MNR, etcetera. I like games about effort, leveling up, training, saving ten million meso to buy a goddam saddle to ride a freaking winged unicorn, getting 105 dark shards to finally make a goddam sword, leveling up your armor to reach the planet's core, creating levels to become famous and stand out of the crowd, racing and taking down your opponents with a missile that summons a lighting storm just to finish first, evolving to survive in a planet you reached being a little bio-matter piece inside a meteor to then conquer the world, and finally, RECOLLECTING MATERIALS TO MAKE A FORTRESS AGAINST THE EVIL GREEN THINGS THAT EXPLODE AND FINDING BLUE JEWELS.

Oh, and Portal Guns.

I forgot, I also like games (but not only games) that have a nice soundtrack. Soundtrack that will make you google the group/band/person that plays it, and probably become a fan.

When I said not only games, well, this is this webcomic called Homestuck... but I will say no more since that would be getting too much offtopic.

2012-02-23 02:48:00

Author:
ALEXhatena

Posts: 1110

Well, in trying to avoid what has already been said recently I'm finding that I like games with a lot of customization options; customizable appearances, diverse skill trees/specializations/classes, multiple endings and so on. I imagine that this is part of the reason I'm having an increased preference for Western RPGs compared to Japanese RPGs as of late (there are other reasons but that comes later); the latter tends to have a stronger narrative focus but it is questionable how much you are actually "role-playing" as opposed to progessing through a linear (albeit a generally more cohesive) storyline controlling a character with more or less predefined development where most multiple choice decisions affect what sort of loot you'll get more then anything.

That said I am somewhat mixed as to the presence of a variable morality system because usually they boil down to very simplistic notions of morality (i.e. saving a kitten from a tree is good, eating a kitten is evil) which ultimately isn't based so much on making genuine moral decisions as it is knowing there are good and evil options available that are clearly distinguished from one another and choosing one based on whether you want the character you play as to be considered good or evil within the setting. As much as I like the Fallout games they often fell into this trap with their Karma system (Freeing slaves is good! Mass murder and genocide is evil!) and at the end of most of the games you'd save the day regardless of how good or evil you had been previously unless you commit one very obviously immoral act at the end. On the other hand, Fallout New Vegas had the much less used and probably far superior "Faction" mechanic which introduces much more complexity compared to Karma as it allowed you to throw your lot in with certain groups while giving the option to become a public enemy to others and carried the weight of introducing more genuine moral decisions to make as this system encouraged you to weigh the values held by other factions against one another (Is a democracy that is closest to what we recognize in the first world but also established by imperialist methods justified? Is totalitarianism justifiable if it offers a greater promise of a brighter future then familiar ideals that have failed in the past? Is independance from imperialism and subjugation worth the deceit and treachery you would need to employ to achieve it?) also directly affected what sort of endings were available to you, but no matter what you did at least a few people who probably didn't deserve it wouldn't get a happy ending.

Related to having lots of options, I also like games with minigames in them but only if they are genuinely engaging. Minigames as I see them are present in games for players to take a break from what gameplay makes up the meat of the rest of the game, but if they are simply present because of the promise of a prize for your efforts and even worse are actually very tedious and frustrating to actually do in the first place they've failed at what they were supposed to be and instead of serving as fun distractions they become chores. One of my favorite minigames was the "Cook-Off" in Suikoden II; made in the vein of an "Iron Chef"-style cooking duel, it didn't require a great deal of skill to be successful at although it did require a degree of intuitive sense and the ability to think how a chef would think. There were no grand prizes involved other then new recipes to make the next cook-off potentially easier, but it was fun, funny and had a surprisingly touching narrative behind it which made myself and other players all too willing to play. Contrast this to, well, just about all the "minigames" (if you could call them that) of Final Fantasy X; nearly all of them were for the implicit purpose of obtaining/upgrading the best weapons of the characters and at least over half of them were exercises in patience and/or extremely frustrating (dodging two hundred lightning bolts in a row is in no shape or form entertaining). Not that minigames shouldn't have nice prizes involved but they should be secondary to actual entertainment value, and failing that shouldn't be incredibly boring or irritating to do.

As an addendum to Fumetsusozo's remark regarding female protagonists, I actually like them too if they are presented in a meaningful fashion as well instead of just being fanservicy in contrast to the prevalence of male protagonists, though what I hate is when a formerly effective female protagonist is actually somehow significantly disempowered or otherwise cheapened in later appearances which is somehow even worse. Japan in particular, with the less then subtle sexism within its culture and despite the fact that there are strong female protagonists in many Japanese media, is very guilty of this. Consider Samus Aran from the Metroid franchise and one of the first truly great female videogame characters who made a career out of slaughtering evil aliens and monsters while blowing planets up along the way; in recent years there had been an increase in the amount of screentime she appeared in her skintight "Zero Suit" (which also inexplicably gained high heels somewhere along the way) and in the latest Metroid game "Other M" she spends the majority of the game having to submit to the orders of a male authority figure (and not all those orders made a lot of sense either) while having to deal with emotional issues that were never a problem in previous installments. While the point of Other M was to flesh out Aran's character who was never really very deep until then, the fact is that if the character ends up coming off as weaker then before then that ground was probably left untreaded. And I can't help but think when the Metroid Prime games concluded and Jennifer Hale stopped voicing Samus (more or less) that Hale took a portion of the character's awesomeness with her and transferred it to female Commander Shepard who in a sense basically is Samus Aran given good (if variable) characterization...

2012-02-23 04:11:00

Author:
Dapiek Absaroka

Posts: 512

Consider Samus Aran from the Metroid franchise and one of the first truly great female videogame characters who made a career out of slaughtering evil aliens and monsters while blowing planets up along the way; in recent years there had been an increase in the amount of screentime she appeared in her skintight "Zero Suit" (which also inexplicably gained high heels somewhere along the way) and in the latest Metroid game "Other M" she spends the majority of the game having to submit to the orders of a male authority figure (and not all those orders made a lot of sense either) while having to deal with emotional issues that were never a problem in previous installments. While the point of Other M was to flesh out Aran's character who was never really very deep until then, the fact is that if the character ends up coming off as weaker then before then that ground was probably left untreaded. And I can't help but think when the Metroid Prime games concluded and Jennifer Hale stopped voicing Samus (more or less) that Hale took a portion of the character's awesomeness with her and transferred it to female Commander Shepard who in a sense basically is Samus Aran given good (if variable) characterization...

What?! in the newer Metroid games they are messing up her character?

...I didn't know about that... i have not played the Metroid games yet... even though someday i've always planned to... she always looked like a very cool character to me so it interested me... but if they are doing things like you said from now on. it's ruined then IMO. I'm very disappointed now. I hope they return her to her cool self again after awhile... *mew

2012-02-24 00:22:00

Author:
Lord-Dreamerz

Posts: 4261

Well, to be fair it was just Other M that really dropped the ball while just about every other Metroid game does not fail so badly and are generally of good quality, though again this is due largely to the fact that Samus herself was not given a whole lot of characterization beyond her actions (i.e. the aforementioned slaughtering of evil aliens and monsters) and then given some very unwanted characterization in that game. And it's not like the older Metroid games are made worse by Other M; Super Metroid was one of if not the best SNES game, Zero Mission was one of the best GBA games and a really good example of how a videogame remake (it being a retelling of the first Metroid game) should be done, and Metroid Prime was an exemplar of how turning a once excusively 2D franchise into a 3D one should be done. In light of all that along with Other M's lukewarm critical and commercial reception and despite the fact that Metroid's future is left uncertain I wouldn't be surprised if both fans and developers for the most part pretend Other M didn't happen (a la Devil May Cry 2).

Now that I think about it, in terms of characterization, Samus was at least more well developed then Mario and maybe a bit more then Sonic to give you some sort of barometer but none of them could be considered very deep characters yet they've never suffered from that lack of depth and the quality of their games seem completely independant (or inversely proportional in the worse cases) of what degree of characterization they get beyond a single sentence. Mario is an Italian plumber who uses shrooms to "power-up" and stomps Koopas, Sonic is a blue hedgehog who runs really fast and fights a fat scientist and his army of robots, Samus is a powersuit-wearing bounty hunter who wipes out threats to the galaxy for a living and their games needed little more characterization beyond that to be good. Which makes me think that developers really shouldn't try to give deep characterization to character's whose games are more well-regarded for gameplay then anything else and because gameplay should always be first priority to any other content a game should have.

2012-02-24 03:41:00

Author:
Dapiek Absaroka

Posts: 512

Well I find i think i enjoy simple normally silly stories instead of deep drama stories most of the time. Games like Sonic should never have deep stories IMO. Sonic is my fave series, and i can easily tell you. the more simple the story the better it is for his games sadly. though i also blame the the writers not being good at detailed stories. sense games like ratchet & clank do a good job at making a fun silly full story that feels almost like a cartoon show.

as for Metroid. i think i'll wait until the next game too see if they make her right again. *mew

2012-02-24 03:57:00

Author:
Lord-Dreamerz

Posts: 4261

I fully agree with Dapiek. Moral choice systems are always very tacky, especially when the evil option is often completely irrational. The good option should be about working harder and selflessly to get a bigger reward from the people you help, and the evil option should be about going for the easy way but facing greater risks. The evil guy shouldn't act like a ponce just because he feels like it.

Example: in the first inafmous, there's a part wherein an NPC doesn't let us go through a door because he thinks he's prtotecting his wife (which we know is already dead). We can either tell him his wife's dead or electrocute him through the door. Either way, the result is the same. Why should Cole act evilly when there's no gain in doing so? How is killing someone less of an effort than telling him the truth?

Many games do this on some level. Infamous and Fable especially. Mass Effect does it a little better but commits another very common crime related to moral choice: Only the biggest saints or the biggest S.O.B.'s get the benefits. In infamous you've got to be good or evil to unlock karma-specific powers and in ME you have to get Paragon or Renegade to unlock the persuasion solutions. You won't get these perks if you choose to stay neutral. And this is ridiculous because every good protagonist should have a few shades of grey.

2012-02-24 17:36:00

Author:
SnipySev

Posts: 2452

Movie tie in games. That is all.

2012-02-24 22:16:00

Author:
grayspence

Posts: 1990

2012-02-26 23:48:00

Author:
Dragonvarsity

Posts: 5208

What do you think is a good amount of time for each chapter to be, or the minimum/maximum amount of time it should stretch, incase if someone wants to go through just one chapter, without it taking a few minutes, or stretching over hours of time?.
Uncharted's usual chapters have a decent duration, so if I want to play a specific part at the end of a chapter I won't have to extend my game time too much. If a game were to have longer chapters, there could be specific checkpoint selection, like Mirror's Edge did. (Although ME is a freerunning game and you can complete every chapter in less than 10 minutes)

2012-02-26 23:54:00

Author:
gdn001

Posts: 5891

My apologies for the bump, but because CyberSora's thread is handling this kinda stuff (although there hasn't been much posting in it really), I thought it might be interesting trying something out here, just to see how it goes over. The idea is that every week, there's a new topic involving video games. It's basically a way to discuss our thoughts on the subject. To anyone who reads or have read Kotaku, this is similar to their "Talk Amongst Yourselves", only this might be broader sometimes, and would be throughout the week. If this goes over well enough and if it seems necessary, I might make it 2 topics a week.

If this doesn't do so well, oh well. Sure, the idea is still different from the initial one for the thread, but in these discussions, we still mention video games, and the good, the bad, and the ugly involving them. I didn't think it was necessary to just create a whole new thread for this.

Okay, so, for the first week, let's talk some about Co-Op missions. I'm a huge fan of co-operation missions. It's a great way to work together. Having a full-on multiplayer, with everyone running around the place simply wouldn't work for some games. With co-op missions, it can be a fun way to bring a friend along, without it getting too crowded. Some video games use 2 players as an advantage. Take Portal 2 for example, with its brilliant co-op tracks, and all kinds of interesting and complex moments between you and your partner.

Or, take something like, Journey. Released this month, Journey is a beautiful and interesting game. It's lack of words and short length help benefit it's unique co-op. basically, you'll randomly come across other people playing, and can even finish the game with them. No names are shown above, which is great as they can be distracting at times, like XxXPwNeRXxX, and there's no voice chat or typing enabled. You can release little sounds and symbols above your character. This is how you communicate with your nameless partner. I found this very interesting, as it lets you interpret a simple symbol in your own way.*

If I was ever struggling to keep up, I could press o, which meant "Sorry about that", and my partner would respond back, which I thought of "It's alright, let's keep moving.". If one of us couldn't be seen by the other and we knew it, we'd just tap o. If one of us weren't going in the right direction, the other one could release the sound and sims, and circle around, leading them in the right direction.

Journey's short length let's you plow through, seeing the names at the end, incase you want to add them. This great use of co-operation encourages you to take several journeys, which is just what I plan on doing. Now, what about you guys. In what games did co-op prove to be effective and fun, and what games did the exact opposite. Feel free to share your thoughts about that, nice elements in co-op missions, or other stuff that fits with the theme of discussion.

2012-03-26 21:55:00

Author:
Dragonvarsity

Posts: 5208

Likes: Platforming, Cool Stages, Cool Equipment, Multiplayer, Special Abilites...

In a few words: Kid Icarus: Uprising

'nuff said

2012-03-30 02:20:00

Author:
junk-Warrior7

Posts: 276

I'm not sure who else have played any of the Uncharted games, but to go through the story mode, I know they have multiple chapters to go through, and even back to. Here's a question I'll bring up, as it might be interesting to see what you guys think. Say some were playing through the story of a random game with a chapter system like Uncharted has (and probably other games aswell). What do you think is a good amount of time for each chapter to be, or the minimum/maximum amount of time it should stretch, incase if someone wants to go through just one chapter, without it taking a few minutes, or stretching over hours of time?.

I honestly do not think that chapters should take a specific amount of time, but rather whatever amount of time is necessary for them. Think of it like chapters in a book - some never seem to end, others can be a single page long.

Now, that is not to say that one chapter should take ten hours.

2012-03-30 03:27:00

Author:
RJA00000

Posts: 387

What I like in Video Games

-Games that are original, take a new concept and run with it. Like Journey. Enough of these stupid First person shooter boom boom zombies BLAH garbage. We need more original concepts.
-Visuals. Unlike most players, graphics matter quite a bit to me. If a game has crappy graphics I most likely won't get it unless it has REALLY good gameplay. (I'm not that picky, it's just REALLY ugly games that get me.)
-Freedom. I'm a huge fan of Free roam games. And I love parkour games. Games that give the player the freedom to make their own choices. And do what THEY want. Like InFamous(2)'s free roam, parkour and good and bad choices.
-Replayability. Can't get enough of those collectables!
-Trophies. Trophy hunter here!

-Games that have lyrics in their songs. Most games have beautiful soundtracks (Like PixelJunk Shooter(2) ) but when the game has atleast some lyrics (Especially for more calmer/inspirational songs) I love it. When I finally brought down my old gang in Red Dead Redemption and rode out of the mountains down to my family on a horse, when that old country song started playing, I was like "EPICEPICEPICEPIC"
-Games with a good story. not just a zombie shoot 'em up and all that junk they are feeding us these days. games like Uncharted. Story-driven games.
-Games with some RPG elements. I'm personally not a fan of fantasy RPG's. But when a game with a survival or apocalyptic theme (Or both) has things like hunger/stamina quests etc. I like it. Basically I like RPG's except the all to common fantasy ones.
-Games with epic looking walking/standing. I dont' know about the rest of you, but I absolutely love panning the camera around my guy as he epicly walks around. :3
-Games like LBP that allow you to create your own content.
-Games where you can buy things like weapons, upgrading things, vehicles troops etc.

Is this a little long? Okay. I'll stop here for now. =3

Things I dislike in videogames:
-Unoriginal concepts. We have FAR to many zombie games and FPS out there. (The zombie thing has even plauged the rest of the entertainment world.)
-Overly popular games that are rather weak games like Halo. (This also spreads to other entertainment for me.)
-Long loading times.
-Stupid AI. -_-
-Really stupid AI.
-Weak dialouge.
-Overly bloody or gory games. (Or violent I suppose.) I mean, Assassins Creed is ok, though it is pushing it a bit. But when people start losing limbs or explode in bloody, unrealistic messes in games like Prototype, then it's gone overboard and to the seafloor.
-Military game wannabes like Modern Warfare. If you're going to make a game about World War II, or a pretend modern war, atleast make it realistic. All your doing is feeding the worlds stereotypes of the military and causing people to get the wrong idea about the military (Sometimes negative, and sometimes positive like kids wanting to join just to go do cool things like shoot tanks and fly in helicopters and hunting down baddies.)
-90% of First Person Shooters. Most of 'em are crap.
-Stupid, overly smart or overpowered enemies. Stupid enemies and it's easy, overly smart AI and it's nearly impossible (I don't just mean your basic difficulty level enemy changes.) and overpowered enemies are no fun at all. this mostly occurs in bosses or mini-bosses.

Wow this was long. Sorry if I ranted to much guys. xD

2012-03-30 05:47:00

Author:
TradeMarkSG

Posts: 65

-Visuals. Unlike most players, graphics matter quite a bit to me. If a game has crappy graphics I most likely won't get it unless it has REALLY good gameplay. (I'm not that picky, it's just REALLY ugly games that get me.)

Visual quality =/= graphics.

"Graphics" refers only to stuff like framerate, resolution, polygon count... They're not the main reason a game looks pretty. The true reason a game looks good is great art and visual design. It's the reason why some old games' visuals have aged really well but others look like crap after 3 or 4 years. For example, Battlefield 3 and Crysis have good graphics but the visual style itself is forgettable. Journey and Rayman Origins don't have cutting-edge graphics but the art style and design are so well made that their visuals are memorable.

Good graphics don't necessarily mean good aesthetics. (http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/graphics-vs.-aesthetics)

2012-03-30 14:47:00

Author:
SnipySev

Posts: 2452

2012-03-30 21:01:00

Author:
gdn001

Posts: 5891

One thing that I always liked in Uncharted and would like to see in more games: Good and natural dialogue.

The dialogue in Uncharted feels natural because you can hear the characters joking around, guessing what to do, commenting on what's going on, and taunting each other and the enemies. It is way better than having silent characters that only talk in cutscenes, a captain-obvious kind of character or Npc's that make you think "Yeah? Congrats!" in a sarcastic tone every time they talk.

And the humor of the dialogue doesn't feel tacky. They allow the voice actors to ad lib but they don't try too hard to make the conversation funny. I recently played the Binary Domain demo and the supposedly humorous banter between soldiers was so forced that I wanted to stick an electric drill into my earholes.

2012-03-31 01:24:00

Author:
SnipySev

Posts: 2452

Visual quality =/= graphics.

"Graphics" refers only to stuff like framerate, resolution, polygon count... They're not the main reason a game looks pretty. The true reason a game looks good is great art and visual design. It's the reason why some old games' visuals have aged really well but others look like crap after 3 or 4 years. For example, Battlefield 3 and Crysis have good graphics but the visual style itself is forgettable. Journey and Rayman Origins don't have cutting-edge graphics but the art style and design are so well made that their visuals are memorable.

Good graphics don't necessarily mean good aesthetics. (http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/graphics-vs.-aesthetics)

... Thank you for overcomplicating things. ._.

But you're mostly wrong. I DO mean graphics. I personally like more detail. Yes, aesthetics are another important thing for me in games, but I do like graphics. Detail.

2012-03-31 03:58:00

Author:
TradeMarkSG

Posts: 65

It's actually a pretty simple distinction, but many people fall under the misconception that "graphics" means "visual quality". Watch the video I linked, it's pretty good at explaining it. Extra Credits is really worth watching.

2012-03-31 08:04:00

Author:
SnipySev

Posts: 2452

What I like about Co-op games:

- A great way to play with your friends
- The gameplay. I like almost all Co-op gameplay.
-SOMETIMES since it's Co-op there's cool dialogue

What I dislike in Co-op games:

-Most people you randomly find to play with. When I played Portal 2 with randoms this kid kept jumping off a cliff and laughing.
-If it's an LBP2 2 player Co-op level, then most of the time you both basically just hold a button. That's the biggest gameplay.

Sorry about the super short list. I couldn't think of anymore things.

2012-03-31 14:20:00

Author:
TheMonkeyBlade

Posts: 687

Another thing I like in games is a sense of story progression (In story-driven games). I don't like it when the story is like "INTRO - PLAYPLAYPLAY - END". Fortunately, not many games are like that.

2012-03-31 23:23:00

Author:
gdn001

Posts: 5891

Sorry, I meant to post this yesterday. For this week, I'd like to know your take on horror games. What are really defining examples. I've heard lots of people rave about 'Amnesia: The Dark Descent'. What elements should be ditched, and what could be expanded upon?

I know people have said the sound is a very crucial part in Amnesia, like when you're being chased down by the invisible creatures in the water. You can't see them, but you can hear them, and you know they're coming after you. So yeah, basically, feel free to discuss horror games, ones that are good, bad, or so bad it's good, but in more of a comedic way. Or maybe you've got nerves or steel, and are up for a challenge anyway.

(Whoever doesn't feel like being part of this discussion is still encouraged to post random lists of what they like in dislike, just to make that clear.)

2012-04-04 04:18:00

Author:
Dragonvarsity

Posts: 5208

I don't like: Losing, Boring loading screens, Games without auto-save etc.

I like: Open environments, Great story etc.

2012-04-05 11:13:00

Author:
Jovuto

Posts: 2345

I like:

Horror Games without auto-save, because it gives you the sense of not wanting to die, knowing that if you die, you must start from where you last saved (Which could be from 5 minutes to 1 hour. And, I love the "Trying not to save walkthrough").
When you have to go through a small hall when there is an evil and horrible monster around the corner.
Where you have to find keys and items to progress forward, and this could tie together with the no auto-save thing because you'd have to find all of those items again.
(All of these go to the old fashioned Resident Evil games, preferably Zero and Remake)

I dislike:

When you have to continue to fight the same monster over and over again, and the only new enemy is the next boss you must fight. (I'm not sure which game does this, I just don't like it)
When there is auto-save... Because, well, I don't like the fact that you know when you die, that you'll start where you were 5 minutes ago, what's the point in dying? (I'm not sure which horror game has auto-save... Dead Space? Oh well... I can't remember)
When you regenerate health... Because that sucks. (Again, I have no idea which game does this, I... just don't like this)

2012-04-10 22:55:00

Author:
Syber_Knight

Posts: 4

I did not like super mario 3d land powerups selection... there wasn't enough power ups to me. there was 7. mushroom,fire flower,tanooki suit,the other tanooki suit the when you groundpound you'll turn into stone which you'll get at the secrect worlds,the Super tanooki suit, ( that's what i called it. when you die alot it will appear and it's like unlimited star with tanooki suit) star, and the new boomerang flower. nothing new except the boomerang which is my favorite. the 3 tanooki suits just tells me nintendo was just lazy or out of power ups ideas. i also hate how easy it was in the game. you beat the worlds in like an hour. the seceret worlds however was more of a challenge. even galaxy was harder than 3d land. 3d land was the easiest game i ever played. I still liked the game but i hate those 2 problems. sometimes i just run around the game.

2012-04-11 06:54:00

Author:
Sunbunny23

Posts: 995

General:
Unskippable cutscenes.
They should all have a pause/skip and subtitle option. It's just common sense.
:|

Co-op:
I hate when it is a hassle to save Player 2's progress.
I shouldn't have to create an entirely different PSN account to do so. Ugh.

Horror:
Never played much horror games. Scariest gaming moment was playing -that- level in Uncharted 1 at night.
*crash*
OH GOD WHAT WAS THAT?!
Oh I just tipped over a trolley, ha ha.. (nervously)

2012-04-11 07:25:00

Author:
midnight_heist

Posts: 2513

when companies charge you for DLC that's on the disc... it's not DLC you money grabbing expletives! soon we'll be buying games with naked characters walking through blank environments and we'll have to build the game brick by brick, and those bricks won't be cheap.

edit: mmmmmmmmmmmm.... did i just describe LBP?

2012-04-11 09:55:00

Author:
GribbleGrunger

Posts: 3910

General:
Unskippable cutscenes.
They should all have a pause/skip and subtitle option. It's just common sense. :|

Co-op:
I hate when it is a hassle to save Player 2's progress.
I shouldn't have to create an entirely different PSN account to do so. Ugh.

Horror:
Never played much horror games. Scariest gaming moment was playing -that- level in Uncharted 1 at night.
*crash*
OH GOD WHAT WAS THAT?!
Oh I just tipped over a trolley, ha ha.. (nervously)

Completely agree. I mean, you can pause a DVD can't you? Most games seem to have cutscenes that are pausable using the PS button.

2012-04-11 09:55:00

Author:
Ali_Star

Posts: 4085

Bumpitty bump.

Another thing I'd like to add to my list of things I dislike in videogames: NPC guides that never get off your face and refuse to let you do things at your own pace.

An example: I recently played a good chunk of Zelda Skyward Sword. Fi, the character that advises you throughout the game, is the most annoying NPC I've ever had to deal with. Not only does she pop up every ten minutes, she only tells you obvious information you figured out ages ago, as if the game thinks you're a6 year old child. And she doesn't talk while allowing you to do whatever you want; she interrupts the gameplay to tell you this, and you need to skip every individual line to proceed.

You discover a new dungeon: "Master, I detect a 80% chance that there will be enemies in this area"
You're about to catch up with Zelda in a temple: "Master, there's a 90% chance that Zelda is in this temple"
You solve a puzzle to unlock the door and a cutscene shows said door opening. Right after that: "Master, you've succeeded to open a door"

She's a hundred times worse than Navi and that stupid owl from Ocarina of time combined.

2012-11-03 22:26:00

Author:
SnipySev

Posts: 2452

Bumpitty bump.

Another thing I'd like to add to my list of things I dislike in videogames: NPC guides that never get off your face and refuse to let you do things at your own pace.
Oh yeah. NPCs.

- You are following an NPC. If you walk, it starts to get away. If you run, you get ahead of him.
- When it's pretty obvious that the NPC wants you to follow him into a building, for example, but if you as much dare step ahead of him he stops.
- NPCs that block your path and stay there. Leaving you desperately trying to push it out.
- Escort NPCs that charge onto any enemy, be it a mere mook, thug or suicide bomber.
- Artificial Dumbness. Such as NPCs having to do 5 or 6 circles to get to a location three feet away from them.
- Cover-stealing NPCs in shooters.
- And so on...

2012-11-04 00:10:00

Author:
gdn001

Posts: 5891

Likes:
Good story
Good characters
at least up to 20 or more levels in the game
mixing toys with games (ex. Skylanders)
good graphics
music

Dislikes:
INVERTED CAMERA CONTROLS!!!!!!!!!!
characters that have very annoying voices
cussing every 5 secs (gets old and tries to show off: I'm not morman btw)
stories in game series being the same thing (ex. MW Trilogy)
horrid controls
having to do something thats impossible (like in Sonic Adventure 2 when you played as Knuckles and had to open a door and the switch was underwater)

And th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-thats all folks!!!!!

2012-11-05 23:30:00

Author:
amoney1999

Posts: 1202

Dislikes:
INVERTED CAMERA CONTROLS!!!!!!!!!!
characters that have very annoying voices
cussing every 5 secs (gets old and tries to show off: I'm not morman btw)
stories in game series being the same thing (ex. MW Trilogy)
horrid controls
having to do something thats impossible (like in Sonic Adventure 2 when you played as Knuckles and had to open a door and the switch was underwater)

And th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-thats all folks!!!!!

Most games give you an option to change this. Anyway.... INVERTED FTW!

2012-11-07 10:50:00

Author:
Ali_Star

Posts: 4085

Likes
I like games that have a sense of customization - Pokemon lets me choose my team, OpenTTD my own rail networks, and LBP is pretty obviously here to

I also, for some unknown reason, love really challenging games. I'm playing through Super Meat Boy and it's great, and I love Mega Man and that stuff to. If it feels fair (so when I die, it's my fault, not the fault of bad design or controls), it's really fun to keep trying and trying until finally you succeed.

Either way, I very rarely pay for games, so they need to last me a long time.

Dislikes
I'm not too fond of when the character feels 'heavy', so it takes forever to get anywhere and do anything.

MMORPGs. I'd think I'd like them, but they require too much time investment. I don't mind grinding, but not for too long, and in the case of stuff like WoW I don't want to pay monthly to do so.

Bad boss battles. It's a hard thing to do really well, but some are downright terrible, and it really ruins the point of playing the game.

Mobile games. I just can't get into them, there's no motivation. I know they're meant to be pick up 'n' play, but I just end up putting it down just as quick.

2012-11-07 21:26:00

Author:
kirbyman62

Posts: 1893

Most games give you an option to change this. Anyway.... INVERTED FTW!

Sonic Adventure 2 doesn't. And the inverted is LEFT AND RIGHT!!!! (meaning moving the right stick left moves the screen right and vice versa)

2012-11-07 23:16:00

Author:
amoney1999

Posts: 1202

So you need to stop playing for a few moments. Maybe someone needs to ask you help with something, or you really need to go to the bathroom. But the game's playing a cutscene that could be fairly long. So you pause and then the game skips the cutscene entirely. Turns out you can't pause cutscenes, and the button that usually means "PAUSE" (Start on PS3, Esc on PC) skips them.

I hate this. I've reloaded saves because of this, since I can't stand missing a part of the story. What if something awesome happens? What if there's a plot twist? When it happens, it makes me want to ragequit and instead play a game whose devs were smart enough to not design the UI this badly. Why not make the Start button pause the cutscene, and you could choose to skip it from there? So simple.

2012-12-05 14:23:00

Author:
SnipySev

Posts: 2452

2012-12-05 15:29:00

Author:
gdn001

Posts: 5891

Some ganes that don't pause with the pause button in cutscenes will pause with a press of the PS button.

2012-12-05 16:47:00

Author:
Rabid-Coot

Posts: 6728

Likes:

-Good Storytelling: This is basically a must for games that want to deliver here. It's sad when a game wants to be a medium of storytelling, but ends up being a pile of garbage. (see Heavy Rain)
-Soundtrack: This is a MUST for me. If I'm introduced by a great piece of music, then I'll definitely stick around, anxious to hear more.

Dislikes:
-BAD VOICE ACTING: This speaks for itself.
-The Super Mario 64 Method: It gets kind of irritating when I can't go somewhere/get something without collecting -this amount of spare sneakers- or -5 packs of used socks-. >:1 I know it's to encourage exploration, but really, there ARE better ways to go about it...

2012-12-05 18:19:00

Author:
CirkuzFr3ek

Posts: 194

I like games that try to be innovative, do their own thing, trying to be different and interesting but of course putting the fun factor first.
I dislike games that are risk averse, and are clearly just 'after some of the COD pie'. Too many boring FPS titles at the moment, trying to stay as close to that formula as they think they can get away with in order to get easy sales. The worst bit is, even some of my old favourites such as Resident Evil and Dead Space are trying to make themselves more like Call of Duty.

I have nothing against COD, it can be good fun, but when so many games try to copy and paste what they've made it can destroy a decent series, as it loses what once made it special. Thankfully there are still plenty of excellent games that have a strong vision and do what's best for the game and the gamers rather than just looking for quick easy sales. LittleBigPlanet is a good example of what is good in gaming, there's nothing out there like it, and it's fantastic.

2012-12-05 18:37:00

Author:
LieutenantFatman

Posts: 465

2012-12-05 20:25:00

Author:
Dragonvarsity

Posts: 5208

Yes, definitely a good point to be brought up. I can get past things like that however if the developers can just make an archive for the cutscenes (or if the cutscenes are, ya know, good enough to want to rewatch. Those story synopses just don't cut it, Arkham City.)

You mean the Arkham City stories? I think they're a neat little world-building extra, but it'd be cooler if they were presented in the form of a little animation or slideshow that would be unlocked once you found all the riddles related to each one. Kind of like the patient recordings.

2012-12-05 20:34:00

Author:
SnipySev

Posts: 2452

You mean the Arkham City stories? I think they're a neat little world-building extra, but it'd be cooler if they were presented in the form of a little animation or slideshow that would be unlocked once you found all the riddles related to each one. Kind of like the patient recordings.

We miight be talking about two different things, but I can't be sure. I'm referring to a selection of images with words underneath describing the different events in the game's storyline. I have nothing against it, I just would've liked to have another option along with it that would allow you to re-watch the game's cutscenes. (Although I'm also just trying to find something to complain about

)

2012-12-05 20:44:00

Author:
Dragonvarsity

Posts: 5208

We miight be talking about two different things, but I can't be sure. I'm referring to a selection of images with words underneath describing the different events in the game's storyline. I have nothing against it, I just would've liked to have another option along with it that would allow you to re-watch the game's cutscenes. (Although I'm also just trying to find something to complain about

)

Oh. Yeah, I see what you mean. Those images on the loading screens, right? I think they're meant to refresh your memory if you take a break from the game for a few days. But who in their right mind would take a break from Arkham City?

I was referring to those little stories you unlock when you solve certain riddles. They're nice, but they break the flow of the game a little bit if you decide to read them right away. It'd be better if the stories were shown to you.

2012-12-05 22:12:00

Author:
SnipySev

Posts: 2452

I've noticed that when it comes to everything in the entire world I have my own unique liking and disliking..

What I most of the time find disappointing is the storyline of a game, most people don't care, but I really like a simple yet genius easy-followed story. Like the Ratchet and Clank series, they use short-ish skip-able cutscenes I really enjoy watching. Or Portal 2 that doesn't even have cutscenes but rather dialogue throughout the entire gameplay session. The only problem is that you can't really skip these.. Not that I ever wanted to with the hilarious script, but other gamers seems to HATE any kind of story-element with passion.

Of course there are gameplay elements I dislike too. When I was playing Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Wii I found myself bored and frustrated unlike when I was playing Rayman Origins. The gameplay flow and speed in Rayman Origins crushed the slow-phased Donkey Kong worlds. However Rayman Origins also tend to have many rooms split up during one level, I'd love to run through one whole level with checkpoints instead of changing scene ever so often.

Kinda like Kingdom Hearts where they have the VERY slow transitions between each tiny segment of each town. It really drags out the game too much and destroys the action. I wonder if they really needed to split up every new area that much.. I think Kingdom Hearts 2 is slightly better with the whole map-segments, can't remember really.

And when it comes to music I hate it when they reuse old tracks too much through out the entire game. Games like.. 40 Winks, although it had great music every piece was reused pretty much all the time. It was almost like playing Tetris with only 3 songs to choose from.. Jak 3 Isn't as drastic as 40 Winks but it still overuse some of the soundtracks quite alot. And the greatest example I can ever think of is Tales of Symphonia - dawn of the new world. I know it goes after the whole "characters have their own unique theme" thingy but seriously they have to add jokes to every dialogue they have, so the god awful "happy music" is constantly played .____. And they always go with the unnecessary random serious story-stuff all of the sudden, and play this super-cheesy sad music.. Always the same .-.

The first ScribbleNauts game do have different music but even then they are all basically the same! Aguh?!

Anyway that's what I have to say on the matter. What I do like doesn't really matter I assume, I don't think so anyway. But you know.. Just fun stuff is fun basically. So if you ever make a game, remember; fuuunnnn~

Oh oh, and I hate it when collecting 100% of shiet doesn't give you any proper reward, I can do fine without your shallow congratulations. How about some more gameplay or behind the scenes..?

2012-12-10 16:12:00

Author:
>er.

Posts: 785

Oh oh, and I hate it when collecting 100% of shiet doesn't give you any proper reward, I can do fine without your shallow congratulations. How about some more gameplay or behind the scenes..?
When it comes to 100% rewards, the best example has to be GTA Vice City:
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090307073837/gtawiki/images/thumb/6/64/Frankieoutfit-GTAVC.jpg/250px-Frankieoutfit-GTAVC.jpg

2012-12-10 19:36:00

Author:
gdn001

Posts: 5891

I hate stealth sections... They absolutely kill me. By extension, stealth games don't exactly do it for me either...

2012-12-15 20:04:00

Author:
mr Radical 5601

Posts: 515

First person controls (sometimes). I know this complaint may be frowned upon since it makes up a huge portion of the industry, (FPSes) but this is just a personal disliking of mine. I never had any trouble with Portal/Portal 2, but besides those, every FPS I've played (Granted, I've only played a few) have been a little irritating. Even the Metroid Prime games, which are simply fantastic, will mess with me sometimes, but only sometimes, where in other cases it's fine. This probably has something to do with level design, and the lack of being able to view all over. I find myself switching to morphball mode sometimes in Prime 3, but go back when realizing you can't change the angle certain ways, as it still restricts what directions you can look at.

2012-12-15 20:13:00

Author:
Dragonvarsity

Posts: 5208

Some games have amazing stories, and most of the time I want a game for it's story, but for some games, the story isn't that great, but the gameplay is absolutly fantastic.

Like Uncharted. Some of the gameplay in Uncharted is a tad boring, like the big gun fights. But I kept playing until the end anyway. The story to Uncharted was so good that I would keep striving forward to see the next cutscene.

And then there's a game like Katamari. I can't pay attention to it's story AT ALL. I barely even know what's going on half of the time, but it has to be one of my favourite games out there. The gameplay is amazing, and I often find myself giggling about rolling things up. The art-style to Katamari is cool.

Something both Uncharted AND Katamari have in common is fantastic music. Yes, very different music, but catchy, nontheless.

2012-12-16 15:55:00

Author:
TheMonkeyBlade

Posts: 687

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