Annoying genre mechanics

[Katana314]

Let's see...

Non-linear game environments with extremely linear objectives.
They're kinda missing the point on this one. The whole point of a non-linear world is to have a million things to do. When you only have one mission marker on the map...it gets a bit dull.

Also, "traps" in multiplayer FPSes. Quicktip: THEY NEVER WORK.

 

[Razzle Bathbone]

Zillions of collectibles.

God damn you, Super Mario 64, for opening that floodgate! God damn you to hell!

 

[DukeNero]

I dislike MMORPGs that make you think they are normal RPGs. Seems to me that there's a lot of this going around lately. I'm thinking of FF-XII especially. If i wanted a grindtastic grindgame about grinding and grinding some more, i would buy World of Warcraft. But, as "I don't have a copy of WoW, because I have a life" (quote from the WoW episode on South Park), I don't like getting one wearing normal RPG clothes.

It's like meeting a girl at a party, you take her home, she takes off her clothes, you think "yess!"
And then you find out it was a drag queen all along...

 

[Dalisclock]

Escort missions. Especially since what you're escorting is generally programmed with the survival instinct of someone with ADD crossing an eight-lane highway.

I would agree 99% of the time. The only counterexample I can think of is the AC130 mission "Death From Above" in COD4.

BEST. ESCORT. MISSION. EVER.

 

[Daved Lodfa]

In MMORPGs, I can't stand insecent farming to level up, and that's what's turned me off game after game in the past. Lots of those games start out fun, but once you get to higher levels, killing 4k + enemies just to keep going really doesn't add up.

 

[The Potato Lord]

in any genre with a jhump button other than platformers, having to make a jump that is the maximum possible length of your jump, even worse if the floor periodically falls away and comes back.

 

[Brazilian Maniac]

I dislike MMORPGs that make you think they are normal RPGs. Seems to me that there's a lot of this going around lately. I'm thinking of FF-XII especially. If i wanted a grindtastic grindgame about grinding and grinding some more, i would buy World of Warcraft. But, as "I don't have a copy of WoW, because I have a life" (quote from the WoW episode on South Park), I don't like getting one wearing normal RPG clothes.

It's like meeting a girl at a party, you take her home, she takes off her clothes, you think "yess!"
And then you find out it was a drag queen all along...

I couldn't agree more.

Another CRPG mechanic that really pisses me off these days is the tendency for very "original" but convoluted levelling up methods, especially those that make it very easy to permanently hamstring a character if you don't evolve him the "right" way.

 

[squid5580]

Paying for stuff. I just spent 5 hours saving your sorry ass from a bunch of critters and how am I repaid??? Oh we'll sell you a bunch of stuff you need. Gee thanks.

 

[Melaisis]

Bosses back from the dead [http://3scapism.blogspot.com/2008/02/haha-now-i-shall-reveal-my-true-form.html].

'nother vote for games which fail to incorporate the 'jump' button.

Idiotic writers who fail to include some sort of reason for doing side-quests other than a bit of money (I'm looking at you, Mass Effect!). Chrono Trigger and bleeding FFX-2 did it right by having at least some character development in there; why can't modern games?!

 

[fix-the-spade]

Quick time events and FPS's that have no extra head shot damage. Or worse, only having headshot damage for certain weapons (halo series I am looking at you!).

Was going to put critical hits from TF2, but for every time its had me screaming in rage its also supplied an "oh my god I survived" moment as well. So its probably the perfect game mechanic...

 

[Kayevcee]

When a side-quest off the back of some spurious tale of ancient treasure sends you through he hordes of hell and back again, only for the treasure to be two medkits, a grenade and a brick and represent about 1/5 of the resources you expended getting to it. I've never been bothered by random encounters but some crime boss leaving 126 guards and a menstruating ice dragon to protect his Chesney Hawkes autograph causes me to twitch with rage.

Programmed for Darr and Stompy have neatly summed up my feelings on spawn points in FPSes. In silly blastathons like Serious Sam I can accept them as just something to stop your PC crashing when 2000 bad guys show up at the same time, but Project IGI with its empty barracks that become infinite Speznats (did I spell that right?) dispensers when the alarm is tripped? In a game that goes to such lengths to be 'real-world', I have to wonder which military organisation recommended the practice of sending their soldiers out in groups of three every twenty seconds to go and stand on top of the bullet-riddled bodies of the last eight batches. Also they can summon soldiers out of thin air because when you actually go inside the barracks there's never anybody there but you can be damn sure SOMEONE will pop out and shoot you in the back five seconds after you leave.

Ooh! How could I forget? Really fast, leaping monsters that can kill you with one hit. My first encounter with the mutant gorillas in Far Cry Had me screaming abuse into my tear-stained keyboard after about twenty five unsuccessful attempts. Grr.

-Nick

 

[shadow skill]

Those fucking button mashing things in games like God of War. I hate having to press circle really, really fast in order for something to happen on the screen. I can't get past certain parts of God of War I and II because I siply can't press the buttons fast enough. I would much rather have QTE's.

 

[zacaron]

regenerating health. enough said

 

[Melty Blood]

I can't believe no one's said the retarded down forward down forward halfcircle BS to do your special attacks that is present in almost every fighting game.

Why's everyone picking on Jrpgs?

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

I don't know if this fits, but it really, really, really annoys me when games are only "compatible" with one type of controller. Especially when it's a complete piece of crap like the "x-box 360 controller for Windows". (For the benefit of any fairly new PC gamers out there, if you're ever tempted to buy this s--t, save your £35 and get yourself a copy of Crysis instead.) I'm looking at you, Bioshock!

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

Actually it does fit, since the only games I've come across which are that restrictive as to what you can play them with are FPSs...

Also, let me add another FPS one: you walk into a well-lit empty room with no obvious exits, there's a bundle of goodies in the middle of it, and it's ridiculously obvious that the moment you pick up that ultra-powerful gun or whatever, the lights are going to go out and enemies are going to pour out of invisible holes in the walls. It's been done to death and beyond since the original "Doom", it's NOT scary, it's predictable, it's just tiresome. Enough of this pointless contrived "scare" device already!

 

[Asymptote Angel]

Basically everything that everyone has said about RPGs, especially JRPGs. Requiring that much repetition in everything is not fun and does not make for good gameplay. I can survive stand-in-a-line combat, but the sheer sameness of everything else is unbearable.