Fun Vampires

[Dirty Hipsters]

Liam (formerly of the super best friends) made me aware of a term I'd never heard of before, "fun vampire," something that sucks immediately sucks the fun out of a game the moment its encountered, be it an enemy type, a status effect, a zone, etc.

Recently I ran into a "fun vampire" while playing Nioh. There are slime enemies in Nioh, known as "lesser umi-bozu" that just make me immediately want to stop playing the moment I encounter them in an area. They aren't that hard to fight, but they are incredibly annoying and a complete slog to kill. I don't think I've ever hated a completely minor enemy this much in any other game.

What about the rest of you, what are some fun vampires that you've encountered in games?

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

You mean this ISN'T about Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines?

Currently, as I'm getting back into the postgame of Etrian Mystery Dungeon: Those fucking owls that hypnotize people and make them start acting weirdly. Nothing sucks more than them throwing away their sword in a way that makes it impossible to pick back up, or they use up a limited use rare item, or they throw away your LAST UNCURSED GO-HOME-ITEM AUGH. Also, the Teleport Traps that isolate one party member in another room, which means they're likely to die horribly unless you can "recall" them somehow with your party. In the "Everyone is level 1 with no items being brought in" dungeons, it can be a run-ender. ;_;

Overwatch: Rolling Hanzo in Mystery Heroes. I suck as him. Like, I suck at playing as Tracer, Genji and Widowmaker too, but I can at LEAST do something with them, even if it's just a little. With Hanzo? All I can do is spray arrows in the general direction of the enemy and PRAY that they hit (and they never fucking do for me). The only really proactive thing I can do is fire Scatter arrows into tunnels when I see the enemy running into one. Bonus points of hatred if I roll Hanzo mutiple times in a row. I have legit lost games of Mystery Heroes because I was having ZERO impact with this chucklehead. Seriously, how do people MAIN this stupid character?!

XCOM 2: Codexes. Goddamn codexes. Unless you have some flashbangs on you. Then they're tolerable. The fucking clone counter ability is beyond frustrating.

Shin Megami Tensai Devil Survivor: Those late-game enemies that have Reflect Physical or Nullify Physical. They're WAY too common and make any physical fighting teams worthless. I'm just fortunate that my main character is an Almighty-focused ubermage every time.

RPGs in General: ANYTHING that has a one-hit-kill attack (I mean "This spell causes the death status, without causing damage" kinds of attacks) that isn't somehow telegraphed. I HATE those with a passion. Oh hey, this enemy just randomly has a 25% chance to just kill you if he rolls this attack, and he happens to move faster than your party! Bonus points if you're playing a game where if the main character dies, everyone dies, because you KNOW that at least once in the game, your main character will get instakilled with no way to prevent it, causing a party wipe. There's a REASON why in my own RPGs, there are not only no instant-death-status-effect-attacks, but many really powerful enemy moves have the enemy glow and telegraph "Hey, I'm gonna hit you with something REALLY powerful that might kill someone in one shot or seriously wreck the whole party, this is your chance to try to stop me!" It gives the player a chance to prepare and strategize, AND it allows these attacks to be quite devastating, as the player now has the opportunity to counter it.

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EDIT:
Semi Tangent: Larp/tabletop Characters who render your own character useless.

Oh hey, I'm a sneaky Nosferatu, time to sneak in the back door and get a bonus strike against one enem- Nevermind, my beefstick mad scientist ally just killed like 4 dudes in the time it took me just to sneak up behind one guy, because Tzimisce are fucking broken. (Oh, and she could out-stealth ME with the "I turn into a puddle of blood" skill. When IM THE GODDAMN INVISIBLE STEALTH CLASS)

Oh hey, I'm a dude who is really well adapted to most situa- oh, nevermind, everyone else in my party is specialized in one of each of the things I can do, meaning I'm mediocre at everything.

Oh hey, I'm a plotty evil nobleman about to cheat a ton of people out of potential inheritance and claim it all for mys- Oh, the lawyer I'm in a debate with has a 5 star rating in Law and I can't use my 4 in resources to bribe him because he has a perk/aspect that makes him unbribe-able, and since I'm not LYING to him, my 4 in subterfuge is worthless? And everything is indicating that this guy will be my main obstacle in this LARP, when he can basically shrug off my two biggest assets? AUGH! (Fortunately, the GM is letting us respec between the first and second games, so I can fix this one)

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Recently I ran into a "fun vampire" while playing Nioh. There are slime enemies in Nioh, known as "lesser umi-bozu" that just make me immediately want to stop playing the moment I encounter them in an area. They aren't that hard to fight, but they are incredibly annoying and a complete slog to kill. I don't think I've ever hated a completely minor enemy this much in any other game.

Fire weapon omnyo magic.

Still not fun.

Also I hate the idea of having to rely on something as a crutch against a specific enemy because it limits build options.

 

[Kreett]

Just buy firebombs or the exploding shurikens, they die in like two thrown bombs

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

A pretty specific zone but it's the only one I can think of right now.

The ending of the Intro to God Of War 3, when Zeus lightning bolts you all the way down to Hades.

It almost sounds cool when you put it that way but you get set back to zero as a character and as player since Kratos is thrown from the literal top of Mount Olympus all the way down to the goddamn underworld and when you get there, the souls of the river Styx take away all your health, mana, upgrades, everything.
Now plot and mechanics-wise, I can't truly hate it because that all makes sense, Kratos needs to climb Mount Olympus from the very bottom, defeating everything in his way to defeat the King of the Gods and the player gets to unlock weapons and upgrades along the way, I get that.

Why it really burns me though is because it takes place after such a strong opening, one whose praises I sing every chance I get, I think everything before you get struck down in GOWIII to be a freaking spectacle; for the game to knock you down to zero after the high that you ride with that opening, like I said, it makes sense and heck, for the player to feel as defeated as Kratos might be the point, still don't love it though, don't hate it but don't love it either.

You mentioned Liam from Super Best Friends, speaking of the Zaibatsu, Pat says something about this very topic that sums it up pretty well, I don't remember when or where he said it and I don't have it word for word but I got most of it:

"You fight Poseidon and that's really cool and then it's all downhill from there."

While I disagree with the Best Friends' general opinion of the God Of War franchise (I like it very much, thank you), I have to admit he hit it pretty hard. I don't think it's all downhill but in terms of scale and mass spectacle, other than one later boss fight, nothing matches up to it.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

- Lost Izalith and especially Bed of Chaos in Dark Souls 1. In comparison to the rest of the game they're so bad even the developer apologized for it. Every time I play through DS1 I cringe at having to go through them.

Izalith as an area is a joke. You can run from one end to the other without needing to fight a single enemy or even use clever tactics to get past them. It's ugly, the enemies are laughable, and the massive lava field is entirely pointless, since the enemies there are basically entirely passive, and there's no loot whatsoever outside the most obvious path. The one use it has is farming Demon Titanite from the only respawning titanite demon in the game.

Bed of Chaos is rightfully lauded as the worst boss in the entire soulsborne continuum. It throws all skill and tactics out the window in favor of a stupid puzzle fight that's practically 100% impossible to beat in one, or even two goes. The crumbling floor combined with the stupid arms that stagger you 500 feet away means getting constantly instakilled by arbitrary RNG. And you can't follow the boss's movements, since you need to keep an eye on the floor lest you run into bottomless pits. Even after you get to the boss's vulnerable spot, there's still the chance it'll instakill you with Firestorm.

- In Dark Souls 2 there's Shrine of Amana. Not even the entire zone, just the one spot where there's 3 Archdrake Priests and 3 Sorceresses all coming for you at once. Having a bow or a crossbow for that one spot is practically a requirement.

- In WH40k tabletop there's drop pods and the They Shall Know No Fear special rule. Fuck you Space Marine players! Getting guaranteedly to drop units in the midst of the enemy with close to zero risk of mishapping while ignoring the most dangerous morale effects entirely.

 

[wings012]

The stupid amoebas in Metro 2033. I still haven't replayed the game because of that segment. Infinite spawn bullet sponge dipshits where you have to escort some asshole with no sense of self preservation...

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

"You fight Poseidon and that's really cool and then it's all downhill from there."

While I disagree with the Best Friends' general opinion of the God Of War franchise (I like it very much, thank you), I have to admit he hit it pretty hard. I don't think it's all downhill but in terms of scale and mass spectacle, other than one later boss fight, nothing matches up to it.

Doesn't that apply to pretty much all the home console entries though? GoW 1 has exactly 3 boss fights, of which the Hydra is undoubtedly the most spectacular. GoW 2 has individual setpieces that come close, but IMO nothing still rivals the intensity and scale of the Colossus in the beginning. Ascension has you fight essentially an entire mountain in the beginning, and only the last boss comes close in scope. In GoW 3 it stands out more, since GoW 2 closed on such a high note, and it was basically impossible to write an entire game out of what seems to be a climax. But it's in no way uniquely endemic to GoW3.

 

[pookie101]

thats an easy question to answer.. freaking cliffracers from morrowind

 

[RaikuFA]

Pretty much anyone online.

 

[sanquin]

Back in Vanilla WoW, any time I had to fight murlocs. I love the concept of them, but they just sucked the fun out of playing the moment I had to fight them. They swarmed you very quickly, did quite a bit of damage, and back then at lower levels if you had more than 2 of them on you and didn't play a class that could heal you were dead. So it became a slog of VERY carefully trying (emphasis on TRYING) to pull 1 or 2 at a time and hoping you could kill them fast enough to not have to worry about respawns.

Mass Effect: Most planet side-quests. They were all the same copy-paste building with little atmosphere. And all you did was kill a bunch of guys, loot some crates, and move on.

ARK: Survival Evolved: I don't know what to call this, but it's supposed to be a survival game. And I like survival games. Yet the moment you tame a decent raptor or something similar half the survival aspects go right out the window and it becomes a huge grind-fest. As food, water, and dangerous dinos become far less of a problem at that point.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Lag in online fighting games is the ultimate fun vampire cause even if you do well you don't feel joy because you always wonder if lag wasn't there weather your approach would have worked or not. The only way to win is to not play in lag.

 

[ManutheBloodedge]

Generally, meaning it applies to all games, the time needed to restart a challenge after you failed it.
Ideally, after you failed a specific challenge (boss fight, minigame etc.) a litte window would pop up asking you if you want to retry or not.
Games that give you a game over, making you reload a save? Unskippable movies and/or dialogue boxes before the challenge can be restarted? A little bit of the game going "oh too bad you failed, well you can try again if you want" in a cutscene and then making me walk back to the challenge starting point even if the challenge consisted of me moving far away form the starting point at maximum speed? All fun vampires.
The worst part? They only get worse the longer you have to deal with them, making the eventual victory hollow as you are only relieved you don't have to go through the whole process yet again.

Oh, and after a certain point, grinding. Give me a challenge and then reward me for completing it. Don't give me a mundane task that has only a chance of giving me what I want. I stopped playing Dragonball Xenoverse because the clothing I wanted for my char wouldn't drop from that fucking Broly mission.

 

[Catfood220]

I have been playing Dishonoured 2 a lot recently and I was enjoying it until I got to the mansion that strips you of your supernatural powers and gives you a boring time travel mechanic and my enthusiasm for the game has just drained away. Don't give me all these fun toys, take them away and give me something less fun to use.

Ghost Mum in Bioshock: Infinate. Why? Just why do I have to fight this thing 3 times. And then her and an army of the undead. Just no fun at all.

The Witcher 3: "Now you need to put on a play. But first you have to all these annoying little tasks."
Me: "Ugh..."

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, I had the most fun in this game when I was exploring Prague and doing all the little side missions than I did playing the main mission. But eventually that stuff runs out and you need to do a mission to get more of the fun stuff. I will pick this game up again, but the thought of doing the main mission I'm currently on just makes me think of all the other stuff I could be doing.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, I had the most fun in this game when I was exploring Prague and doing all the little side missions than I did playing the main mission. But eventually that stuff runs out and you need to do a mission to get more of the fun stuff. I will pick this game up again, but the thought of doing the main mission I'm currently on just makes me think of all the other stuff I could be doing.

I actually had the reverse feeling.

The sidequests were nice, but I really felt the game needed one more good infiltration mission. The game was at its most fun when I'm using all my neat little toys to crack a place's security and sneak through it. Not to mention, Prague felt kinda dull to me. To quote a friend of mine "I play Deus Ex for cyberpunk. I want to look up and see metal above me, not a clear open sky. Give me more Golem city, and less picturesque Prague!"

Part of it too is that I didn't really explore prague deeply, because as the "good lawkeeper" type guy, I didn't feel like barging into random apartments and stuff would fit the story unless I had a reason to be there. That and the frequent longass metro ride loading screens got on my nerves too.

It was still a great game (That final mission was freakin' fantastic, THIS is how you make a final Deus Ex mission, guys!), but the over-focus on sidequests left the game feeling a little lacking.

 

[sageoftruth]

The Elegy of Emptiness from Majora's Mask. Once you get that song, expect to play it over and over and over in what basically amounts to pressing switches by standing on them and playing that song. I think the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time caught flack for the same reason. Having to play a song and wait for Link to finish it every time you wanted to do something as mundane as activate a switch, something you normally want to finish doing as soon as possible so you can return to the actual fun.

 

[Poetic Nova]

Considering the massive amounts of time I'm spending on the Pokemon games set in Unova there's one of these buggers that sorely sticks out for me.

This fucking bastard.

Here, have a fucking Pokemon with no weaknesses, and only a few types actually stand a chance against this bastard. This made me dread some fight severely. Luckily, encounters are very rare, but they do suck the fun out of battles for me for sure.

 

[Poetic Nova]

Ghost Mum in Bioshock: Infinate. Why? Just why do I have to fight this thing 3 times. And then her and an army of the undead. Just no fun at all.

I actually stopped playing Bioshock Infinite on the first playthrough for this reason. Felt REALLY out of place aswel. Second time playing through the game nearly made me give up on this section again, only this time I was too stubborn to let the game win from me again.

 

[MCerberus]

Recently:
Camping heavies in World of Tanks. The kind that never leave base so it descends into a s'more making contest where the first person to move forward gets obliterated.

Teemo.
or conversely, those killjoy teams that buy 5 oracles on ARAM when I'm Teemo

"Gogogo"s in WoW.

Loothounds in pretty much every tabletop RPG. Luckily as designated DM I'm able to "do something" about it, in the vein of recommended DM behavior described by the game "Paranoia" friend computer be praised