Least Sensible Things In Games

[cojo965]

So I'm playing through the new Thief, and I've been noticing something. It looks like this:

Remain Undetected
Perform 2 Combat Takedowns

So wait, do you want me to remain undetected or get detected for those 2 combat takedowns? BECAUSE I CAN'T DO BOTH!

So what do you have that fits?

 

[The Wykydtron]

Oh yeah I just noticed that today too. Fuckin' what?

OT: I suppose some of the quest designs in Witcher 2 are a bit long winded and needlessly obtuse. Blow this shit up with bombs. No we won't tell you where to craft the bombs, what the ingredients are and even what type of bombs actually blow up the nests. Ended up throwing some sort of fantasy EMP bomb in and that didn't work then I found a bomb that explicitly says that the damage is "explosive." Nope, bigger bombs required.

Don't get me wrong, it's a good game but some of the design choices are baffling. Like the lack of a tutorial. Here's a courtyard full of people, we haven't told you what the draw sword button is or what the block and dodge buttons are and you can't access the key bindings while in game. Good fucking luck scrublord. THERE AIN'T NO I FRAMES ON THE DODGE IN THIS GAME EITHER ************! Oh and by the way, the block is shit. You can cleanly block a sword then mysteriously die of a heart attack like this guy's mates with Kira on the side.

Not even Dark Souls is that bullshit in the base mechanics. *cough*artificialdifficulty*cough*

 

[Liquidprid3]

Reminds me of those missions in Assasain's Creed 2 + Brotherhood where you had to stay undetected. More so in Brotherhood. If a guard saw you, and you got detected, but it was only him, you killed him immediately, and it attracted no one, you would still fail. Seriously, those missions were always a huge pain in the ass.

There was also a mission in Brotherhood where, I won't spoil anything, you got this cool item, and if you used it it damaged you. For those who have played Brotherhood, you'll understand what I'm talking about. Anyways, one of the side objectives was to not take any damage. So basically, you were not supposed to use the cool weapon. Not to mention running from the guards was a pain, and the trying to hide from 3000 at once and not get hit was almost impossible. I don't even know why I completed that side objective.

 

[Bocaj2000]

In multiplayer, this guy is really good and is winning. How about we reward him to make the game easier for him.

 

[EyeReaper]

I think I could just say "Sierra's thought process" and that would take the cake in the "Makes no goddamn sense category." Oh no! a yeti is attacking! The only way to stop it is to... throw a pie at it, of course. Watch out for that POISONous snake! let's hope you have a tambourine to make it go away, or throw a bridle at it, because it's secretly a cursed horse. Obviously.

Although the absolute worst of this is guessing the gnome's name in King's Quest 1. You have 3 tries before he's gone forever, and you get 2 hints: That Rumpelstiltskin is "close, but no cigar" and to "try thinking backwards." so what's the answer? Ifnkovhgroghprm. His parents must have really hated him. Or maybe they had a stroke in the middle of the naming process

 

[solemnwar]

Although the absolute worst of this is guessing the gnome's name in King's Quest 1. You have 3 tries before he's gone forever, and you get 2 hints: That Rumpelstiltskin is "close, but no cigar" and to "try thinking backwards." so what's the answer? Ifnkovhgroghprm. His parents must have really hated him. Or maybe they had a stroke in the middle of the naming process

I but.. nksaljf what? Where does that name come from? How were you supposed to get it? I would think from the "close but no cigar" and "try thinking backward" would mean that you need to spell Rumpelstiltskin backwards, but that isn't... but... I don't... what?!


OT: Pretty much anything in the Dragon Age series that, in terms of gameplay, goes against lore. Off the top of my head is lyrium and the darkspawn taint.

 

[Racecarlock]

"Ok kenway, what I need you to do is eavesdrop on these two people. They turn around randomly, there's approximately 10,000 guards on the route, and there's barely any hiding places. Also 3 interruptions means an instant game over. Along with detections that can happen in one nanosecnod. You might make it on your 345th attempt!"

Yeah, I'm still on about that. I still haven't done another story mission because it might be one of those stupid fucking tailing sections. Or eavesdropping sections.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Any given FPS wherein you have something like a shotgun (or anything more powerful) but must find a key to unlock say, a wooden door. In real life, wooden doors (and indeed, many other types of doors) are powerless against the onslaught of a shotgun, grenade, missile, BFG, chainsaw, etc. Indeed, many WALLS are just as vulnerable. In fact, isn't it possible to break open doors by taking out the handle?

In stealth-focused games like Sniper: Ghost Warrior, Alien vs Predator or Far Cry 2, EVERY enemy will know EXACTLY where you are if you so much as step on a twig. It's also weird that they can zero-in on you with a 90%+ accuracy rating no matter how quickly and, erratically you move around/away.

In Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, you can't destroy lights. It's a small thing but it would intimidate thugs and could add to the stealth elements of the series. Is this a thing you can do in Origins?

 

[EyeReaper]

Although the absolute worst of this is guessing the gnome's name in King's Quest 1. You have 3 tries before he's gone forever, and you get 2 hints: That Rumpelstiltskin is "close, but no cigar" and to "try thinking backwards." so what's the answer? Ifnkovhgroghprm. His parents must have really hated him. Or maybe they had a stroke in the middle of the naming process

I but.. nksaljf what? Where does that name come from? How were you supposed to get it? I would think from the "close but no cigar" and "try thinking backward" would mean that you need to spell Rumpelstiltskin backwards, but that isn't... but... I don't... what?!


OT: Pretty much anything in the Dragon Age series that, in terms of gameplay, goes against lore. Off the top of my head is lyrium and the darkspawn taint.

Well, when it says "Try thinking backwards" it means to think that Z=A, Y=B X=C, etc. Thankfully, the remake does allow you to just type the name backwards.. but then they goof up and misspell it as Rumplestiltsken, with the l and the e switched around. How a player alone is supposed to know about the writer's little dyslexic mistake is beyond me though.

 

[NerAnima]

"Us mages are not bad people, we don't all use blood magic! We can take care of ourselves! Allow us to prove it by blowing up the Chantry and having everyone except the bloody hero/heroine turn to blood magic because, screw it!"

I'm sure I already touched that note in another thread, but whatever, I will beat this dead horse until it's flat.

 

[FPLOON]

The rating system in Virtua Quest... I still have NO IDEA if I was suppose to complete those servers as fast as possible... or defeat the most enemies using a Virtua Finish...

Than again, most Sega games that use a racking system confounds me when "speed" is not the most likable option during gameplay... (I'm looking at you, Valkyria Chronicles!)

Also, the grade system in Symphonia... but, that was mostly because I didn't know how the bonuses after each battle was calculated in order to get the best grade for each battle... (No one took any damage that battle... and I still got a negative grade?!)

 

[Alexei F. Karamazov]

The only thing that really comes to mind is the hilarious way that just about every videogame mistreats the shotgun. Sure it's usually a one-shot-kill weapon, but the game designers seem to have this idea that once you're 5 feet away from the barrel, the buckshot evaporates into the Aether. Really, where does that GO? What purpose would a gun with an effective range of maybe 6 feet have in the real world, let alone the impossible immediate destruction of matter? I understand that it's probably for balancing issues, but still, the lack of logical design amazes me.

 

[Imre Csete]

There was also a mission in Brotherhood where, I won't spoil anything, you got this cool item, and if you used it it damaged you. For those who have played Brotherhood, you'll understand what I'm talking about. Anyways, one of the side objectives was to not take any damage. So basically, you were not supposed to use the cool weapon. Not to mention running from the guards was a pain, and the trying to hide from 3000 at once and not get hit was almost impossible. I don't even know why I completed that side objective.

That was pretty tame compared to the take no damage whatsoever with the siege engine in a 10+ mins skirmish without checkpoints one. Seriously, 70% of the content in AC:B is optional. Goddamn waste of time.

I've only picked up AC:R from the bargain bin for less than 5 bucks recently, I hope it fares better in that regard (I think it won't).

 

[Gottesstrafe]

Wood being the antithesis to momentum. In GTA and CoD, wood is practically impenetrable to bullets and cars. I mean, I know street/traffic lights are designed to give way to cars on a collision course and that aluminum siding can hardly be considered adequate cover, but how the hell does a wooden fence stand up to rounds fired from a rifle or a poplar sapling T-bone a firetruck easily going 100 mph? Even telephone polls snap when hit by a car going 40 mph in real life! Thank goodness Battlefield lets you shoot/plow over wood like nobody's business. Hell, Bad Company 2 let you level the entire map if you were properly motivated.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

In multiplayer, this guy is really good and is winning. How about we reward him to make the game easier for him.

This. It completely ruins the balance of multiplayer games. Yeah this guy just got 15 kills in a row, lets give him an attack chopper that lets him get another 20 kills for free.

It's just plain idiotic.

 

[pearcinator]

"Ok kenway, what I need you to do is eavesdrop on these two people. They turn around randomly, there's approximately 10,000 guards on the route, and there's barely any hiding places. Also 3 interruptions means an instant game over. Along with detections that can happen in one nanosecnod. You might make it on your 345th attempt!"

Yeah, I'm still on about that. I still haven't done another story mission because it might be one of those stupid fucking tailing sections. Or eavesdropping sections.

Yeah...Assassins Creed is fun but DAAAAAAMN is it repetitive! Always the same missions. There are PLENTY more eavesdropping missions to come...as well as tailing missions and 'kill this person/thing in this specific way' missions. It's quite annoying.

 

[Unia]

Any time a JRPG has a robust element and infliction system and a scan function that tells what would work in a given enemy - then disables it for all boss battles. No game, making me trial and error or look at outside sources doesn't ramp up difficulty, it adds tedium. Then again JRPGs are hardly good at sensibility anyway...

 

[FPLOON]

Any time a JRPG has a robust element and infliction system and a scan function that tells what would work in a given enemy - then disables it for all boss battles. No game, making me trial and error or look at outside sources doesn't ramp up difficulty, it adds tedium. Then again JRPGs are hardly good at sensibility anyway...

To add on to that, you can still scan the bosses for weaknesses... yet, for some reason, EVERY boss in the game lacks a single weakness to begin with...

I get how I can't use any attacks that would inflict a given status effect, but COME ON! Why must I be the one with the multiple weaknesses while the boss can strut it stuff without any "actual" worry except the fear of being beaten by regular attacks?

 

[RealRT]

Pop ups with "Press X to continue". Why do the developers feel the need to interrupt me, take the controls away from me and waste my time? They could just easily make this text visible anywhere on the screen without doing that. There's absolutely no reason to do them.
And while we're at it, tutorials that are part of the story and thus unskippable.

 

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

Spoiler: fallout 3

blowing megaton in fallout 3-

Spoiler

after recently seeing the outside world for the first time and mr. whats his name says
"arm the nuke,travel to ten penny tower, I will give you x caps"
the meme "seems legit" come to mind when look at this offer.
how do I know for sure if ten penny tower even exists at that point in the game. If you get to ten penny tower what stopping them from tying to kill me? If you are already willing to blow up a town full people; then you have no moral problems with potently killing me just to avoid paying me. You would need to be stupid evil to in order to justify blowing up megaton.

and if you do this later then you know the amount of caps you get for doing this is chump change and keeping megaton alive is more useful then the caps you get.

maybe fallout 3 is game where it is best to turn off logical thinking but I can't physically do that. it may have been a detriment on my experience with the game as a result. Then again maybe Bethesda should learn how write and avoid such non-scenically quests.

that is not even the dumbest thing about fallout 3. ending spoilers bellow

Spoiler

the enclave president give you a modified FEV virus to poison the water with in order to kill all mutated people. The player is not genetically pure enough to be considered immune to the modified fev. There is zero reason to ever poison the water for your self unless you are stupid evil.
Bethesda needs to reconsider what there definition of a "moral choice".

The end of broken steel also has a "moral choice" in which the sensible option give 1000 karma and the stupid evil one gives you -1000 karma. A psychopath that's not insane has no logical reason to ever not pick the the evil option.
in fact a non-insane psychopath has no reason to poison water for himself as well.

Karma systems
most of the time the when come to "moral decisions" you are Hitler or the representation of hope and all that is good in humanity.
when compounded with shit writing then It's really far from being anywhere in the vicinity of be sensible.