I chose mandatory party members but only for the main protagonist, which is supposed to be YOU. Also I hate being forced to bring along a lame party member, usually the "comic relief" that has no real reason for sticking around...
Poll: Biggest Pet Peeves In RPGs
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Although I think it's a tie between Samey settings and Faux Choicem, I voted Faux Choice. It's really what pisses me off the most.
Samey settings can start off as a grinding annoyance, but if the events and overall storyline of the game are good enough, I eventually begin to see past this and forget all about it.
But there is no defending or seeing past the utter shittiness of Faux Choices. A complete cop-out for players, ineptitude and laziness in writing, and I even see this as a joke played on us. It's like someone tells me "Hey man, you wanna make a choice?"
"Yeah."
"lol Here you go!"
In RPG's, when we're apparently allowed to craft our own stories by the decisions we make, it's simply an inexcusable hackjob when the choices you make don't amount to anything at all. If the choices don't make a fucking difference, then seriously, Why even bother in the first place?
The basis about how the force is supposed to work was examined critically in this game. I wish the later writers for Star Wars would've kept these examinations and expanded on them, as there's a lot of potential there.
But it seems Star Wars will probably never get past the "Light = Good. Dark = Bad." trope ever again.
Samey settings can start off as a grinding annoyance, but if the events and overall storyline of the game are good enough, I eventually begin to see past this and forget all about it.
But there is no defending or seeing past the utter shittiness of Faux Choices. A complete cop-out for players, ineptitude and laziness in writing, and I even see this as a joke played on us. It's like someone tells me "Hey man, you wanna make a choice?"
"Yeah."
"lol Here you go!"
In RPG's, when we're apparently allowed to craft our own stories by the decisions we make, it's simply an inexcusable hackjob when the choices you make don't amount to anything at all. If the choices don't make a fucking difference, then seriously, Why even bother in the first place?
I think the first time I remember this sort of logic being called out was when Kreia came into the mix in KOTOR 2. She berates you for acting needlessly violent and murderous, and ultimately deems you a complete failure to her if you slaughter the masters.BloatedGuppy said:
The basis about how the force is supposed to work was examined critically in this game. I wish the later writers for Star Wars would've kept these examinations and expanded on them, as there's a lot of potential there.
But it seems Star Wars will probably never get past the "Light = Good. Dark = Bad." trope ever again.
My biggest pet peeve is inventories. I'm the type of player that picks up every useless piece of crap item I can get my grubby little hands on in an RPG so that I can go back to town and sell off all that crap. Kinda hard to do so in games like Elder Scrolls with it's weight limit and Dragon Age with it's number of items limit. Nothing more frustrating than getting halfway through a dungeon and going to pick up something only to find "Nope! Can't pick this up cause your inventory is full!"
I also hate weird level up systems, such as the sphere grid from FFX.
I also hate weird level up systems, such as the sphere grid from FFX.
Same. I put that under unbalanced classes. Though it's really unbalanced systems.TheKasp said:
DXHR is an example too, and this is an elaborate one. There a part where ten guys bust in looking for you. I threw a flash bang at them and sprinted into the middle of the group. Used the Typhoon, 8/10 are down immediately. Then I got instakilled by one of the remaining guys the moment the animation was over, despite having the maximum body armor aug. So the Typhoon works almost ridiculously well for a two point investment while I didn't need a sprinting aug at all and my body armor was useless.
Like I said, elaborate. Then you've got the hacking aug that does what the hacking minigame does by default.
Level scaling. It defeats the purpose of a level system in the first place. Many of the games that feature level scaling would probably have been better off without any kind of leveling at all.
I chose Faux choices in the poll, because it is used too excessively sometimes, especially in Bioware games. The illusion of choice isn't a bad thing per se, but it needs to be done right and with some care.
Another pet peeve of mine is the concept of action RPGs. RPG and action doesn't mix well, since by definition action gameplay is handled by players instead of characters. And in RPGs it's about the characters. There are notable exceptions that do action RPG well of course. But a trend has appeared that every game must use a 3D engine, and therefore use shooter gameplay. Thats not a quality for every type of game.
I chose Faux choices in the poll, because it is used too excessively sometimes, especially in Bioware games. The illusion of choice isn't a bad thing per se, but it needs to be done right and with some care.
Another pet peeve of mine is the concept of action RPGs. RPG and action doesn't mix well, since by definition action gameplay is handled by players instead of characters. And in RPGs it's about the characters. There are notable exceptions that do action RPG well of course. But a trend has appeared that every game must use a 3D engine, and therefore use shooter gameplay. Thats not a quality for every type of game.
I think there is an analogue in 'find all the things' gameplay in other genres. Quite a few games add filler content that makes little sense in the setting.BloatedGuppy said:
I agree with your point about MMOs seeping into single player games, and I'm not particularly happy about that myself. MMOs can sometimes get away with filler content because they work on a different level, with emergent player controlled gameplay making up for filler content and sometimes the two support each other. Single player games don't have that quality.
Yeahhh, like I've said before, the list reflects my personal grievances. And I'm not *THAT* picky about combat. I've got a pretty decent imagination, if I'm immersed enough in the game world I can polish up the lamer/glitchier parts of combat with the power of retroactive memory.veloper said:
I'm well aware that doesn't work/fly with everyone, so I'm not pushing the viewpoint- just stating it. lol
For me its Faux Choices if I were to choose from those options.
I really hate it when my choices have no consequences or weight to them and I get shoehorned onto the same path(Dragon Age 2,Mass Effect 3 etc).
And that is why I love Witcher 2 to death over most RPG's that have come out in the past years.It's out on X360 as well so all of you who didn't have powerful PC's to play it and are RPG fans,you have no excuse this time to try this one out.Really shows how the system "choices&consequences" is done right.
I really hate it when my choices have no consequences or weight to them and I get shoehorned onto the same path(Dragon Age 2,Mass Effect 3 etc).
And that is why I love Witcher 2 to death over most RPG's that have come out in the past years.It's out on X360 as well so all of you who didn't have powerful PC's to play it and are RPG fans,you have no excuse this time to try this one out.Really shows how the system "choices&consequences" is done right.
All three at the top... a general lack of choice which forces you to level up party members you don't like, or use items you don't like. Really cramps my gameplay style.
"Binary Morality Systems - Look, the idea of trying to read intent into a gamers actions? It's great, in theory. But reducing everyone's moral and ethical inclinations to either selfless altruism or self interested dickishness? It's not a good way of going about it.
report "
THIS probably bothers me he most. I mean, god-forbid if I wanna shoot this guy for being a complete dick to me and not fucking loose karma. (I'm talking about Fallout, if that was unclear.) I like the idea of it all, but seriously, must I really get bad karma for STEALING from bad guys? And half the characters are complete dicks, so why the fuck can't I decapitate a few of them without getting punished. Meh, it's just faulty. It's a cool concept, but I haven't seen it be well executed. Like the original post said, you either have to choose be a saint or a complete dick, and hell, that's just not realistic or relatable at all.
OH ALSO:::
I agree with the comment on balanced classes.
Dude. I never want to be a fucking mage/wizard.I always want to be a thief/rouge... and yet, they seem sooo underpowered compared to wizard class and warrior class. Well, blah. And why do I feel like there isn't as much love for unarmed combat?
report "
THIS probably bothers me he most. I mean, god-forbid if I wanna shoot this guy for being a complete dick to me and not fucking loose karma. (I'm talking about Fallout, if that was unclear.) I like the idea of it all, but seriously, must I really get bad karma for STEALING from bad guys? And half the characters are complete dicks, so why the fuck can't I decapitate a few of them without getting punished. Meh, it's just faulty. It's a cool concept, but I haven't seen it be well executed. Like the original post said, you either have to choose be a saint or a complete dick, and hell, that's just not realistic or relatable at all.
OH ALSO:::
I agree with the comment on balanced classes.
Dude. I never want to be a fucking mage/wizard.I always want to be a thief/rouge... and yet, they seem sooo underpowered compared to wizard class and warrior class. Well, blah. And why do I feel like there isn't as much love for unarmed combat?
Annoying protagonists. That alone can ruin a game for me.
Think Lloyd, from Tales of Symphonia. I hate his voice, his outfit, his personality, his hair, his voice, his face, his fighting style, his backstory, his constant confusion, his MOTHERFUCKING VOICE, and pretty much everything else about him. I understand it if he's got his fans, but I'm just not one of them.
I know that's a bit harsh, but he has always annoyed me. And don't get me wrong; I like Tales of Symphonia. I just can't stand the characters. All of them were either cliched, annoying or just kind of stereotypical:
The clumsy one, the dark/quiet one, the nerdy one, the little kid etc. I did like Presea and Regal, mainly because they both had good backstories that were well-presented and honest, and didn't seemed rushed.
That's basically it; a cliched, overdone story with equally cliched characters can quickly become an annoyance for me. I think it's mainly because I've seen it before several times.
I know it's a universal topic, but it bothers me most in RPGs.
However, I can forgive this if the game is fun to play and actually makes the cliched characters kind of likeable. I think Lost Odyssey did this well, because it was incredibly well-done and even very emotional at times.
Also, if the game really has a unique style to it (in terms of graphics, landscapes and universe etc), that's a huge step upward for me. One example is Baten Kaitos which managed to create a beautiful world and likeable characters that I ended up caring for, as well as wanted to see more of.
Aside from this, I'm not really sure. As long as the game is understandable in terms of combat, it's not a big problem for me.
I know this mainly concerns JRPGs, and I apologize if the thread wasn't really aimed at that. It was just the first think that popped into my mind.
Think Lloyd, from Tales of Symphonia. I hate his voice, his outfit, his personality, his hair, his voice, his face, his fighting style, his backstory, his constant confusion, his MOTHERFUCKING VOICE, and pretty much everything else about him. I understand it if he's got his fans, but I'm just not one of them.
I know that's a bit harsh, but he has always annoyed me. And don't get me wrong; I like Tales of Symphonia. I just can't stand the characters. All of them were either cliched, annoying or just kind of stereotypical:
The clumsy one, the dark/quiet one, the nerdy one, the little kid etc. I did like Presea and Regal, mainly because they both had good backstories that were well-presented and honest, and didn't seemed rushed.
That's basically it; a cliched, overdone story with equally cliched characters can quickly become an annoyance for me. I think it's mainly because I've seen it before several times.
I know it's a universal topic, but it bothers me most in RPGs.
However, I can forgive this if the game is fun to play and actually makes the cliched characters kind of likeable. I think Lost Odyssey did this well, because it was incredibly well-done and even very emotional at times.
Also, if the game really has a unique style to it (in terms of graphics, landscapes and universe etc), that's a huge step upward for me. One example is Baten Kaitos which managed to create a beautiful world and likeable characters that I ended up caring for, as well as wanted to see more of.
Aside from this, I'm not really sure. As long as the game is understandable in terms of combat, it's not a big problem for me.
I know this mainly concerns JRPGs, and I apologize if the thread wasn't really aimed at that. It was just the first think that popped into my mind.
Also, for western RPGs, I think the "elves and dwarves" aspect of fantasy is overdone, and that's not just because Yahtzee said it. I think people should try to be more creative in that aspect.
Same setting.
I don't mind medieval style Europe as a setting but don't have it as completely boring.
Great Kings, Wizards, ancient Evil = Boring. Warcraft is utterly boring as a setting, but I find Dragon Age and The Witcher more interesting because of differences in the setting to make them stand out more. A Game of Thrones is my favourite right now.
I don't mind medieval style Europe as a setting but don't have it as completely boring.
Great Kings, Wizards, ancient Evil = Boring. Warcraft is utterly boring as a setting, but I find Dragon Age and The Witcher more interesting because of differences in the setting to make them stand out more. A Game of Thrones is my favourite right now.
The Witcher 2 when you're in prison talking to Roche is a great example of this.Indecipherable said:
1. "I'd shake your hand if I could" - Self Explanatory
2. "Very Funny" - Does Geralt give a little smirk with a sarcastic comment? Nope! Get's all angry at Roche. "Fuck you!"
Faux Choice - I understand why this exists but it's a trend that's gotten old now. I still love the games that use it, but I feel the replay value isn't there anymore like it was just a few years ago.
My actual peeve is grind. Anything in game that is unnecessarily time consuming while not being overly fun. Examples:
- Mass Effect 3: Planet scanning - it's better than ME2, but does anyone look forward to doing it?
- Skyrim: Smithing - I'll go out on a limb and assume most people craft dozens of the same item if not hundreds of the same item to boost skills like this. It's boring and extremely time consuming.
- FF13 - Grinding off mobs to gain levels: this exists in nearly every FF and has always hurt the pacing of the franchise.
- All RPG's: Talk to person 'X' who is located 3 load screens and 6 minutes of real-time travel from here. There are no important story elements between you and this person. Hope you find this fun...it's something you'll be spending about 25 - 50% of your game time doing.
My actual peeve is grind. Anything in game that is unnecessarily time consuming while not being overly fun. Examples:
- Mass Effect 3: Planet scanning - it's better than ME2, but does anyone look forward to doing it?
- Skyrim: Smithing - I'll go out on a limb and assume most people craft dozens of the same item if not hundreds of the same item to boost skills like this. It's boring and extremely time consuming.
- FF13 - Grinding off mobs to gain levels: this exists in nearly every FF and has always hurt the pacing of the franchise.
- All RPG's: Talk to person 'X' who is located 3 load screens and 6 minutes of real-time travel from here. There are no important story elements between you and this person. Hope you find this fun...it's something you'll be spending about 25 - 50% of your game time doing.
