Poll: Worst game-lengthening scheme.

[Rock Beefchest]

Another one for you, though admitedly not as bad as some of the ones above: Travel Time. There are two types of this I can see. You've got your Red Dead Redemption/Farcry 2 hike to the other end of the map style. Hope you enjoy staring at a horses arse/car in half hour stretches. Then you've got your Dragon Age: Origins/Skyrim style town fuckery, where you spend up to a third of playtime walking back and forth between shops trying to sell inventory.

This. Why is it that no one is skyrim has any freakin money. Why am I sitting on at least a half mil in inventory jammed in my house and no shopkeeper has enough money to buy one of my higher cost items. I have a drawer alone in mah house with 250k worth of jewelry and gems. I wish there was a cash for gold I could send them to.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I've gotta go with an overuse on forced backtracking. I used to love the MetroidVania / Zelda style games but this is what killed them for me in the end (well, that and the games barely changing from title to title in other meaningul ways as well).

Coming in close second, though, has to be the pointless quest/task that has no reason to exist for anything other than a time filler. At least backtracking is kinda sorta disguised in many cases, but things like finding the triforce pieces in Wind Waker have no excuse at all. They have absolutely no reason to exist outside of padding out the game length.

I really don't mind grinding as long it feels like there's some sort of progression. Plus, when grinding I just put on some music or whatever and zone out anyway so while it is time consuming, it's not exactly requiring of my attention.

As for cutscenes, I don't mind unskippable custscenes at all in a game time padding sense. If I'm playing a game, I always watch the cutscenes anyway. And, if you're talking a cutscene before a tough fight that you have to rewatch every time you lose, I find them annoying to be sure, but even poorly designed games don't seem to have them enough to honestly pad game time like the other options in the poll.

 

[loudestmute]

"Oh hero, you want to pass through this gate? I will let you, but first you must do something for me."

Every RPG, ever. Ugh.

I don't think it's that bad. Imagine if the game just let you go wherever you want, whenever you want.

Pacing, dude. Pacing.

I think it's more about context, really. Zeldas, Metroids and modern 2D Castlevanias put similar restrictions on where you can go, only instead of an arbitrary gatekeeper character they make routes accessible once you've acquired the proper abilities. Also, this motivates players to explore previously "defeated" environments without having to force the backtracking.

As for unskippable cinematics, let's go to camera three.

Developers, I know you hate breaking the valued immersion in the game, but let me tell you a little secret. We'll gladly sit through a loading screen if it means we don't have to keep watching the same three-minute exposition piece you were using to cover up that loading screen.

 

[Vegosiux]

Escort quests. You know, those that have the dude you're escorting walk painfully slow and has to sit down cause he's a wuss every thirty steps.

Grinding only for grinding's sake. If there's nothing to do for X levels apart from grinding for that beef gate boss, then someone messed up rather badly.

Unskippbale cutscenes? Nah, not that bad, after a while you learn just what you can get away with while it plays (grabbing a new drink, bio break...)

Side quests? They're not exactly "fillers" because you can skip them, but then again, they shouldn't count into the game time at all either.

Travel time? Not always. For the first couple of times it's actually nice to stretch your legs and go on foot. But from the third time on I have to make the same walk and nothing changes anymore, well...I'd prefer to be rid of it.

 

[Electric Alpaca]

Collectibles are the biggest offender for me, not only lengthening the game - but requiring external sources to obtain.

Nothing to break immersion more than having to read a guide or have a webpage open.

It's gotten to the stage where I won't purchase a game if collectibles are present, and there isn't a reasonable collection method in game.

For example Saint's Row: The Third has a purchasable perk that puts all collectibles on the map for designation.

MMORPGs get an honourable mention, their very nature is an unnecessarily elongated rinse-repeat cycle. I know the appeal comes from the journey being so long, the destination being that much more glorious - but no thank you.

 

[Esotera]

"Oh no our plan didn't work and now we have to go through the same level but the opposite way (shock horror) killing a whole new set of enemies"

But seriously I don't see the point in making a game long. Call of Duty campaign is about the right length for me, and games like Portal are absolutely brilliant despite being about as long as a movie. I suppose it's a developer thing...

 

[LobsterFeng]

I chose other, because it's the near impossible puzzle that always gets to me. The one that relies on luck more than actual logic, so it's near impossible to do without looking it up.

 

[DEAD34345]

Another one for you, though admitedly not as bad as some of the ones above: Travel Time. There are two types of this I can see. You've got your Red Dead Redemption/Farcry 2 hike to the other end of the map style. Hope you enjoy staring at a horses arse/car in half hour stretches. Then you've got your Dragon Age: Origins/Skyrim style town fuckery, where you spend up to a third of playtime walking back and forth between shops trying to sell inventory.

Red Dead Redemption has instant fast travel to anywhere... I agree with all your other examples though, even if they are some of my favourite games.

OT: Unskippable cutscenes are the worst by far, in my opinion. All of the others can be fun in a good, well designed game. There is no reason to have unskippable cutscenes in your game. None whatsoever, unless you just like to make your customers miserable.

 

[him over there]

Grinding definitely, I see some people saying unskipable cutscenes but I'm fine as long as they aren't mgs4 level obnoxious. And if you have to see them again after you die and they're still unskipable then that is a whole new universe of lengthening obnoxiousness. Grinding by its definition is not fun. Plus its like you can leave now but you die if you're not this level. It would be faster to put kill x many monsters to procede; thats all it is essentially. What I hate most about jrpgs especially is that you beat the game at level like 65 out of 99. Why can't they just make an rpg like shadows of the damned where you don't grind but get a mandatory big upgrade after each boss fight.

 

[The Wykydtron]

The sliding panel puzzle, you know the one. I hate the bloody things, especially if you fuck it up and there's no reset button.

Only exception would be the ones in AC2's awesome puzzle sections. Wish they had those in Revelations, the Desmond stuff is pretty good though.

Ao Oni actually has an impossible one (i think), you just use an item on it to win. Now if only i could get those Ao Oni monsters out of my head, i might be able to sleep tonight. They're weird blue people and they're scarier than Mr Face from Amnesia... I don't even know why

 

[Mauso88]

Purposefully making it seem as if your target is within grasp, and then moving it hours further into the game right at the last second.

 

[HardkorSB]

Drawing magic in Final Fantasy 8?

 

[DustyDrB]

Millions and billions of fetch quests, particularly when there's almost no backstory to it. Just...
"Hey random person, what's going on with you?".
"I lost my granny's ring. Go get it. I give you gold. Gold is nice, yes?"

...15 minutes later...

"Here's the necklace!".
"Here's the gold. Now let us never speak again."

*Wanders around a bit, sees a person*

"Hey random person, what's going on with you?"

 

[Sagacious Zhu]

The backtracking is by far the worst. At least fetch-quests and level grinding allow you to explore a bit. Oblivion was a particularly egregious offender

 

[Risingblade]

The backtracking and the unskippable cut scenes

 

[emeraldrafael]

Plot that can clearly be pointed out and designated as shoveled in.

...
other then that, I would say items that you only use once for a dungeon puzzle, then never use again cause its just not practical.

 

[Whateveralot]

Unskippable cutscenes are chosen pretty often, which is quite strange since cut-scenes only take like 2% of each game's time. That, plus that it's only annoying in your second playthrough OR if you have an unskippable cutscene before a bossfight and it doesn't save AFTER the bossfight, forcing you to watch the cutscene over and over again if you happen to die a lot.