Things that steamed me to no end over the years:
Ridiculously stingy timers, particularly for racing games. I can’t tell you how many times I was all alone in third or fourth, in the homestretch, nothing but daylight in front, just flat-out breezing…and boom, time’s up, race over. Sega was particularly egregious for this (although they’ve finally learned).
Randomness in games where you cannot flippin’ afford randomness. Bust a Move (Puzzle Bobble) ring a bell? Pure luck as to whether you’ll get a color that matches anything you can hit. DOZENS of levels busted by this. And don’t get me started on how you can finish all 100 stages of Dead or Alive 2’s Survival Mode without getting the one randomly-dropping item you need for the new costume.
Ham-handed falling deaths. I don’t mind the risk of falling when it’s intelligently implemented and doesn’t completely overshadow the level (Castlevania was good with these). But when the entire freaking level is a yawning pit bridged by tiny bits of land, with enemies that knock you into oblivion swarming everywhere…ugh. Bad, bad, bad.
Extremely remote checkpoints, especially in games with a bazillion ways to die. Nothing like replaying the same 20 feet over and over and over, huh? Konami’s notorious for this, but just about every company with a scrolling game had this dubious feature.
Nightmarishly difficult and madness inducing required missions, especially ones which don’t fit the game at all. I remember this one Grand Theft Auto: Vice City mission that required me to pilot the clumsiest, weakest, flimsiest airplane in the history of aviation through eight scattered points at various altitudes. Within a time limit. Needless to say, I had no reservations about trashing that game after that.
And of course, the nonstop BS storm. I’m looking at you, Defender of the Crown. Jesus Christ on a barded horse, every turn of that game had some horrible calamity happening to my kingdom. “Rival lord raids your treasury!” “Vikings slaughter home castle defenders!” “Danes take away one of your territiories!” “Rival lords steal taxes!” “Bumbling Zulu explorers knock down one of your castles!” “Half your knights mysteriously desert for no reason!” If there was a redeeming quality to that game, I’m unaware of it.
I got my Codebreaker a long time ago, and I use it without the slightest twinge of remorse. I’m through being played for a sap. They cheat, I cheat.
dotchan - There are some excellent guides on www.gamefaqs.com if you want detailed help. Above all else, this is the one ironclad law of DW5: Never stop working. If you see an enemy base, take it out. If an enemy general is near you, take him out. If you see an enemy checkpoint, capture it. If one of your friendly generals is being swarmed, help him. Defend your commander if he’s in danger (and your base if that’s also a requirement); once he’s safe, move on to the nearest threat. Watch out for ambushes and reinforcement units (which pop up all over the place in this game), and if it has high morale and/or is making a move on your commander/base, get over there and wipe it out. You should never, ever rest easy and put the controller down; every minute should be fighting, moving to the fight, or analyizng the situation and seeing what to do next. Sometimes a situation which looks okay one minute can turn extremely ugly the next, and when it does, you’re the only one who can make things right again. The only way to win is to level the field, take the advantage, and then press the advantage. Remember that.
There are certain instances where you have to be at this place or take out this general or that base to make things easier, but these aren’t common. Check the guides if you need details.
