# Things in video games you hate **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 15, 2006, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591 "2006-02-15T04:12:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/61 "2006-02-15T19:33:38Z")
“Damage Sink” bosses. The ones where the only difficulty comes in a huge hulking boss that can kill you with a single shot, but soaks up your entire arsenal of ammunition. Half Life, Return to Wolfenstein, Castlevania, Unreal…the list is countless. Please give me a clever puzzle, or some trick to help kill the boss. Otherwise, whenever I get to a boss level now, I just turn on “god mode”, and continue to do the aforementioned emptying of all of my ammo, but without the tediousness of dodging and running. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/62 "2006-02-15T19:34:12Z")
> [@Stonebow](#): > > Of course, this all raises the question- why do game designers incorporate some elements jumping puzzles, escort missions, times missions, bad control scheme) into games in the first place? It seems like these things at least, are fairly universally hated. Is it just a matter of increasing game difficulty? Because the first game designers to make the types of games that had these properties to them ahd neverp layed any video games themselves save for pong and pac-man. They simply thought along the lines of, “Well, they want the game to be challenging, so I’ll make it so they can only beat the level if they jump at the absolute last pixel on this platform, while hitting all buttons, and maknig sure this little dude doesn’t die.” Other game designers followed suit because hey, it’s what everyone else was doing and there games were selling (nervermind the fact that since most games had one of these bad properties to it, of course they had to sell.) t seems a lot of designers had the “game vs. player” idea, that simply by maknig a game _hard_, they were making it _good_. It seems now that members of generation X and generation Y (who, BTW, have never known a world without video games) are the game designers, things are getting a little better…but not by much. They still have to overcome the stuffy old CEOs and crap of the game world who have only seen what they think works, and want to just do the same thing. Why take a chance on a new and innovative game, when everyone knows that everyone likes FPS with escort missions and timed driving missions? And, since most people buy the game first _then_ realize it sucks, they still make money and could care less what reviews say and continue to push their designers to make crappy games, because they only look at sales in figuring out if a game is crappy, not reviews and feedback. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/63 "2006-02-15T19:57:33Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Of course, we had this way back in the days of Wing Commander back in, like, 1990. But, apparently, we’ve regressed or something. > > -Joe Of course, Wing Commander also had one of the hardest escort missions I’ve ever played. The only thing it has going for it is that you don’t absolutely have to win it. It got to the point where I just used the exploit to get the Ralari back to the Claw without running into any furballs. ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/64 "2006-02-15T20:35:26Z")
Seconded on all the above, with elaboration: \*Jumping puzzles that kill you or require to start from the beginning if you screw up. (A friend of mine has such atrocious luck with jumping that we kid he’s a magnet for bottomless pits.) If I can’t auto-jump, don’t give me jumps that make me want to throw the controller across the room. \*Escort missions where the NPC is as dumb as a rock (and that’s insulting the rock). In some cases I do expect the person I’m escorting to be incompetent, but more of them should be able to fend for themselves on some level. \*Timed missions that have next-to-impossible clocks. Maybe I suck, but in _Ocarina of Time_ I can never seem to get those eyedrops up Death Mountain on the first try. (Although, I suppose, since that is a subquest to get the most powerful sword in the game, I sort of understand why it’s so frigging difficult. Still drives me insane, though. Ditto _Pikmin’s_ 100 day limit.) \*Easter Eggs so well hidden that you basically have to scour every inch of the map to find them, or get a walkthrough. Worse is when you actually need the Doodad of Leetness to advance gameplay. I realize that there’ll always be some aspect of the game that only the most hardcore gamers would be able to get to, but the rest of us generally have lives. \*Game items that have no function other than to advance the plot. The Magnifying Glass in _Link’s Awakening_, for example, especially since I had to do that stupid trading game to get it. \*Lack of in-game maps. Some of us don’t have good senses of direction and can’t bother to memorize where everything is. \*Unskippable cutscenes, or uncomfortably long special effects sequences. Yes, the first couple of times it’s cool, but after that it’s just irritating. Either streamline the animation so that it delivers more effectiveness in a shorter time, or offer the ability to show shorter versions of the sequence. (Something that I found nice in _Star Ocean: The Second Story_ is that the more times you cast a spell/use a special, the faster it would animate. Every once in a blue moon, though, you still got the full animation so you could go “ooh, pretty”.) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/65 "2006-02-15T20:48:35Z")
Games in which there are places that no matter how skilled you are, no matter how well prepared you are, no matter how careful you are, you cannot survive without foreknowledge of what’s coming up. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/66 "2006-02-15T21:24:25Z")
> [@dotchan](#): > > \*Escort missions where the NPC is as dumb as a rock (and that’s insulting the rock). In some cases I do expect the person I’m escorting to be incompetent, but more of them should be able to fend for themselves on some level. Or, make them smart enough to wait until you tell them it’s okay to move forward, as opposed to running around like a monkey on crack. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/67 "2006-02-15T21:26:15Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > Or, make them smart enough to wait until you tell them it’s okay to move forward, as opposed to running around like a monkey on crack. Or walking RIGHT INTO TRAPS! Come on, if I have to lead you around the perimeter would you at least follow my fucking footsteps, ya bastard? Escort missions suck! ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/68 "2006-02-15T21:53:31Z")
My personal Pet-Peeve is a very new one, so most of you may not get it. It was “inspired” by Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines. basically, that game had these really nice looking big areas, almost none of which was useful to you. The worst was the club Confession. I men, it has this really neat (andvery Vampire-appropriate look, but it had only two NPC’s in there, one of which you generally got rid of quickly. It needed several more NPC’s scattered around. And why not? > [@Cluricaun](#): > > Also, almost everything about Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II. You could drive an Imperial Star Cruiser through the plot and programming holes in this one. To be fair, Lucasarts made them release the game basically before it was done. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/69 "2006-02-15T22:05:42Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > To be fair, Lucasarts made them release the game basically before it was done. A crying shame. In _so_ many ways it was even better then the rockin’ original - a much better combat system, a deeper, darker, storyline {I really liked the revisionist take where the whole galaxy was sick to death of damn Jedi going bad and busting up the place}, more complex and ambiguous characters, lightsabres not growing on trees, swirling robes… Needlessly fussy in places, with the whole “create/breakdown item” bit, but all the elements were there. And yet it wasn’t bloody finished, and so the whole plot basically just fizzled out with so many loose ends left hanging. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/70 "2006-02-15T22:08:42Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > Games with a built in “nag” feature. [Link Finally Snaps](http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=42) > [@](#): > > I hate driving. I drive just well in the real world, but on a gaming console I just am horrible. I really should get a steering wheel attachment or something. My theory is this: game consoles and televisions at standard refresh rate can’t accurately depict what it really looks like to drive 150mph. It would either result in terrible clipping or annoying motion blur. But they _can_ model the physics at that speed. So what you get is a car that _looks_ like it’s going 80-90mph and _performs_ like it’s doing twice that. The result is running off course. A lot. I have to admit I really liked the escort missions in Earthworm Jim. Really turned the idea on its head. In fact, if you’ve never played any of the Earthworm Jim games, I highly recommend them. Things I hate: Games that have absurd and undocumented ways of unlocking features that you would never in a million years discover by playing the game. I’ve been trying to unlock songs in a DDR game that my roommate got, and had to go online to figure out that to get to the next “mission”, I had to hit a secret step on an arbitrary song, and then go to the store to buy some other retarded thing. Giving some rewards for playing well is fine; it gives you a sense of accomplishment and something to work for. But hiding actual features behind a maze of idiocy just frustrates me. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/71 "2006-02-15T22:10:48Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Or walking RIGHT INTO TRAPS! Come on, if I have to lead you around the perimeter would you at least follow my fucking footsteps, ya bastard? > > Escort missions suck! There is only one escort in WoW that I can actually stand, and it’s one of the few (maybe the only one) where the escortee actually follows you. Most of the rest walk along a pre-set path, at their own speed, generally ignoring enemies unless they’re actually attacked by one (one of the most annoying things that ever happened to me in this game–I ran ahead a little ways to clear some enemies, the %^&$ing chicken didn’t stop to help, and I then failed the quest because I was too far away from the escort). And of course, most of them also have groups of mobs which spawn upon them, at the level of the quest but too many to take solo if you’re actually at the proper level for the quest. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/72 "2006-02-15T22:12:29Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > To be fair, Lucasarts made them release the game basically before it was done. And that’s also the reason Bloodlines is far more of an example of what could have been than what is. From about the 2/3rd mark it’s painfully obvious they had to wrap things up quickly. I mean, a sewer level? ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/73 "2006-02-15T22:14:51Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Of course, Wing Commander also had one of the hardest escort missions I’ve ever played. The only thing it has going for it is that you don’t absolutely have to win it. It got to the point where I just used the exploit to get the Ralari back to the Claw without running into any furballs. Bah…we played our games over and over and we loved it! Besides, when it came down to it, losing WAS an option. I DO remember actually flying without autopilot from point A to point B to avoid having to run into the bad guys at waypoints. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/74 "2006-02-15T22:22:10Z")
Yay, I get to be the first to mention the Unreasonable Rubber Band. (I talked about this briefly in the “what kind of games do you like” thread. This will expand a bit.) I play a lot of racing games, and one feature with the potential to drive me insane, if poorly implemented, is called the “[rubber-band effect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difficulty_level).” In short, it’s a means of managing the performance of computer racers to keep the race competitive, no matter how well the player is doing. When implemented well, it provides a challenge; the player stays in the lead only by the skin of his teeth, with rivals nipping at his heels, and wins a close, satisfying victory. But when implemented poorly, the computer drivers are so implausibly fast as to increase frustration and reduce entertainment. The worst I’ve seen, as I mentioned in the other thread, is _Need for Speed: Underground_, which I’ve been grinding through again after having taken a long break due to an unreasonable spike in difficulty in the last couple of dozen races. The rubber band in this game is outrageously bad, especially in the circuit (multi-lap) races. It doesn’t matter how flawlessly you’ve raced the first few laps; you can count on the computer cars creeping up on you and flashing past in the penultimate lap, forcing you to play frantic catch-up in the final lap. Every time. It’s supposed to make the game challenging; it just makes it infuriating. But I’m a completist, so grind away I do. There’s a bit of this in other racing games I play (e.g. the _Midnight Club_ series), but as long as your execution is close to perfect, you will win the race. Not so in _N4S._ Grrrr. (I understand there is a similar effect in some sports games, like _Madden Football_ or whatever it’s called, but I don’t play those, so I can’t speak to it. I imagine someone else will confirm this, though.) ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/75 "2006-02-15T22:33:28Z")
> [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > Selphie is the least obnoxious of the breed…but really, she does NOT belong in any sort of an Elite Combat Unit. She does just fine organizing the Festivals, and I’m sure she’d be perfect as a Candy Striper. > > I was thinking about Yuffie, Relm, and that little brat in FFIX mostly. I’ve yet to play IX. I could take or leave Yuffie, though the motion sickness running gag made me laugh. I was so-so on Relm then after Kefka breaks the world she got really powerful magic-wise. She’s my best friend now (I’m playing though the game for the first time currently), though it bugs me that her hat is red in the battle and world scenes and blue in her portrait. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/76 "2006-02-15T22:48:28Z")
> [@Pochacco](#): > > You’ll be happy to know that on the game I’m working on now one of our mantas for mission creation is “NO ESCORT MISSIONS”. Many thanks indeed, goodsir. You shall have to inform me of the title of this masterpiece, so that I may support this eminently worthy endeavor. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/77 "2006-02-15T23:04:01Z")
> [@Roland Orzabal](#): > > Many thanks indeed, goodsir. You shall have to inform me of the title of this masterpiece, so that I may support this eminently worthy endeavor. Come now. You know, in the poist-coital-gaming glow you’ll look over at the game’s box and think to yourself, “Man, it would have been even cooler if they’d included an escort mission.” -Joe, rapscallion! ---
**Author:** ![Taran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Taran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taran)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/78 "2006-02-15T23:30:23Z")
RPGs where you have to make carefully-timed button presses in order to attack, especially when combined with a high encounter rate. _Legend of Dragoon_, I’m looking in your direction. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/79 "2006-02-16T00:13:08Z")
Level-whoring. What, you think I actually play RPGs for the _gameplay_? I don’t give a flying fajita about getting all the Aeons in FFX (sure made one part of the game easier 😉 ), I care about the characters and their motivations and what makes them who they are. I don’t mind having to level up reasonably, but if I have to spend 3 hours leveling up so I barely have a chance to beat the boss, then I get frustrated. I follow the game - I take all the battles given to me, but I still have to sit around for how many more hours. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591/80 "2006-02-16T00:41:56Z")
Yet another agreement on cutscenes you can’t skip. But also … “Forced-viewpoint” scenes. Most of the game, you can look around any direction you like, but suddenly in this one location, you can’t change the camera angle. Often for no observable reason. _ **I … hate … it!** _ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-video-games-you-hate/344591.md?page=5)