Pet Peeves in video games

[ClarityZero]

Basic game mechanics locked by an ability chart , why all the games have ability charts and all that ?

I don't necessarily mind when it's used as a method of establishing progression, but when it's stuff that's both basic AND can just be grinded out from the get-go, it definitely bugs me.

 

[OmegaPunch's iconOmegaPunch]

I miss when tutorials were short and sweet or all of that information was on the game's manual. Games nowadays are giving tutorials on how to open doors when the player has already played like 10 hours of the damn thing.

Yeah, pokemon is the worst offender for this.
I'm always like: "bro, I already played the game before! Please, let me skip this tutorial!"

 

[Elwiwi]

Story quest that are clearly side quests

 

[OmegaPunch's iconOmegaPunch]

Story quest that are clearly side quests

The amount of games I've played with these types of quests is beyond me.

 

[Num]

my pet peeve is when theres a billion pet peeve threads

 

[ClarityZero]

my pet peeve is when theres a billion pet peeve threads

I mean, mine is specifically about design choices, so as far as I could tell, it was technically unique... :p

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

- Having to walk side by side with a NPC, but we have different movement speeds.
- Having a lot of party members, but not having a way of giving exp to benched ones.
- Characters who won't stfu.
- Having rpg mechanics just for the sake of having them and not actually doing anything with it besides giving numbers that end up meaning nothing.
- Having to go through an hour of dialogue, for something that we could have figured out in 5 minutes.

 

[Zeroskill]

One of my game pet peeves is the theft system in Bethesda games. I kill a random npc an looking at the generic cigarettes on the bookshelf are stolen if I pick them up... Give me a break. The person is dead so the items should be free of ownership. If it was a named item like "John's bracelet" that people in the sandbox world would notice, then yeah. This is an area they probably said meh good enough. In a wasteland like Fallout, possession would be 9/10ths of the law so no need for it to be "stolen" as the morality system is almost non existent.

 

[J.F.C]

my pet peeve is when theres a billion pet peeve threads

Agreed. People like to bitch and moan online too much (including myself) i wouldn't mind seeing an active thread about something nice once in a while.

 

[ClarityZero]

Agreed. People like to bitch and moan online too much (including myself) i wouldn't mind seeing an active thread about something nice once in a while.

Duly noted. While I have you, though, any pet peeves about design choices in games?

 

[harrydubois]

useless dialog that goes on forever.... this might be more than a pet peeve but yeh.. its so annoying when they make a character talk so much but say nothing

 

[King Koopa's iconKing Koopa]

Forced tutorials, cutscenes with no subtitles, quick time events.

 

[OmegaPunch's iconOmegaPunch]

Forced tutorials, cutscenes with no subtitles, quick time events.

I've always hated all of them.

 

[Prism_Red]

Unpauseable cutscene.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Basically just wondering about things that irritate y'all when a game does them. Not on the level of "nah I'm out" but just relatively minor annoyances. I'll start, of course...

• When games don't pick the music back up where it left off after an enemy encounter
• When games tell me I can't go somewhere just because. No lore reason, no asshole NPC, just... "You can't go that way."

These two things, above all others, are the bane of my enjoyment.

-when recovery is at a price that'll take forever to get, bonus points if the enemies in the only dungeon are strong enough to just end the game in a turn. The Dark Spire kicks my ass for that very reason and there isn't anything you can do about it. It's also a massive problem in the Etrian Odyssey games for the first stratum or so

-when the village themes are predictable and you want to leave asap. I'm tired of the generic upbeat, homely town theme. I want more stuff like Slam Shuffle, Castelia City, The Deep Blue Ocean City, Task Force Neuron, Pallet Town (which is pretty downbeat for a hometown theme), Colony 9 (the one in XC1), Torigoth, Tokyo Daylight, Kichijoji, I want musical variety in my town themes if I'm gonna visit them a lot

-Jumps that are too pixel perfect especially if it's not fun

-dungeons with too many colours, that first dungeon in Persona 5 Strikers really fucked my ass up. My AuHD made it so that I couldn't remember where to go properly because of all the neon colours that it's a miracle I got to the boss. The other dungeons did not give me this problem though.

-bottomless pit spam, handheld Sonic really puts that fear in ya

-non dynamic platformer level design, which Advance 1 and especially 2 suffer from. Advance 3 introduces new gimmicks in different acts so that one's better off. Rush has the same problems as Advance 1 & 2 and Rush Adventure is the same as Advance 3 with more creative ideas.

Post automatically merged: Feb 22, 2025

Story quest that are clearly side quests

fetch quests is a good one too
Can't wait to advance the sto-
"go find 10 of this item"

 

[Weebicon]

When characters with long hair have it just clipping through their bodies.

 

[miguk]

“American 2D platformers” is what I would describe as a pet peeve. America can OBVIOUSLY make great platformers, but what I mean is that weird, cluttered level design that many U.S. made platformers took back in the day. Games don’t need to be U.S. to suffer from this: Knuckles Chaotix is DESTROYED by this kind of design. If I can’t tell which part of the level I’m in, then you’ve failed to design the level to be fun to play and replay.

Maybe you're thinking of Euro platformers? Those have a notorious reputation for exactly what you are describing. Even some of the "American" ones were just licensed out to Ocean Software and other Euro platformer developers.

When you stand on top of fire in a game and doesn't do damage

I don't remember what game(s) this was from, but I've seen the opposite problem:

1. Try to light torch.
2. Get up close to light it.
3. Torch is lit.
4. Torch lights me.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Maybe you're thinking of Euro platformers? Those have a notorious reputation for exactly what you are describing. Even some of the "American" ones were just licensed out to Ocean Software and other Euro platformer developers.


I don't remember what game(s) this was from, but I've seen the opposite problem:

1. Try to light torch.
2. Get up close to light it.
3. Torch is lit.
4. Torch lights me.

I was thinking more of EarthWorm Jim, Oscar, and stuff of the like. We all love Jim as a character, but I personally despise the level design ESPECIALLY in 2.

Post automatically merged: Feb 22, 2025

Generally, when I think of Euro Platformers, I think of games that have very slow, methodical movement. Stuff like original Prince of Persia, Oddworld, and Blackthorne.

 

[GardeniaSky]

When 'difficulty' is just bullet sponges and more damage taken, but tactically the fights aren't any different.

That's not 'difficult', that's just wasting my time.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Actually, yeah, I must agree. If you can only hit a boss in very specific moments, it depends on how the fight is done, but it can be one of my biggest gamer rage moments. Sanctus from DMC4 and MOST bosses in Sonic Superstars come to mind.

 

[Big Finger Jim]

Nearly had an autismic brain blast at AC Origins cuz it did that bullshit where when you get the boss's health down to either a certain point, you have to wait for their animations to finish or wait for them to get to a certain position before they either die or turn into another form. Yakuza doesn't make you wait for that shit and FromSoft stuff just lets you wail on them while they're transforming, at least 90% of the time. It's not a huge problem but I had to complain about something.

ALSO, the claw game in the Dragon Engine games is evil.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24]

When 'difficulty' is just bullet sponges and more damage taken, but tactically the fights aren't any different.

That's not 'difficult', that's just wasting my time.

Especially worse if it’s a pallete swap boss. They use the same game code to program it but make it hurt you more/take more punishment.

 

[GardeniaSky]

Especially worse if it’s a pallete swap boss. They use the same game code to program it but make it hurt you more/take more punishment.

I understand why it's a design choice but damn does it make me mad every time I see it.

 

[miguk]

Generally, when I think of Euro Platformers, I think of games that have very slow, methodical movement. Stuff like original Prince of Persia, Oddworld, and Blackthorne.

Those are cinematic platformers. Some of those were made in Europe, but they were not what was referred to when people said "Euro platformer." Generally, a stereotypical Euro platformer is a platformer with really bright, colorful, and technically good graphics but is ruined by bad gameplay, confusing and distracting background elements, and nonsensical character design and presentation. Think Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3-D or half the platformers on the Amiga.

That doesn't describe all Euro platformers, of course. There were some good ones, though they would often have the same aesthetics as the bad ones. (The Rayman series is a good example of Euro platformers done right.)

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Those are cinematic platformers. Some of those were made in Europe, but they were not what was referred to when people said "Euro platformer." Generally, a stereotypical Euro platformer is a platformer with really bright, colorful, and technically good graphics but is ruined by bad gameplay, confusing and distracting background elements, and nonsensical character design and presentation. Think Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3-D or half the platformers on the Amiga.

That doesn't describe all Euro platformers, of course. There were some good ones, though they would often have the same aesthetics as the bad ones. (The Rayman series is a good example of Euro platformers done right.)

Okay. Thank you. I’m sorry for being uncultured on this.

I guess it’s just that I don’t like SUPER NON LINEAR 2D game design to where it feels like a total mess. There’s an art to making map designs that don’t feel like a total mess.