Pet Peeves in video games

[DunkeyKong]

I think you forgot the "s", there is a thread about it here https://retrogametalk.com/threads/pet-peeves-in-video-games.2400/. But anyway, I think that'd be lives and a timer in a platformer and unskippable cutscenes

 

[Vexicrypt]

I hate how a lot of games -- metroidvanias especially -- adopted the "you lose your money/souls/whatever when you die" mechanic from Souls games. It was cool and edgy for the first 10 times but now its just annoying imo.

 

[Jimbo_McDumbo]

I know this is the point of these but I hate in games like DMC or Bayonetta, when you die three times they ask if you want to reduce the difficulty. I'm not a prideful man, but I refuse to drop to easy mode. Also all games should give you the option to skip the tutorials or pause cutscenes

>pic unrelated

Post automatically merged: Apr 25, 2025

Y E S
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Numbers is the absolute worst way to up the difficulty, because it doesn't make anything harder. It just makes it more of a slog. There are so many games that try this, and without fail they make me just stop.

I'd say grinding. While it generally hasn't been necessary since 1989, some bad games show up every so often and decide that you need to waste time leveling up to progress. You should be having a hard time because your strategy is shit, not because you didn't waste enough time. This also ties directly into the difficulty = numbers mindset.

Grinding is gay. I mean that literally, why else why else would they call the gay dating app "Grindr"?

 

[RageBurner]

I think you forgot the "s", there is a thread about it here https://retrogametalk.com/threads/pet-peeves-in-video-games.2400/. But anyway, I think that'd be lives and a timer in a platformer and unskippable cutscenes

Good catch, I do believe this calls for a merger.

Merge complete. Hopefully no puppies were harmed in the process.

 

[Leo-Dash]

1. Combat session - Story session having huge duration in differences
   • the Dungeon took 10 minutes and now I'm stuck with 30+ minutes of cutscenes!
2. Slide Puzzle! Extra points if it's a
   
3. JRPG with a Hot Spring Events
   • Extra if it's another ON NOES the male party members accidentally got into the women's hot spring section! You perverts! We are going to beat you to death
     • Yes Yapsona 3, 4 & 5 I'm calling you out
4. Endless Tutorials
5. RPGs with almost 20+ characters but only 3-4 party members in combat
   • and the protagonist cannot be removed from the party! He is forced member!
     • I need to make a thread about games that do this right with multiple teams
6. Forced Mini-games! I don't find them as "a plesant break from the game's norm" I find them invasive and detract from parts of the games I enjou!
   • No NOMURA! I don't like KH2:FM for the stupid minigames! I love it for the Combat!
     • Modders please removed Atlantica and replace it with Traverse Town, like the creator of the Nobody May Cry MOD is doing
   • No NOMURA! Re:coded has good combat! It doesn't need world Gimmicks and minigames! STOP taking the game's combat away from me!
7. Established game franchises which are already loved for what they are getting watered down/dumbed down with Sequels in order to attract more wide audiences instead of sticking to what their fanbases love in the first place!
8. Useful common abilities that are locked at optional content instead of being spreaded naturally in the main game
   • Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days unfortunately! You need to farm & complete challenges and extra game!
9. Higher difficulties that just give more Attack & HP to enemies while reducing yours! No new attacks! No advance AI combat mechanics! Just make them Damage Spongers
10. Forced stealth sections
    • yugioh 5ds stardust accelerator 2009! I bought you to play cards games! Why is there a Forced Stealth section in order to advance the story?

 

[Hourai]

Grinding is gay. I mean that literally, why else why else would they call the gay dating app "Grindr"?

I had hoped we'd be past hiding intent behind jokes, but I suppose that's too much to ask for, isn't it?

 

[Iracunda]

please i just wanna use controller

 

[Bacon Eater64x]

Permanently missable Content. Wanna continue through the story but forgot to finish one sidequest? OOOPS YOU LOST YOUR CHANCE BUDDY SEE YOU IN NEW GAME PLUS. Some times i understand due to lore reasons (FF6 is a good example) but otherwise it makes it a chore to do sidequests as i always do them at my own leisure. Tales of Vesperia is an example of this, ruining a lot of the side content as a result.

The other pet peeve and the one that really ruins a lot of retro game experiences: LIMITED CONTINUES. Every game that does this deserves to be save-stated to fucking death. Im gonna just quote AVGN on this because it applies:

I really hate this password thing in general because, what's the point? You should have unlimited continues. Yeah, because the only reason you should have to put in a password is if you turn the game off and want to come back to it later. As long as you're still playing, you're gonna keep playing the same stages over and over and over again, so what's the point of sending you all the way back to the beginning? The earlier stages are the easiest, and those are the stages you end up playing the most. It's the later stages where you need the most practice! It's all about trial and error. Like imagine if in high school, you fail out of senior year. What happens? You do senior year again, right? You don't have to go back and do freshman year again! So, BOTTOM LINE, HAVE UNLIMITED CONTINUES! Goddammit

Whenever a game does this, it makes me wanna stop playing it, instead of playing it more. I already HAD beaten the earlier stages, i don't need to replay them AGAIN.

 

[Ikagura]

Permanently missable Content. Wanna continue through the story but forgot to finish one sidequest? OOOPS YOU LOST YOUR CHANCE BUDDY SEE YOU IN NEW GAME PLUS. Some times i understand due to lore reasons (FF6 is a good example) but otherwise it makes it a chore to do sidequests as i always do them at my own leisure. Tales of Vesperia is an example of this, ruining a lot of the side content as a result.

FF7 had an area in Disc 3 to allow lost materia at least.

But that's why a guide or having several save slots is always better for that kind of stuff.

The other pet peeve and the one that really ruins a lot of retro game experiences: LIMITED CONTINUES. Every game that does this deserves to be save-stated to fucking death. Im gonna just quote AVGN on this because it applies:

Some people will answer you with a "git gud"/"skill issue" or "the game is short, that's to prevent people from finishing it in just an afternoon".

While I can agree that in context that's why Super Mario Bros has a limited continue system that is backed up by 1-ups, shortcuts and warp zones but in the meantime I don't mind having free play for Neogeo games as score resets upon each so there are still stakes for the scorers.

I really hate this password thing in general because, what's the point? You should have unlimited continues. Yeah, because the only reason you should have to put in a password is if you turn the game off and want to come back to it later. As long as you're still playing, you're gonna keep playing the same stages over and over and over again, so what's the point of sending you all the way back to the beginning? The earlier stages are the easiest, and those are the stages you end up playing the most. It's the later stages where you need the most practice! It's all about trial and error. Like imagine if in high school, you fail out of senior year. What happens? You do senior year again, right? You don't have to go back and do freshman year again! So, BOTTOM LINE, HAVE UNLIMITED CONTINUES! Goddammit

I firmly believe that password systems were meant for game magazines so that testers would get to a specific level more quickly or waiting a bit to distribute them so that younger players would see more of the game. A password system acts both as a save (without the sram) and a level select option.

Whenever a game does this, it makes me wanna stop playing it, instead of playing it more. I already HAD beaten the earlier stages, i don't need to replay them AGAIN.

Some games have great first levels as well (since they're played in kiosks).

 

[Bacon Eater64x]

I hate when some games are so dark that it's impossible to see anything unless I turn up brightness to the max.

Holy shit i thought i was alone on this. It's the sole reason i despite Twilight Princess's artstyle. The characrter designs are good (except for Zelda) but i cannot see anything. Smash Ultimate's Dracula Castle is guilty of this.

Some people will answer you with a "git gud"/"skill issue" or "the game is short, that's to prevent people from finishing it in just an afternoon".

I never agreed with the latter mindset. Maybe because im not a kid with limited options admitedly, but i rather play an easy game over and over again than get stuck in a hard as balls game. I like making progress and moving to the next challenge, beign stuck in the same part brings nothing but frustration to me. It's why Super Castlevania 4 captivated me while Dracula X ended up beign one of my least favorite games when i was a kid.

I had more fun playing games like Kirby 64 where i was able to finish the game as much as i wanted than say, the Lion King SNES where the second stage took all the fun and made it garbo.

Limited Continues is part of the problem, making it so that you repeat the same stages you already did (and therefore are actually good at) over and over instead of moving to the ONE part you actually need to "GiT guOd" at. At that point it is more about fatigue instead of providing an actual challenge. Also FUCK games that don't have a password and still have limited continues (looking at YOU Batman Returns for the SNES)

 

[Deleted member 137060]

When I recently tried out Red Dead Redemption 2 for the first time and after few hours I realized that even I thought I'm having fun for most of the time I don't want to play this game anymore because of those unskippable body looting animations, it's kinda made me feel like game is punishing me for no reason because every time after big shootout I either have to waste my time for watching looting animation for every single enemy I killed or leave all the loot behind that makes me feel bad and made me drop the game after like 15 hours.
Do y'all also had small things like that ruins games for you?

 

[solnK!]

The body horror and animal violence in Parasite Eve, Im not comfortable with that vibe

 

[χKai]

Unskippable cutscenes at every shrine you finish in Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom. More of that 'forces you to look at & read the same thing over and over repeatedly' bullshit, and while you can skip them  technically, the prompt alway takes way too long to pop up, forcing you to watch at least 3 seconds worth anyway before you even get to skip. It's bullshit and unnecessary, other cutscenes in the game let you skip right away, but not the most overplayed cutscene in the game - Shrine completion. Almost makes me not want to play it.

 

[dropsmegamega]

Those awful fonts that don't fit the games that are used because of accessibility or something and can't be toggled either. It's very hard to give the game a chance if the menus already feel bad.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Yeah, nothing breaks the immersion more for me than unskippable anything.

 

[Vexicrypt]

I tried playing RE4 Remake but was very disappointed with how weighty the character feels whith his body inertia (I think that's how its called). Original game was frisky and snappy, remake felt like I'm running underwater.

 

[Frickinfrik]

The door cutscenes in the original Resident Evil and it’s remake.

 

[bjork]

Forced scrolling levels outside of shmups

Escort missions 99% of the time. Don't run INTO the enemy bullets, dummy

Tail missions. Has one of these ever been done exactly how it was probably envisioned?

Timers unless it's an old arcade port or it makes sense for the story. A bomb is going to go off or someone's going to get smashed by a falling ceiling? Sure. Super Mario 3? Why.

 

[vulonkaaz's iconvulonkaaz]

frequent forced updates is why i can't play fortnite

 

[RustySK]

Usually this one is a first playthrough issue only, but I've dropped games over it - intrusive tutorial popups.

Another one would be micro-cutscenes or camera swerves that introduce or point out things in the environment that need neither introduction nor pointing out just so even the most inattentive player can't possibly miss them.
I generally hate it when a game takes away control of the camera to show off some random thing. Massive pet peeve of mine since RE6.

 

[G.L.a.D.O.S.]

The body horror and animal violence in Parasite Eve, Im not comfortable with that vibe

~OOC~
Well, it is supposed to be Lovecraftian type horror, so that is part of it.
Much like in Resident Evil, where the viruses mutate humans into abominations. I understand your distaste for it, some people don’t enjoy that. Honestly, it should have had a warning about it.
Like how I think it was RE1 had the violence and gore warning upfront before the game started.

Yeah, nothing breaks the immersion more for me than unskippable anything.

Unskippable cutscenes for me, as well as scrolling text.
Sometimes I just don't care about the story. I just want to play my game and be a loot goblin.

As for myself.
Sluggish feeling action games. I recently started playing Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge, and I don't know why. But it feels like it has input lag or the game is chugging through molasses.

I am playing it on the 360 from an SSD, with no disc loading involved. Maybe it's just the 360.
But I have had other action and fast paced type games feel this way in the past, again almost like there is a split second or more of input lag.

 

[Anim8rDude Anim8rDude]

Forced backtracking in games. Luckily this died with the PS2 era, but there's nothing I hate more than when a JRPG (of all game genres) does it for no good reason except padding time. This usually coupled with unskippable cutscenes as mentioned above, or no fast travel options is just cruel, lazy game design.

It's kind of a grey zone though. Like I'm fine when horror games do it (in moderation), since survival & navigation is usually part of the challenge. Or games like the Metroids which usually test how well you remember the entire map.


Also this one is more of a personal pet peeve but any game that can't run or dips below 30FPS, because the game wasn't optimized or built for it, just turns me off right away. 64 games are excluded for the most part.

 

[JPchicre]

I actually like little irritating unskippable cut-scenes, even if they are irritating.To me they add to the atmosphere more often then not. The thing that truly irks-me through is a bad translation. Indie Chinese games still have difficult with that.

 

[MasterEn]

Unskippable cutscenes at every shrine you finish in Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom. More of that 'forces you to look at & read the same thing over and over repeatedly' bullshit, and while you can skip them  technically, the prompt alway takes way too long to pop up, forcing you to watch at least 3 seconds worth anyway before you even get to skip. It's bullshit and unnecessary, other cutscenes in the game let you skip right away, but not the most overplayed cutscene in the game - Shrine completion. Almost makes me not want to play it.

i use that time to stretch or get a sip of a drink. you need to work on your dandori skills.

 

[Deleted member 660650]

- Not liking the personality of the character I control

- Not liking how my character looks like (I don't mean sexually)

- My character making stupid decisions

- My character is being morally good person that goes beyond of what anyone would do

- Forced obvious mistakes just to make a lazy story progression happen in the way it is forced

- Story being plain stupid

- Game is too story focused, less of a gameplay

- Uninteresting point of the game (For example whole main story is about looking for a missing person)

- Technical problems like cannot pause the game, cannot save anytime, forced checkpoint usage therefore losing significant progress every time you die and all

- Too grindy

- Camera issues: I ignore any game that has an isometric, fixed, uncontrollable camera, et cetera at this time and age unless POV doesn't cause any significant issue

- Unless the game is old random enemy encounters is unaccaptable

- Forced graphical effects that cannot even be turned off via setting file like blood, DOF, blur and shit

- The game is mostly being developed for perverts, it also includes games that anything else is an excuse just for sexual fantasies

- Game having any BS interactive cinema moments like walking slowly and talking tons of people, pushing cars for half an hour, and whatnot BS

- Inconsistent logic in the game which Red Dead Redemption 2 is my prime example. The game is "realistic" enough for horse balls get big due to temperature but the moment I just deleted the game was I was riding me horse near a wooden classic fort in wild west and people in it started to attack me no reason and I could not enter it no matter what. I even bombarded the wooden door with dynimite. If the game supposed to be that realistic then Fort should've been demolished by now SMH. It was a very rare moment in any game I felt so immersion breaking

- Using annoying SFX as "dialogue voice". I almost wanted to throw Switch 1 out of windows because of this BS in Animal Crossing

- Gameplay being too sucks (for example Jet Set Radio)

- Save file being too much (why I just throwed some PS1 and PS2 games out of the games out of window), not to mention one game spamming lots of save files asking for its own memory card (no thanks bro)

- Game being too cringy (For example Resident Evil 4)

- Game having a forced Tetris mini-game as inventory management (For example Resident Evil 4)

- Game having BS combat system (For example Resident Evil 4)

- Game just designed to annoy you (For example Resident Evil 4)

- Game basically having no story and the gameplay is boring AF but drags "story progression" on and on (For example Resident Evil 4)

- Being "checking rooms simulator" (For example Silent Hill 3)

- Any game sold "episodically" (For example new BS Hitman games)

- Any game despite being singleplayer but forced game to run via server

- Any game forcing launcher and sign-in to tons of shit

- Any game with double DRM

- Any game with Denuvo

- Any game afraid to use "male/female" in character creation

I guess I could keep on and on but these are my fundamental "no-no in video games" list lol