Common Sins/Blessings in Videogames.

[Zynux]

Have you ever played a game where a small, simple technical mechanic in the game either lifted you to euphoria or enraged you to a bloody massacre? Post here common little things that pop up in games that you love or loathe.

For those who may still be confused at what the thread is really about, my sins/blessings in this post will hopefully clear things up. You're also free to post what you think should be adopted by all games everywhere:




Common Sins:


Unskippable Cutscenes: This, right here my friends, is probably what pisses me off the most in games. Though becoming far less common (good!), its ugliness is still present in even some games today! Seriously, we've now entered into the year 2012, why can't I decide if I want to watch your cutscene or not? The only good reason is if you accidentally skip an important story segment, but that is what a Theater Mode is for (which I cover in Blessings). To make this worse, some games make it that you can only skip cutscenes after you've beaten the game. Seriously?

Denied the right to have customizable control buttons: This too is dying out, but unfortunately it still persists. Options and Features, people. Why don't game developers realize this?

Denied multiple difficulty options: My God, are you kidding me? In this day and age, I still start a game up and there is no option for me to change difficulties? Now, I love a challenging game, so when a game does offer multiple difficulties, I usually pick the harder ones (unless by word of mouth the game is known to be hard) but no, some games completely ignore this. Again, Options and Features. The only thing that makes this worse is if the only way to unlock a harder difficulty is tobeat the game on normal first (most Metroid games, I'm looking at you!!![Now, to be fair, I remember Prime 3 offering Veteran Mode but that was just a joke. No difficulty at all]). Fuck you, Game Developers. Fuck you.

Invisible Walls: No. Just no. If you don't want me to go there, then at least throw a "natural boundary" there (walls, trees, mountains).



Common Blessing:


No need to activate a speech with an NPC if what they want to say is unimportant: As much as I detest Final Fantasy XIII and all that it stands for, I must give credit when credit is due. When you walk up to an NPC who has nothing useful to say that will impact the game (or his/her dialogue is literally only a couple of words) he'll say what he needs to say without the activation. Super Mario Galaxy also implemented this and it was lovely.

An option to speed up or slow down animations and text speech: Need I say more?

Be able to reload previous saves: Mainly a blessing on PC games, the ability to reload old saves and autosaves. Wonderful, especially if you accidentally screwed your game over.

The ability to re-fight bosses: More games need to pick up on this, especially Action Games. Seriously.

Theater Mode: Any mode in the game that allows me to re-watch cutscenes, important story dialogue bits, etc. This would pretty much eradicate the practical purposes of Unskippable Cutscenes as well.

Be able to skip mundane animations (like door opening): One immediate example that comes to my mind is Ninja Gaiden, where you could skip the animations of Gates opening. Good stuff.

To be able to 'Rewind' dialogue text you already read AKA Backlog: I love playing a game where someone says something, and since I miss it I can just backlog and re-read it again.

Selection Explanation: Fire Emblem is notorious for this. They will explain to you what each selection and option is just by pressing a button.



Stuff that Should Be Commonplace in Videogames:


Pausing the game during a cutscene/credits: Why oh why oh why can't I do this in most games? I find it wonderful that all I need to do is press the Wii Home button and anything is paused at my leisure, but this really needs to become the norm.

[kronoridley]

Totally agree on the cutscene pause button.

Sins:
QTE in FPSs: Seriously, I have not seen a SINGLE good use. The biggest offender being Call Of duty Black Ops and Goldeneye Wii, with the former having them every three seconds or so, and the latter having AN ENTIRE QTE FIST FIGHT!

Blessings:
Camoflaged/lack of HUD: Maybe it's just me, but I think HUDs can on many occasions get in the way of immersion. Games like Portal and Half Life 2 have very little to no HUD, and games like Metroid Prime have camouflaged HUD, where it is supposed to be integrated into the helmet itself.

Middle ground:
Non-cutscene cinematics: Recently, many games have ditched cutscenes for cinematics that are implanted into the gameplay itself, which I think started with Half Life 2, though I could be wrong. In the cases of Call of Duty and Goldeneye Wii, they are boring, making the fact that they are unskipable a real pain. In games like Portal 2 and Half 2, they are always fun, and allow most of the time for a bit of freedom during them.

[TheBlackCat]

Sins:

Endless identical rooms HALO was a big offender at this, it was often impossible to tell whether you were going forward or backwards since every looked pretty much the same.

Charging money to advance the story You shouldn't have to go out and grind for hours just to get enough money to buy and item you need to advance the story. If they charge for it, it should be a trivial amount.

Letting you sell or drop unique story-critical items If you can't progress in the game without an item, and there is only one of those items in the game, you should not be able to lose the item. The same goes for items that are needed for side-quests or for upgrades if there is no way to get the item back.

Trying and failing to shoe-horn a story into a non-story-based game A puzzle game doesn't need a story, if you aren't going to do it well then why waste our time with it?

Movie adaptions Ever. In either direction.

Metal bikinis Armor is meant to protect you, which it can't do if it only covers 3% of your body. x10 when guys get full-body plate mail and women get lingerie with a couple square inches of metal. It is similar if the guy's armor is "mail" and "plate" and the woman's is "dress" and "corset". A translucent silk nightgown will not protect you from Dracula!

Instant-death These are acceptable in platformers where you are expected to do the same segment over and over, but in any other genre they are terrible. This applies to multi-player games as well (i.e. blue shells).

Jells/gels/jellies/slimes/blobs/etc. Every single game has to have some sort of formless, transparent blob. Please come up with something new! At least the multiviola bounces around the room erratically instead of hopping not-so-menacingly at you like 99.9% of them.

Kidnapping the princess It is just getting old, come up with something new. Of course I could accept it if there was some sort of real twist on the formula, or a parody. Ooh, that gave me an interesting idea...

The princess rescues the kidnapped hero This is both a cynical and superficial attempt at gender equality and further only serves to reinforce the initial stereotype.

Talking about talking about buttons Yes, for practical reasons NPCs often have to break the fourth wall by telling you what buttons to press. That is fine. But having the character go on to say something along the lines of "not that I understand what this 'button' thing is" makes me nauseous.

Losing your enhancements on upgrade When you upgrade a weapon, vehicle, character, or something, and then you get the chance to evolve it or something like that, you shouldn't lose all of the upgrades you have already put into it.

Blessings:

Enemies don't drop items you can't carry any more of If you can't carry more of the item, why give it to you? Super Metroid had this but it was removed in later games.

Multiple endings In this day and age there should always be at least a couple ways the game can end (besides "win" and "die"). Obviously only for story-based games. Even if it is just a couple different "lose" endings (like in Myst or Riven).

Go back and explore In open games like platformers, action-adventure, graphical adventure, and RPG, letting you go back and continue to explore, fight enemies, upgrade and so on after you have beaten the main story is nice, especially if it counts towards the next one.

new game+ (i.e. starting a new game with your current items and stats). It is nice not having to go through the effort to collect all your items and level up all your characters if you don't want to. Especially if this opens up new endings or new possible approaches to the game (Chrono Trigger did this well).

Subtitles I often just turn the sound off since I live in an apartment. Besides, the voice acting often sucks, while subtitles suck less.

Unlockables Once again, in this day and age there should be some reward for re-playing the game. Hard mode with no reward for it is especially annoying.

Unlockable items Artwork is nice, but giving you something you can use in the game is even better. Recent Castlevania games are nice because they even give you weapons and armor for beating boss rush in a certain period of time.

Enemies that change your controls Others might not like this since it breaks the fourth wall but I think they are an interesting mechanic. Maybe if developers actually used this a lot it would be in the other category, though...

Visible items It annoys me when you get all of these weapon and armor upgrades but your character always looks exactly the same. I understand why this is hard, which makes me much more impressed when the developers take the time to make unique sprites or models for all the upgrades.

[Zynux]

More Sins/Blessings


Sins


Once you enter the final area, you can't go back and explore: Many times, when I saved before the final boss, I want to leave the final dungeon and go back and try to find lost items, secrets, etc., but nope! I've come across some games where once you enter the final room, you can't exit for some bizarre reason. Please, no more.

Holding your hand/Telling me where to go: "Now that you're accomplished that, please go exactly here to do exactly this." Seriously. Stop. I don't need you to constantly tell me where to go and what to do. I'ma big boy, I can figure it out myself. In-game hints are fine, but many games seem to cross that line.

Not being allowed to pick the same exact identical characters: Many Mario Sport games and spin-offs, I'm looking at you. I can't count how many times in the old days we used to fight who got Yoshi in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, and fight for toad/toadette in Mario Kart Double Dash. Why? Yes, in a way, its unrealistic to have two Mario's but then again its just a videogame. A Mario game at that. Honestly, in multiplayer it doesn't really matter. That's what alternate costumes are for.

Random-generated battles: I'm not sure if RPG fans will agree with me on this but I stand by my stance that Random-generated battles is an archaic, annoying game mechanic that needs to be burned at the fire.

No save-spot before a boss: Screw games that make you do a million events and then make you fight a boss, with no save spot, and then when you die you must do those events all over again. It should become a Videogame Law that there must be a savepoint before every boss.



Blessings


Fast travel for an open-world game: Imagine Skyrim without fast travel. imo, it would probably be the most tedious game ever. I don't agree with the opinion that fast travel is automatically "newbish", "holding you hand", or "less hardcore" or whatever. There is a fine line between difficulty and exploration then just down-right searing tediousness, boredom, and generally a waste of time to travel across the world.

Conveniently killing low-level enemies: Earthbound did this well. When a enemy became so weak that you could one-shot it, the game would completely skip the animation to speeds things up. Especially in turn-based RPGs, it gets tedious to be forced into a fight against low-level enemies that are so weak they don't even get a chance to attack you or do any damage.



What needs to be the Norm


A Journal or something similar to recap what you have done: There have been many times when I picked up a game from a long hiatus and was like "So...what was I doing again?"

Change text size: I'm not sure if any game does this, but I want your guys opinion on this: the ability to change the text size, especially if the game doesn't transition well to an HD TV.

Customizable Menus: Again, I'm not sure if any game does this, but I would like it a lot if I could (if possible) rearrange my menus.

Sins:
QTE in FPSs: Seriously, I have not seen a SINGLE good use. The biggest offender being Call Of duty Black Ops and Goldeneye Wii, with the former having them every three seconds or so, and the latter having AN ENTIRE QTE FIST FIGHT!

Agreed, I think QTE should just be avoided in general, especially in FPSs and Action games.

Enemies don't drop items you can't carry any more of If you can't carry more of the item, why give it to you? Super Metroid had this but it was removed in later games.

This a million times. I love it when games do this.

Letting you sell or drop unique story-critical items If you can't progress in the game without an item, and there is only one of those items in the game, you should not be able to lose the item. The same goes for items that are needed for side-quests or for upgrades if there is no way to get the item back.

Just out of curiosity, do you remember the game that does this? Because I have yet to find one, and that's pretty bad if the game really allows you to do that.

Kidnapping the princess It is just getting old, come up with something new. Of course I could accept it if there was some sort of real twist on the formula, or a parody. Ooh, that gave me an interesting idea...

Obviously Mario is the biggest offender of this, but I'm glad for the Mario RPGs and such, since they often put a spin on it (even Paper Mario, which was only "the princess is kidnapped!" handled the formula much better than the platformers). When it comes to Super Mario Galaxy, I let it slide only because of my love for Rosalina as a character. Finally the Mario franchise created a female character that gives me a reason to give a damn about her, with actually character development and backstory! And not a useless damsel in distress either!

[TheBlackCat]

This:

Random-generated battles: I'm not sure if RPG fans will agree with me on this but I stand by my stance that Random-generated battles is an archaic, annoying game mechanic that needs to be burned at the fire.

Without this:

Fast travel for an open-world game: Imagine Skyrim without fast travel. imo, it would probably be the most tedious game ever. I don't agree with the opinion that fast travel is automatically "newbish", "holding you hand", or "less hardcore" or whatever. There is a fine line between difficulty and exploration then just down-right searing tediousness, boredom, and generally a waste of time to travel across the world.

= disaster

Letting you sell or drop unique story-critical items If you can't progress in the game without an item, and there is only one of those items in the game, you should not be able to lose the item. The same goes for items that are needed for side-quests or for upgrades if there is no way to get the item back.

Just out of curiosity, do you remember the game that does this? Because I have yet to find one, and that's pretty bad if the game really allows you to do that.

Recent Castlevania games are terrible at this. They aren't story-critical, but one-of-a-kind items necessary to do side-quests can be sold in several of them.

Obviously Mario is the biggest offender of this, but I'm glad for the Mario RPGs and such, since they often put a spin on it (even Paper Mario, which was only "the princess is kidnapped!" handled the formula much better than the platformers). When it comes to Super Mario Galaxy, I let it slide only because of my love for Rosalina as a character. Finally the Mario franchise created a female character that gives me a reason to give a damn about her, with actually character development and backstory! And not a useless damsel in distress either!

Even so, how many dozens of times do we have to go through it before they come up with something new?

[Chris]

Does anyone play Mario for the story?

Sins

HUD Blood and similar effects, unless my character is wearing a visor then please piss off with this, it's really annoying. The only game I didn't mind this in was the Prime games as it made sense.

Health regeneration, bring back health packs please, crouching behind a crate till my health is back to normal isn't my idea of fun. It's even worse when in MP games.

Blue Shells.

Unskippable game intros, I mean like the publisher and developer screens when you start a game.

Achievements, remember when games used to be fun in order to make you continue playing them? Those were the days.

[Naner]

I really don't mind lame stories when it comes to simple games. Just enough to get you going. In Mario, Bowser kidnaps the princess. In Donkey Kong, a bunch of enemies steal DK's bananas. In Rayman, the bad guys are annoyed with your snoring and decide to take over the world because of it. In all those games, there are many elements that aren't explained at all (why do coins give Mario extra lives? Why does Rayman have to collect those little critters?), but it's better to not explain them than to give a really crappy excuse for it. Some classic series like Zelda and Metroid evolved from "save the princess" and "destroy the space pirates" to things much more interesting and complex (though normally leading to saving the princess or destroying the space pirates), but some series do good in sticking to the basics. Those games' magic can depend solely on the gameplay.

[Zynux]

I don't mind simple, lame, cliche stories just a long as they are executed well. Again, the original Paper Mario and Super Mario Galaxy are imo great examples of this. Also, Zelda is typically a good example of how they can evolve and yet keep it simple at the same time. I guess my problem is the abuse. It starts to lose its charm how many times its used. But Chris is right, no-one plays Mario for the story.

but it's better to not explain them than to give a really crappy excuse for it.

I agree with this 100% though.

Health regeneration, bring back health packs please, crouching behind a crate till my health is back to normal isn't my idea of fun. It's even worse when in MP games.

This is also an evil that must be eradicated. The best way to get rid of any challenge in a game.

[doc O. Mire]

Sins:
Making games for the sole purpose of making money: Yes, people need money to get through daily life, but games are entertainment, just like movie and books, and if anyone has read a series of books by a greedy author, it becomes blatantly obvious when they aren't writing because they love their story and want to share it with readers, they just want a fatter purse. Same goes for games (looking at Activision)

Using three colors for the entire world: Even in real life this never happens, and although Human Revolution seems to have done this in a way that doesn't make everything look bland, most games like this might as well be played color-blind

Info-dumps: Whether it be a character spending fifteen minutes trying to tell you the game's story or playing through an hour-long tutorial filled with tedious conversation, people inevitably long to get to some real gameplay. Remember when the only tutorial you got was in the small notebook that came with the game? I want those days back

Blessings:
E-shopping: It's cheap, usually fast and offers independent developers a way to live the dream and create/distribute games even though they don't have a hundred-man-team behind them.

Breaking genre conventions: A Rhythm game within an RPG? (Mother 3) Shooter levels in a Mario game? (Super Mario Land) A freaking date simulator in a puzzle game!? (C(K)atherine) It's nice to see new, strange additions to a tried formula. I just wish more games would do it...

What should be common-place:
Preventing credits boredom: Who actually stays for the credits of most movies? Not many people, but most games make you wait for them to end before you can save your progress and move on to the after-game stuff. However, games like Kirby and the Amazing mirror or Skyward Sword help break up that monotony by letting you continue to fight the final boss while credits roll and see an entirely different side to the story you just played through respectively.

In-game recording equipment: In Terraria (a fun little... actually vast and addictive indie game) you can create a neat little device that lets you record in-game music, and then play it anywhere else. It's a small little thing, but imagine if you were able to take Rundas' battle theme (since you only get to hear it for the time it takes to fire one/two volleys of hyperbeams) with you and play it during any other boss fight you wanted, or carry the soothing sounds of Red Brinstar to help ease the tension of sneaking through Tourian. Perhaps enjoy the triumphant melody of Samus' theme after taking down Meta-Ridley? It'd be a small gesture, but a much appreciated one

[sharonlover]

My biggest complaint is having a Japanese created game and not having the ability to listen to the original Japanese voice over's with subtitles. Instead I'm bombarded with horrible english dubs when I'd rather be reading subs.

[Naner]

True, sharonlover. In some cases, the English dub is acceptable, but it isn't in others. For example, Street Fighter IV's English dubs are ear rape. But at least that game had the option for Japanese voices.

[Azure Dragonius]

True, sharonlover. In some cases, the English dub is acceptable, but it isn't in others. For example, Street Fighter IV's English dubs are ear rape. But at least that game had the option for Japanese voices.

I liked SFIV's English dubs.
Except for Chun-Li. Laura Bailey (I think that's her VA) can fuck off as Chun-Li's VA. To be honest, I preferred Street Fighter III's voices, because they all fit the characters. The Japanese characters were Japanese, and so on.

Sins
No way to change the difficulty: Already been covered.
Unskippable tutorial level: If I'm replaying a game, then I don't want to deal with a goddamn tutorial when I already know how to play the game. Half-Life handled this pretty well, by making the tutorial level separate from the actual game.
Releasing a shitload of really expensive DLC, then coming out with a GotY or "Complete" edition that's less than all the DLCs combined: Fallout 3 is a major offender in this case. Each DLC is about ten bucks, if I remember correctly (might even be more) and it has five separate ones. Then they released a GotY edition, which has all the DLC, and I can get that for $20 pre-owned. That's why no one buys the DLC of a popular game, because they know that a GotY edition is just going to come out with all the DLC, for a lower price than all the DLC combined. The same thing goes for complete editions, like Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition, Ultimate Marvel VS. Capcom 3, and Super Street Fighter IV (Arcade Edition).

I might just be bitching too much, but meh. All I've got for now. Can't think of any blessings or things that should be the norm, either. Might edit this post later.

[Infinity's End]

Blessing:

• Infinite/No Lives
• Fast/Hidden/No Load times
• Well-placed Checkpoints or Save points
• Being able to save at any time, or auto-saving

Sins:

• Low health alarm that CAN'T BE TURNED OFF!
• MORE THAN ONE low health alarm
• Wasting a player's time by not giving an optional tutorial dialogue that does nothing more than stating the obvious
• Insulting the player in general by making them feel as though they've never played a game in their life.

Can't think of any more sins right now that haven't already been covered. maybe i'll add more later.
This topic is pretty good. Maybe OP could keep updating their first post with a compendium of this list?

[Zynux]

This topic is pretty good. Maybe OP could keep updating their first post with a compendium of this list?

Hmmm, that doesn't sound that bad. I guess I'll wait and see what other people think about that. Also depends on whether the majority of the users even agree with the bulletins that were posted in this thread. From what I've read agree with most of them but some people may not.

[Naner]

Being able to save at any time, or auto-saving

I'd say this depends. In many games, being able to save at any time ruins the mood. Autosaving can also get annoying sometimes, but it's normally a good thing.

As an example, I don't think either mechanic would work well in a Metroid game.