Annoying video game trends

In no particular order:

1) No game manuals. I've bought 3 new games, and each of them have a thin leaflet inside instead of the usual booklet. I guess it saves them money not having to print out books for each game they sell. Not to mention games on various console would require unique prints. Still I do like reading all the instructions before I start playing a new game. I guess since nowadays they have in game tutorials. Learn by doing and all that. But it would be less work to program in such a sequence for every game I'd think. Give them more time to work on the game and avoid the next problem:

2) First day game patches. WTF. Assassin's Creed III had 44 glitches on the first day that needed to be patched. A finished product with that many problems right at the start. How is that possible. I'd think they'd have testing phase and weed out such things. But no. After a week at least 80% of most games get a patch of some sort. I guess making games is expensive, but putting out such a unfinished/defective product is embarrassing for them. But what makes it worse is what also comes out on the first day:

3) First day DLC. So you just bought your $60 game, and they release a $10 addition to it on the first day it's out. True sometimes they add bonus content if you Pre-order. But this is usually unique add-ons that they choose to make along with the original game. The decided not to have that level added to the release instead they want extra dough right off the bat. DLC should have a two-three week waiting period. Most time this is when people have played enough of the game to want more content.

4) Regenerating/Unlimited Health, Shield, Armor, Ammo, etc. I'm old school so sue me. It's fun to some extent, but games that give you auto-refill lack something. I think it's tension. The danger isn't really there. Unless you're going against a tank you're pretty much going to win against anything you fight. Managing your health and pick ups was common in those days of Doom and Quake. All you have to do now it hide behind a wall and you're good to go in a matter of seconds. With all the games trying to be "realistic shooters" this is laughable.

5) Zero replay outside of Multiplayer. I've made this argument before, and pretty get countered with "That's the point of multiplayer, make the game have some replay value." Or the "There's trophies, they make you play the game more than once." What I'm trying to hit on is the fact that once you beat a game's single player there's usually no real value of the game afterwards. Let's look at Mario Bros (the first game) and Tetris. I've played both so many times it's crazy. For Mario I know where all the monsters will be, the timing, etc. The only reason for me to play it is trying to beat my old score, or complete it X amount of time. That's fun~ish. Now for Tetris the only thing I know is that I need to make lines. Every session is different from the last. The shapes are the same, but the way I get keeps changing with the speed. Alot of games today are so linear playing the single player more than once is rare unless you are going for trophies. I dream of the day where playing a video game on different difficulties actually changes gameplay. New enemies, extended storyline, different levels, etc. Something other than the opponents taking more hits to beat.

First off, I agree 100%. I'll start with Assassins Creed 3, which a few of you know how I had an annoying glitch where it would freeze and not allow me to continue. The game just came out and you are telling me that 15% into the game it's going to freeze and I can't continue; when I just spent $60 on your damn game. It took roughly a week for a patch to be found/released(not quite sure how I got it fixed) just for me to continue. All in all the game lacks a lot of re-play-ability for me. Sure the game is fun, but it's just not fun enough for me to return to it.

I'm not a fan of DLC's especially ones that you have to pay for, I'm a cheap bastard so I can not comment much on that. What I can comment on is your 'refill' statement. Where you get instant-healing, ammo etc etc. That is just strait BS. Where is the challenge? Even on harder difficulties all we would have to do is hide for a few seconds and then retake on that damn monster that was woopin on you.

Gears of War 3, now that's a game which has a ton of re-play-ability, but yet we get back to the Single Player issue. Sure they added an 'Arcade' mode so you can team up with your friends, much like Co-op, but now you are stacking points and seeing who is top gun among your friends. Indeed it adds a fun factor, but not enough to change the infinite-health from just hiding. Ammo is abundant in this game, but you're going to need just about all of it. The only real issue I have with Gears of War 3 is the Single Player Campaign. For me, there isn't another reason to go through it on a higher difficulty. I beat it the first time on Hardcore just to unlock Insane, but there is no real reason to do so.

Versus, Horde and the all new Beast Mode where you play as the Locust and their beastly monsters is enough to want to re-play this game again and again.

On the regenerating thing; I noticed an interesting mechanic with the game Dishonored. In the game you get the power to teleport; a very helpful tool to explore and move about stealthily. This is a supernatural power and requires mana/MP to use. After casting said spell your power drops. Simple no? Not quite. Your power will slowly recover after the spell casting. Slowly, but it recovers. It seems as long as you use very little power the gauge will refill. But if you use a more taxing spell the power drops and doesn't regenerate at all. I think this was made especially for the the teleport skill as it's almost a requirement for some of the more interesting infiltration methods the game allows. Otherwise you're limited to teleporting and hording potions to get back the power spent. So you can slowly warp yourself around the whole level without drinking a potion. But if not used sparingly you'll run out of juice after 3 short jumps. Nice right? Even better there's no health regen. Well that's a lie. There is, but you have to spend your precious points to add said skill. The very same points you could use to buy the ability to take over a person's body or slow time. Making it a choice to invest in said skill, how novel. inFamous had a similarly slow health regen. If you did run away and hide after afew minutes you're back in shape (if no one chased after you.) But it was much easier to drain a car of electricity or steal the energy from a downed opponent (or pedestrian).

6) Team/Voice chat is a privilege. Sorry I can't do it anymore. I can't play through a MP match listening to people whine about "not getting any support" when they ran off by themselves pretending they're the leader of the team. Or the guy yelling for a medic when he's down. I don't want to hear the squeaky voiced 9-15 year old. Nor do I wish to converse with the guy that claims to be high or like to talk about getting high. I can't stand that guy that plays his favorite music rather than actually speaking. Your music sucks. You know this because you have to force a captive audience to listen to it. I don't care if it gets you in that "zone" I can't hear the enemy fire over the static and base. I don't enjoy the guy that breathes heavily into his mic like some deranged stalker. Trash talking? Fine. I give as good as I get. But the rest I don't want to hear it. Thankfully on PC leave the feature off. My headset is collecting dust wherever it may be. R.I.P.

7)"Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor not a miracle worker!" In multiplayer games I'm a support role all the way. I usually am a team player, literally. I give the other guys ammo, I heal the wounded, I repair the turrents/generators. I am the cog in the great machine. If I do a good job I'm probably the lowest scoring person and my team wins. But just because I'm doing that doesn't mean I'm doing nothing. Although each of these support roles are made to perform their functions well, they each to carry a weapon. So if I'm not putting down mines or raising the dead. I'm probably putting a bullet in someone's ass. I don't run when someone with a gun is coming down the hallway. I take aim and fire (usually a grenade first). Alot of people expect instant service like a waiter at a restaurant. If I'm not healing I'm helping by killing the guy before he can hurt you. I call it aggressive healing. Yelling since you didn't get healed isn't helpful. No one heals me, I'm careful. Just because the healer has your back shouldn't give you an excuse to be reckless. The last thing you want is to piss off the help. To quote Mr Durgen "We watch you when you sleep, don't fuck with us!" We didn't take the oath, you go to the bottom of the "to heal" list. Support roles do it for fun, and in some cases, or because they know it needs to be done. Don't take advantage. But real thing that's bothersome is that some games ignore the role completely. It's just super death match everyone shots til no one is left standing. It's fun at times, but the support classes make things more interesting. Just running and gunning anyone can do. But making someone enhance everyone else's play experience is truly exciting.

8.) All you need is love. Let's be frank alot of games have decent twists and turns. There's the villains that aren't really villains. Then there's the good guys that aren't really good guys. But the thing the usually flops it the love interest. Not saying I hate love stories, it's just that most of them come off as flat and shoehorned in. The problem with trying to create a love story is that you have to make the player feel something for the character. I don't mean the love interest, I mean the character they are playing. THEN you need to make the player feel for the love interest. That itself is a tricky affair. Generating true attachment to the either and both is difficult work. Most time we get; they're husband and wife, lovers,etc. And then X dies and we're supposed to feel the hurt of the surviving person. Sorry, I don't feel it. I see the character's motivation, but that's it. Last time I was genuinely saddened by the death of a game character was in Final Fantasy VII. The longer we spend with the character the more we get to develop a link with them the better. Don't just dump in the love interest and expect sparks to fly.

9)Morale choices. Pardon me while I channel Mr Yahtzee, but the whole good or evil path gameplay is getting pretty old. I myself look more to ying-yang. There is nothing completely good, and nothing completely evil. Give us that grey area to play with. All these systems actually do is make us play the game twice to see the different endings. Or just saving before the big final choice if the game allows. Now there have been some decent moral choice games that gave wiggle room. Fallout 3 did have alignment you changed by killing people, robbing, etc. But you could redeem yourself by giving to charity and what not. But of course the choices made were a little more that just rescuing a kitten from a tree. Blow up a city is a fairly large step in the "evil" department. I like games that let you play as you like, but does it have to characterize you as evil just because pick pockets? Robin Hood stole from the rich yet he was considered good. So what if I don't redistribute said wealth to the poor, and the fact I rob them too .

Yes and old thread, but I found something similar to what I was saying:

http://www.starfox-online.net/topic/9508-do-graphics-make-a-game-good/page-2

It's funny because its true. I do agree, that with all the work on graphics if the levels weren't so linear things might turn out better.

10) Pre-Orders. I was 50/50 on this, but of late it's getting kinda crazy. You're buying a game before it comes out. This means one of two things; either you liked what you saw in the 2 minute clip and figure it will be good. Or you bought into the hype and want it without knowing anything about it. It seems silly. I usually rent before purchasing. In the cases where I do buy it's when I've looked at everything about the game and really have a feel for what it's about. EA comes out with a new Sims, I'm not going to pick it up. It's not something I want. But buying before it's finished doesn't benefit me. True they give some kind of "free" DLC, but everyone knows in the moths following the release those same DLC become open for everyone to buy. Half the time the DLC is an outfit or a ornate looking item that does jack and squat. *See the DLC complaint*

11) No risk, no reward. Lately games don't let you lose. Sure you can die, but there's no real consequence other than time lost. With the whole regenerating health thing, it's hard to die during most games as it is. So when you do perish you restart from the check point and keep going. Demon Souls had great idea. When your character is alive you have more HP. When you die you get a fraction of your HP and you lose all your souls (money) if you don't get back to the point that you died the souls are permanently lost. That's some motivation to stay alive. That or your gear degrades. Assassin's Creed II which I'm playing is driving me crazy. I fall off a building and die. My game restarts and I'm full health and ready to take another stab at it. (no pun intended)

12) Free to play. In some cases this becomes "Pay to win" and still other instances "Free to pay" (clever, no?) That being said games are free to a point. But the stuff you pay for is things like better gear, cards, weapons, etc. Sure the free player can collect and earn money, but it's the special gold coins that you pay for that give you access to the extra special items. A sword the shoots flame and lets you double jump, a jet with laser guided shark missiles, you name it the gold coins can buy it. If it's PvP you can notice the difference the paid weapons give compared to the regular stuff. Rather than paying and getting the chance for more interesting options, the game almost tries to snub you for not paying. Levels get harder and you start wishing you'd shell out the $10 for the 50 gold coins. It's almost like getting you to do drugs; first taste is free, but then they want some money for the second hit. If you want us to pay, just make it a game to pay for. Don't pretend we'll enjoy the free stuff with you waving that paid content in front of us all the time.