Things in modern gaming that you dislike

Every AAA shooter must now include that one huge, extended POV cutscene in which your character FALLS OUT OF A PLANE, FALLS ONTO ANOTHER THING, SLIDES DOWN THE SIDE OF A BLIMP, CLAWING AT IT WITH BEAUTIFUL FIRST-PERSON ARMS, FALLS DOWN ONTO ANOTHER THING, LANDS ON A WOODEN THING THAT BREAKS, CRASHES THROUGH THE ROOF OF AN APARTMENT BUILDING, AN EXPLOSION ROCKETS THEM UP TOWARDS ANOTHER THING, ALL WHILE THE IN-GAME CHARACTER SCREAMS CONSTANTLY Woooaoaaah!

I feel like very big shooter from the past eight years has a sequence like this, and they all feel kind of ridiculous and tedious. Especially because most games have no sense of audio mixing so the character's constant screams are always clearly happening in a bone-dry sound booth. Kind of like that one trailer with Tom Cruise in The Mummy.

1 minute ago, Gifty said:

I feel like very big shooter from the past eight years has a sequence like this, and they all feel kind of ridiculous and tedious. Especially because most games have no sense of audio mixing so the character's constant screams are always clearly happening in a bone-dry sound booth. Kind of like that one trailer with Tom Cruise in The Mummy.

I never get why these characters are so "vocalized", sometimes i just close my eyes and it sounds like my character is having sex each time he/she jumps runs or hit something, female characters sound especially over sexualized it makes my eyes roll.I'm like "why the hell do you moan?" lol

 

26 minutes ago, Gifty said:

Every AAA shooter must now include that one huge, extended POV cutscene in which your character FALLS OUT OF A PLANE, FALLS ONTO ANOTHER THING, SLIDES DOWN THE SIDE OF A BLIMP, CLAWING AT IT WITH BEAUTIFUL FIRST-PERSON ARMS, FALLS DOWN ONTO ANOTHER THING, LANDS ON A WOODEN THING THAT BREAKS, CRASHES THROUGH THE ROOF OF AN APARTMENT BUILDING, AN EXPLOSION ROCKETS THEM UP TOWARDS ANOTHER THING, ALL WHILE THE IN-GAME CHARACTER SCREAMS CONSTANTLY Woooaoaaah!

Spec Ops: The Line had the best version of this, because by the point this happens everything is so FUBAR you wonder if it's actually happening in reality

2 hours ago, seed said:

Debatable tbh. In the past games received patches as well, didn't they? But they were never this massive, to the point they correct HUGE issues that could only be blamed on a rushed development and lack of proper testing.

But that's exactly what I meant. The problem is not that there is a day-1 patch, but that the development was so rushed to require that patch. Any game that has a day-1 patch - the experience without it will be much worse.

2 hours ago, seed said:

Not if you want to support the developers however, in which case pirating their games doesn't help :p .

Completely orthogonal. Nothing prevents you from buying a game and playing a pirated version of it at the same time, for convenience. I have quite a few games like this. :)

43 minutes ago, Deimos said:

Rushing a game to release also shortens developers lifespan i suppose. Imagine weeks of overworking, junk food and sleep deprivation where you can't even enjoy family time... Crunch time sounds scary.

Hell yes. You should read "Blood, Sweat, and Pixels". It has quite a few examples (10, I believe) of this exact problem.

1 minute ago, dr_st said:

Completely orthogonal. Nothing prevents you from buying a game and playing a pirated version of it at the same time. I have quite a few games like this.

This was a "DUH, dumbass... " moment for me.

I forgot I myself am already doing this with older games that incorporated DRM which no longer works at all on new Windoze versions lmao.

Yep, sometimes there is no choice. Things get even more hilarious sometimes. Ubisoft was caught "fixing a DRM issue" in one of their games by releasing a "patch" which was nothing but the cracked executable from a known piracy group, and I think they even failed to remove the branding in some places.

Found it; here's the story and another discussion.

3 minutes ago, dr_st said:

Yep, sometimes there is no choice. Things get even more hilarious sometimes. Ubisoft was caught "fixing a DRM issue" in one of their games by releasing a "patch" which was nothing but the cracked executable from a known piracy group, and I think they even failed to remove the branding in some places.

 

Found it; here's the story: https://www.gamespot.com/forums/pc-mac-linux-society-1000004/ubisoft-steals-reloaded-crack-to-fix-its-own-game-26498099/

Oh wow, now this is priceless .

That's one way to fix it I guess, by cracking your own product.

Yep. Check the IGN discussion in the post I edited. It gets more ugly, e.g.,:

Quote

The bottom line is Ubisoft said it was illegal to use no-cd cracks, banned members for suggestion the use of them to fix the screwed up game, and then turned around and released a no-cd crack from an illegal torrent group and then had the balls to call it their own.

Really got caught red-handed that time.

6 hours ago, Szuran said:

Major games are bloated in every possible way.

 

- Too bloated visually, to a point when they are too costly to produce and have to rely on microtransactions and sell 120M copies.

 

- Too bloated visually in the way of being undecipherable and requiring tons of objective markers etcc.

 

- Too bloated size-wise, when it takes just too much time to travel through the (mostly empty) map. I don't need a world the size of my country!

 

- Too bloated mechanically, with 1000s of mechanics and tutorials appearing 20 hours into the game. At the same time, these games aren't particularly good at anything they do.

 

- Too bloated in general, which forces them to be appealing to everyone to return on the investment. So, these games are huge, mechanically rich, and at the same time easy and BORING.

I feel a slow clap coming on (no, not chlamydia, the applause kind).  

I'm almost 50 years old, with an 11-year-old daughter, a full-time job, and plenty else going on...my gaming time needs to be "Jump in and out"...since I usually pop up early no matter what day it is, most of my extended gaming time comes early morning, on the weekends.  Too many games these days are just too damned INVOLVED, and like you allude to, too damned cumbersome.  

I miss the days of streamlined, easy-to-learn but difficult-to-master gaming.  Not enough of that kind of game these days.    

2 hours ago, Deimos said:

I never get why these characters are so "vocalized", sometimes i just close my eyes and it sounds like my character is having sex each time he/she jumps runs or hit something, female characters sound especially over sexualized it makes my eyes roll.I'm like "why the hell do you moan?" lol

 

I tend to agree, sometimes voice effects can be very effective and immersive, but more often than not I prefer silent protagonists as it helps me get into the character better. That, and most voiced FPS protagonists sound like the singer of Three Days Grace.

On 6/5/2020 at 2:58 PM, Doom-X-Machina said:

- Digital only releases. I like a tangible copy that I can hold in my hands.
- Massive day-one patches to fix broken games that were rushed through development.
- Paid DLC / loot-boxes and micro-transactions.
- Internet requirement to play offline.
- Account requirement to play offline.
- Additional monetary charges to play online.

- Lack of modding support.
- Developer based servers that after time get shutdown and along with it, the gaming experience you paid money for.

while i agree with this overall, my experience with online delivery services like steam has changed a bit over the years.

when hl2 came out in 2004, i hated steam. great game, but what's in valve's heads, how can they make having an online account mandatory in order to play a single player game! obviously, i preferred having my physical copy no one can touch. a cd key in the case, that should suffice.

then i bought a bunch of games on dvds. optical discs can get scratches, or deteriorate with time anyway, and many modern pcs don't even come with optical drives... whenever i built a new system, or just formatted its drive, i came to see what makes online content delivery a better idea than i thought back then: it's simply convenient and hassle-free (in most cases). i don't have to walk over to my jewel case cabinet and spend the rest of the day inserting discs, and looking for patches (which annoys me even more, as many disc releases are ancient and don't even work with later versions). i log in, click on install, and get the latest version complete with my cloud saves. internet is fast enough these days.

however, i prefer having my games on gog rather than on steam, whenever they're available on gog, because of actually owning the game i bought here, with no drm.

so that's the closest thing to having my game on a disc, without the hassle described above.

this account requirement for playing online leads to other "syndromes", in some cases. some people are not that fond of having every fart affect their stats, and their online stats visible to everyone. maybe one just wants to experiment on a map, troll people or whatever - it all goes into the stats. a friend who was quite good at bf1 and bf5 recently told me that he got so pissed with these stats and how they're calculated that he bought copies of these games just to set up secondary accounts for warming up, experiments etc so he doesn't wreck his "official" k/d ratio. so there's an element of pressure for some competitively minded people from having stats for everything, which has the effect of keeping these people from playing, rather than motivating them. it's highly subjective of course, but it happens. gone are the days when one entered some silly nickname and hopped onto a server.

as for lack of modding support, i think quake champions is an example for having a few developer-made maps and no way to add your own. almost 3 years after its release, it has a grand total of 12 maps. i like watching qc tv on youtube, but it's 7 duel maps over and over. found recently a video of rapha testing one new, untextured map... one map. quake3 / QL had what, 100x this number after 3 years? the number of classic doom maps, anyone? that's what you get for having this developer-only, paid content. paid skins and little else. or the sad example of epic canceling ut4 after fortnite blew up with all the cosmetic things one can buy in it.

On 6/5/2020 at 1:53 PM, seed said:

And it isn't, the fact that it got such a mod is proof as clear as the sky. It's just a money cow, nothing more nothing less, if they did, it would've never gotten one.

You've got tons of free user made maps and content on community servers and the workshop, this is also not the first time the game received additional maps or modes, so yeah the money cow cash grab argument still doesn't make a lot of sense.

20 hours ago, Devils950003 said:

 

I miss the days of streamlined, easy-to-learn but difficult-to-master gaming.  Not enough of that kind of game these days.  

You can find a lot of indie titles that don't beat around the bush with long-winded cutscenes and other assorted crud. They get right to the point and throw you into the action right away.

39 minutes ago, Biodegradable said:

You can find a lot of indie titles that don't beat around the bush with long-winded cutscenes and other assorted crud. They get right to the point and throw you into the action right away.

Actually this, there's still plenty of games in the indie scene in particular that go by that formula. Bigger titles yeah, tend to have a steeper learning curve, but unless you're going for some overly complicated RPG, they shouldn't give one mental fatigue. And with all the tutorials and hand-holding sometimes, the apparent complexity kinda just goes out the window anyway.

1 hour ago, sluggard said:

You've got tons of free user made maps and content on community servers and the workshop, this is also not the first time the game received additional maps or modes, so yeah the money cow cash grab argument still doesn't make a lot of sense.

Alright then, let's leave it there bud, we're just beating up a dead horse at this stage. Helps no-one.

2 hours ago, Pirx said:

then i bought a bunch of games on dvds. optical discs can get scratches, or deteriorate with time anyway, and many modern pcs don't even come with optical drives... whenever i built a new system, or just formatted its drive, i came to see what makes online content delivery a better idea than i thought back then: it's simply convenient and hassle-free (in most cases). i don't have to walk over to my jewel case cabinet and spend the rest of the day inserting discs, and looking for patches (which annoys me even more, as many disc releases are ancient and don't even work with later versions). i log in, click on install, and get the latest version complete with my cloud saves. internet is fast enough these days.

Also this. It's why I prefer digital distribution to physical purchases so much more nowadays. Convenience.

So much better to have all things in one or two places and not worry about such things. But then you have another issue - too many accounts, depending on how many digital distribution services you choose to use, leading to bloatware eventually.

11 minutes ago, seed said:

 

Also this. It's why I prefer digital distribution to physical purchases so much more nowadays. Convenience.

 

So much better to have all things in one or two places and not worry about such things. But then you have another issue - too many accounts, depending on how many digital distribution services you choose to use, leading to bloatware eventually.

that's unavoidable with other publishers wanting a share of valve's pie. on one hand, it's never a good idea to let a company have a monopoly. they set prices, and good luck playing your games if they ban your account for whatever reason. on the other hand, you're right it's inconvenient to have games spread over several accounts. so i'm for ideas like gog galaxy as a unified launcher, wherever this works (i can't comment much on this because i have only a steam and a gog account atm).

59 minutes ago, seed said:

Alright then, let's leave it there bud, we're just beating up a dead horse at this stage. Helps no-one.

Sure, it was fun while it lasted.

20 minutes ago, sluggard said:

Sure, it was fun while it lasted.

Nah, more like frustrating to me *shrugs*.

8 hours ago, seed said:

Nah, more like frustrating to me *shrugs*.

It's all good.

Yeah, indies As much as you dislike certain aspects of the modern AAA industry, at least you must admit they don't really apply to the whole game scene because of thos small but very dedicated developers.

No dual audio

I tend to be more interested in games that are niche, especially when they have a high skill ceiling and are well-suited to competitive play of some type. Modern games, particularly the ones with larger budgets, are the antithesis of this. They aim to have the most broad appeal possible, since that makes the most money, and that's why so many AAA games are samey and have tacked-on RPG mechanics that are unnecessary. I just am not interested enough to give them a playthough, most of the time. Persona 5 is an exception.

8 hours ago, Pseudonaut said:

Persona 5 is an exception.

I, as a fan of the Shin Megami Tensei series proper, need to disapprove of you for liking the casual as fuck Persona series. 

Shame on you :P 

On 6/5/2020 at 7:57 PM, Deimos said:

I never get why these characters are so "vocalized", sometimes i just close my eyes and it sounds like my character is having sex each time he/she jumps runs or hit something, female characters sound especially over sexualized it makes my eyes roll.I'm like "why the hell do you moan?" lol

 

HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH

7 hours ago, FractalBeast said:

HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH

Are these nails in your boots or are you hoppy to see me?
Also Ranger doesn't sound sexualized, he is sex incarnate.

5 hours ago, Deimos said:

Also Ranger doesn't sound sexualized, he is sex incarnate.

Well, if there's ever an HWolfenstein, I know what the hardest difficulty is gonna be called in it.

3 hours ago, Rathori said:

Well, if there's ever an HWolfenstein, I know what the hardest difficulty is gonna be called in it.

Wolfenstein 3D  Wolfenstein HD, return of the B.J.

Overdetailed long hallways in action-adventure games. Typically made of granite, marble or metals; sculpted in podiums and niches and decorated with colonnade, gemstones, symmetric patterns, murals, flags and frames. I've seen this design used in God of War series and lately in Doom Eternal. They usually come in two varieties: rectangles and circles. The rectangle is either a straight corridor where scripted sequences and story times take place or a "maze" where the player pushes buttons to open doors and gates. The circle one usually surrounds a landmark and is more dynamic than the rectangle. There the player must platform on multiple layers with the use of swings or bars while avoiding death pits and sometimes push a lever that changes the environment. They're boring and predictable knowing varied layout and secrets are difficult to implement in such designed parts. They look fancy but lose appeal quick when the same royal aesthetic is plastered everywhere. Gameplaywise they're just linear prisons plated with gold.

1: Way points and markers everywhere. This is coming from someone who hates getting lost. I just don't need this much sweaty hand-holding, even worse you can never disable them. I kind of miss when we would create our own way points on maps. All I need is a direction and preferably a rough distance, I can find it myself.

I like to go off the beaten-track exploring but rarely get to do that in modern games, if I do then there's almost never anything there anyway. Compare that to old games where you would find caves, special/unique weapons and so on. You're very rarely see that anymore. You climb and scout area's in modern games but 90% of these places are a waste of time to explore. Often times you don't even get a nice structure to admire.

2: General toning down of difficulty. Honestly, when was the last time you got stuck in a modern game and had to figure it out? Now don't get me wrong, I dislike standing around for ages trying to progress but a little problem solving never hurt. I'm not even a difficulty fan, but I like some challenge. The only way to get that now is playing on the hardest difficulty, even then you usually end up becoming OP at some point. Once that happens repetition sets in fast and I lose interest.

I should probably point out I'm referring to AAA games here. Not Indie's, I actually play those more often than AAA games these days. It's nice to have eye-candy sure, but it often feels like a cheesy action movie in many AAA games now.

I'm also not a fan of politics being injected into games (of any political bias, unless the story calls for it) and it's gotten quite bad in AAA games. I'm really getting tired of it. People play games to escape and enjoy themselves, to forget about the worlds worries even just for an hour. We have enough of that nonsense in the real world.  

It doesn't really matter what side of the political fence you're on, I think we can all agree there is no real need for it in our games. Unless -as I said- the story is built for it or it's for the sake of comedy.

1 hour ago, Final Verdict said:

I'm also not a fan of politics being injected into games (of any political bias, unless the story calls for it) and it's gotten quite bad in AAA games. I'm really getting tired of it. People play games to escape and enjoy themselves, to forget about the worlds worries even just for an hour. We have enough of that nonsense in the real world.  

 

It doesn't really matter what side of the political fence you're on, I think we can all agree there is no real need for it in our games. Unless -as I said- the story is built for it or it's for the sake of comedy.

The irony here is, that any and all forms of art are as political as you can get, there is simply no such thing as "no politics at all" which in itself, is also a political stance/statement, although it depends on how you define "politics" as well, they go well beyond the mundane meaning of the word we're all accustomed with.

What I think is probably annoying to some is the way they tend to shove it into the product, which can be quite aggressive or uncalled for sometimes. Similarly, it also tends to bother people with biases and prejudices in particular, they see something they don't agree with, and go nuclear in response.

35 minutes ago, seed said:

 

What I think is probably annoying to some is the way they tend to shove it into the product, which can be quite aggressive or uncalled for sometimes. Similarly, it also tends to bother people with biases and prejudices in particular, they see something they don't agree with, and go nuclear in response.

You hit the nail on the head. This more or less is what I was trying to convey. It just causes people with strong bias to explode, I'm well aware that in some cases it is intended (free advertising if everyone is losing their minds over it). Keep in mind though that I was talking about the more 'in-your-face' stuff from both sides.

I'm just weary of it now, not because I feel strongly one way or the other, but because I'm saddened by it being dragged into games. If the story requires it then it's no problem, same goes for comedy it's all fair game. But other than generating talk/popularity I don't see the point (there is better ways to achieve that), and it gets tiresome after awhile.