The little things that ruin a game, and make your head explode

[Roland]

Ah, let's see... I hate it when the developers decide to make cutscenes ridiculously "awesome" when the gameplay is decidedly... not. On a more extreme level, I can't stand in when cutscenes take a golden snitch approach to gameplay.

Dirge of Cerberus is the biggest offender in my recent memory.

I think I gave up around the time Vincent went Advent Children on a helicopter's ass, making the entire boss fight against it a complete waste of time. And from what I'd seen in cutscenes later on, that's the general attitude the game takes to boss fights.

[BitVyper]

OK, great?

Oh, oh. I was at first like, "Why are we having this tangential discussion? I made the claim that Shion Uzuki was a 'little thing' in a game that bugged me and was told that wasn't the problem, which bugged me enough to take the bait and respond..." but I now realize that you folks going on about the other aspects is just your view of the little/many things you disliked. So I'm just going to go back to saying things like, " 'Queen's Kiss'? Really? You stupid, ditzy fool."

Oh hey, I can totally get behind Shion being a "little thing." But yeah, I was just giving my opinion on the dynamic between the cutscenes and player sections, which I personally think wasn't really a little thing at all and therefore probably doesn't belong in this thread.

I don't think you're wrong at all.

[Karrrrrrrrrrrresche]

Originally Posted by BitVyper

Oh hey, I can totally get behind Shion being a "little thing." But yeah, I was just giving my opinion on the dynamic between the cutscenes and player sections, which I personally think wasn't really a little thing at all and therefore probably doesn't belong in this thread.

I don't think you're wrong at all.

Well really I just put that "The little things" in there to make the title more fancy.

[Nightshine]

Unoriginal, whiny, emo main characters.

FFVII is the world's biggest offender.


EDIT:

Originally Posted by InsaneGenius

I agree on with you on that.
Only I personally don't encounter this problem in JRPGs very much, because I never had to grind in the last few years. (save for a few exceptions where it's better to be Level three to tackle the first dungeon and then you're good to go)

No, the definite worst offender are MMORPGs. I don't even touch that shit.

You have not played Disgaea.

[A Zarkin' Frood]

Originally Posted by Nightshine

You have not played Disgaea.

I have and enjoyed it. But not for as long as I could've if I really were into grinding, like my brother who went for the bonus final extra bosses in the first two games.

But... [nitpick]Disgaea aren't JRPGs they're SRPGs, it's something totally different.[/nitpick]

[greed]

Originally Posted by Nightshine

Unoriginal, whiny, emo main characters.

FFVII is the world's biggest offender.

Two things, Cloud ain't that bad, he's only emotional after Aeris gets killed and Sephiroth mind rapes him. And that's pretty good justification for angst. The rest of the time he's either gung ho stoic badass or confused amnesiac, the latter is somewhat annoying but it's not the same thing as whiny and emo. Also FF7 was the first JRPG to have a protagonist like that and if it wasn't it was one of the first. So it wasn't unoriginal when they did it.

Though if that was typo and you're talking FFVIII, it's a somewhat more of a fair call.

Anyway small things that bug me. Games where the autosaves are either too spaced out or too frequent to be useful.
Also unpausable cut scenes, I make allowances for games pre FFX and rendered ones but god damn is it annoying how some modern games don't do this. Unskippable cut scenes are even worse and I make no allowances for age as they should all have always been able to do it and it's just fucked up it took so long to catch on or that still not everyone does it.

[Nightshine]

Originally Posted by greed

Two things, Cloud ain't that bad, he's only emotional after Aeris gets killed and Sephiroth mind rapes him. And that's pretty good justification for angst. The rest of the time he's either gung ho stoic badass or confused amnesiac, the latter is somewhat annoying but it's not the same thing as whiny and emo. Also FF7 was the first JRPG to have a protagonist like that and if it wasn't it was one of the first. So it wasn't unoriginal when they did it.

Just like how Seinfeld was never funny, Cloud's angst isn't justified. As well, there are 1000 whiny anime characters with worse pasts than this emo. He isn't the first, considering in other media forms, there were whiny idiots like Cloud. He's become the poster boy after that atrocity that some people call a "game."

Originally Posted by greed

Though if that was typo and you're talking FFVIII, it's a somewhat more of a fair call.

Nope, not a typo.

[Osterbaum]

Originally Posted by Nightshine

Just like how Seinfeld was never funny,

The only proper response to this would be: Seinfeld is unfunny!

[Dauntasa]

Originally Posted by Nightshine

Just like how Seinfeld was never funny, Cloud's angst isn't justified. As well, there are 1000 whiny anime characters with worse pasts than this emo. He isn't the first, considering in other media forms, there were whiny idiots like Cloud. He's become the poster boy after that atrocity that some people call a "game."



Nope, not a typo.

You don't seem to have actually paid much attention to FF7, because Cloud wasn't emo. Like, at all. There were total emos in that game(Vincent), but Cloud was usually either fairly upbeat or a jerk.

[Solid Snake]

It always baffles me how FF7 is simultaneously capable of inspiring legions of defenders and legions of critics. There are RPGs most gamers hate and RPGs most gamers love and then there's FF7, which is like one gigantic battlefield of contradicting opinions.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that the behavior that was heavily implied (if not outright stated) in the Honeybee Manor essentially completely justifies any instance of poor behavior on Cloud's part throughout the rest of the game. I can't think of any other main character who was so horrifically abused.
(But more often than not, my experience with FFVII is basically wondering aloud to myself "How the fuck does Red XIII deal with these dipshits?" I think my imagination has developed this alternate version of the game from Red XIII's perspective, where Nanaki just sighs and shakes his head while everyone else makes fools of themselves.)

You know what I really hate in videogames? And this appears even in videogames I actually enjoy playing, like Persona 3 and Persona 4. Dialogue options that actually don't change a damn thing regardless of the option you choose. It's so goddamn manipulative to make me believe that I need to replay a game in order to see all the different possibilities and then wow, the interactions and plot developments are virtually exactly the same. This is one thing I love about Front Mission 3, because FM3 turns this trope entirely on its head: there's one seemingly innocuous decision made at the very beginning of the game that sets you off on two completely different paths with two completely different stories, and you wouldn't even know it unless you read a strategy guide. (I remember PSM, at the time an official magazine responsible for reviewing PS1 titles, actually not even realizing that one of the two routes existed when it reviewed the product.)

Attention RPG developers: That's the kind of depth I want to see in my RPGs. (It's too bad subsequent FM titles haven't kicked nearly as much ass as FM3 did.)
And let's see real consequences for my actions while we're at it! I want characters in my party to interact with me differently depending on the woman I choose to pursue or the quests I choose to undertake. I want the plot to actually develop differently based on such decisions.