Things You Hate About Today's Gaming.

Alright, I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but playing LA Noire has put this asshole directly into my God damn sights. Fucking logo screens when you boot up a game. Typical PC game today:

- EA Something, check out how we changed our logo to sort of go with the style of the game.
- Original console developer of game, check out how long we managed to make our dumb logo animation sequence, isn't this awesome. This will probably never be skippable because we are narcissists.
- Plays best on Nvidia (always a solid fuck you to people with ATI cards, since this means the developers probably put little effort in letting ATI develop drivers), check out how we added something from the game you'd like to be playing now (Fuck you Borderlands). Also never skippable.
- Developer that did the sloppy as shit PC port logo, also undeservedly unskippable.
- Legal mumbo jumbo
- Title screen loading screen (FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK, we're going on 19 minutes since I booted up the game)
- Unskippable title screen animation as the game automatically checks server for authentication of some sort or to check to see if you have DLC or some or other bullshit installed.
- Title screen.....FINALLY.

Time elapsed since you double clicked on the game icon on your desktop or in your Steam list: Incalculable, you died of old age long before getting to play the game.

I usually boot up games and alt tab to post on the forums.

In the next few days, I'll post my epic rant. I feel playing mediocre games again will only help me build my rage.

Mass Effect 3..... GOD DAMNIT

Tutorial levels and hand-holding NPCs.

This is fucking bullshit.

GasBandit said:

Social media integration. GAH.

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Oh yeah, because I want everyone on my FB friends list to know that I've spent 10 hours playing a video game, racking up various ridiculous achievements...

No kidding. A remake of a game being sold for $50? That is bullshit.

The Reward tier thing? Yeah, that too. But $50 for the game? Ain't worth it.

CynicismKills said:

Tutorial levels

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Thiiiis.

I hate when games make me play through a bunch of "learn how to play" BS parts. I can figure it out as I go, and if I can't, I can read the manual. I don't need the hand-holding.

I was almost shocked when my new Nintendo games like Mario and Kid Icarus didn't tell me how to fucking jump and shoot.

To be fair, the only reason that older games didn't have tutorial levels was because they had a printed manual.

However, even then, unless you cared about the backstory flavor text, nobody read them anyway.

Gilgamesh said:

Ugh, Squad Based games in non-turn based genres.

Just ugh.

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Unless it's multiplayer and you each control a squad/member of a squad. Then it works.

I don't know, I thought Republic Commando had pretty good squad mechanics.

Republic Commando worked well because it simplified the interface to context sensitive commands. Want that door blown? Point your reticle at the door and push the "squad member do something" button. The squad member in combat actually had pretty decent AI, particularly considering how old that game is now.

I too really enjoyed Republic Commando. It was a squad game that didn't require silly micromanagement, nor did it hold your hand and treat you like a fucking idiot (Recent Call of Duty's for example).

Co-op. A fun concept in theory. The reality, however, is dragging through levels with douchebags who think they're awesome.

I really wish co-op hadn't been forced into Resident Evil. RE4 was great except for having that whiny brat around. So then RE5 and RE6, we have to have someone else around, and if you don't get a competent human player, you're stuck with the idiot AI.

At least in RE6 they can't die and force you to re-do a section.

Quotemander Prime said:

I really wish co-op hadn't been forced into Resident Evil. RE4 was great except for having that whiny brat around. So then RE5 and RE6, we have to have someone else around, and if you don't get a competent human player, you're stuck with the idiot AI.

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True Story. There's a section in RE5 where Sheeva gets caught in a cage and Chris has to climb this tower to raise it. While I was climbing the tower, I remember watching AI Sheeva use up all the assault rifle ammo we had on the shell of one of those shell guys who try to Little Shop of Horrors you. All of it. She just kept shooting the shell. The worst.

I didn't mind RE5 despite thinking that the way they went about things since RE2 has sucked a dick... it still was interesting... my issue was GFWL eating up my friend and I's save for the last 5 hours. We never touched the game since. How do you fucking fuck up saves for your fucking clients? How? How do even look at yourselves in the eye at work and go... should I even be breathing this air for being the fucking worst fucking programmer in the fucking world?

FUCK GFWL.

Really my biggest issue with today's gaming is the same issue I have had for awhile. Publishers.

It's almost impossible for a company to exist on it's own these days. They can't make the capitol to be independent, so they have to get people to invest. If the game flops the investors dump them and it's over. The game becomes a hit and the investors start looking for buyouts, leading to them being bought, whether they like it or not, from places like EA or Activision to then be milked.

Look at most game companies. They all work under publishers that roped them in cheap because they had a decent game in the past. They work them for a few years on something and then torpedo them if the game is not favorable. So many good companies have been ground into dust. Even Blizzard was never safe from this, because who knows what happens when the WoW milk well starts getting dry and Kotick does not get his seven digit bonus. We could have another Origin, Westwood, or Sierra.

I was reading a New York Times article a few days ago about Valve and their philosophy. Gabe Newell admitted that EA has been attempting to purchase them for years even up to this day, preparing to throw down $1 billion to take them over. The only reason he has been able to hold out is because they (Valve) actually have control of the company and can make that choice, rather then some investors looking for a cash-in. He even said that if things did get bad enough that they either had to close doors or sell off, he would rather close the doors. I respect that greatly.

I give major props to companies that attempt to still work without publishers, because I know how hard it can be in this industry.

ScytheRexx said:

Look at most game companies. They all work under publishers that roped them in cheap because they had a decent game in the past. They work them for a few years on something and then torpedo them if the game is not favorable. So many good companies have been ground into dust. Even Blizzard was never safe from this, because who knows what happens when the WoW milk well starts getting dry and Kotick does not get his seven digit bonus. We could have another Origin, Westwood, or Sierra.

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While I generally agree, I will point out that far more indie developers fail than don't. I'm guessing what you're trying to point out is the willingness of EA and Activision specifically to take a hand in the development of games, hurting the development direction as the developers scramble to catch up to the boss' expectations, and then dump all the blame on the development studio when a poorly-coded chimaera of the original game intent fails to sell more than 3-4M copies.

Not sure if I mentioned this, but games that are hard as fuck unless you play co-op. Resident evil five anyone?

Difficulty in general is an issue. Most games are ether...

- Too hard for all the wrong reasons: Bad controls, cheap enemies and AI tricks, poor camera control, badly designed levels.

OR

- Too easy because they don't want to frustrate kids and poor players.

The only game that I've ever felt has gotten difficult right is Godhand. It gets easier if your doing poorly but it ramps up if your doing well so you always feel the challenge is at just the right point it needs to be for a given time.

register every internet domain name ever!

What is the consensus on 2-D platformers with 3-D graphics? I'm on the fence personally.

I don't let graphics determine how I feel about a game. If I did, there's no way to appreciate old classics compared to modern games. I have a friend who refuses to play anything cel-shaded, which means he's missed out on some amazing experiences in Wind Waker, Jet Grind Radio, Borderlands, etc.

Yoshimickster said:

What is the consensus on 2-D platformers with 3-D graphics? I'm on the fence personally.

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I don't mind them. There's been quite a few good, modern 2-D platformers with modern graphics.

My problem is that now, there seems to be TOO many of them being made.

ThatNickGuy Exactly, especially those New Super Mario bros games(played one, played em all). Don't get me wrong they are fun Mario games but what bothers me about them is that games don't NEED good CG graphics in order to be good games. In fact, if they did some good 2-D graphics again that would be a cool. And not just Paper Mario style, like straight up good animation. If they can afford CG animation they can afford 2-D animation.

Also, what is up with all the gold coins in the new game? Does it affect game-play in ways different from previous games?

Edit: I just looked up what happens when you get 9,999,999 coins. That...that is a let down. Still looks like a fun game but I at least expected something different than that.

Mount & Blade has 2005 graphics... at best. And I've logged more hours in it than any other game combined other than WoW.

Replayability > 5 hours FPS games.

I've spent all day playing FTL. This is what the graphics look like.

My credit card was maxed out and my pledge for FTL didn't go through

So badly wanted to play it, guess I'll just have to wait for the actual release.

EDIT: Oh shit, it is out now!

Ravenpoe said:

I've spent all day playing FTL. This is what the graphics look like.

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SO BEAUTIFUL! And only 9 bucks!