Video game pet peeves.

[prisonermonkeys]

I just ran into the stupidest AI in Far Cry 4. I was doing a mission where you chase the villain's body double; he's in a jeep and you're in a gyrocopter. As part of the mission, the game adds extra enemies, including a handful with RPGs. They're supposed to fire on you, but they're not very bright because when I got close to the body double, they kept shooting - and one of them hit the jeep, killing the double and completing the mission for me.

 

[Sonygamer455]

Here is an old pet peeve of mine I have had since I was a kid.

Games with no option to restart after winning or losing.

This was first made infamous to me by Gran Turismo 2 way back in the days. The game was awesome for sure, but I used to get impatient when as soon as I win or lose a race, I had to go to the after race menu and the only options it had was "Continue" or "Replay". So I have to select "Continue", wait for it to go all the way back to the menus and then start it again only to have to wait once more, then I can race again. It gets annoying after repeatedly losing and having to start again.

It also made a comeback in Call of Duty Black Ops II and Call of Duty Black Ops III in zombies for me. In Black Ops II, since it is easy to die quickly in zombies, this is made worse than before. If I get killed in the early rounds somehow, I have to sit through the game over screen and wait for it to go back to the menus only for it to load again. Which like GT2, it gets annoying after constantly losing. It's even worse in Black Ops III since you have all that again from Black Ops II and the load times after losing are even longer having to wait through the forest screen for the menus to load just to play again.

Point is, a simple restart function after winning or losing would go a long way for games like this.

 

[Wolfe]

@Sonygamer455 -- That reminds me of a related pet peeve: when a game has a great soundtrack, you have a short challenge or stage to complete, and you can restart, but it starts the song over from a lengthy intro every time. Or the game has a radio-style soundtrack and it insists on kicking to a random song or the same (unwanted) song every time.

It might be something you don't even think about until you've played a game that allows instantaneous restarts while the song continues on. It's great.

 

[Sonygamer455]

Or the game has a radio-style soundtrack and it insists on kicking to a random song

Yea that did bug me some in NFS 2015 when a song I like came on, then the cops decided they wanted to come out and play and then of course the pursuit music starts and cancels the song you were just listening to. However, they did have a option to disable the pursuit music so that fixed the problem for me.

I think I recall having similar issues with NFS Carbon, but I didn't free roam much in that game so it hardly bothered me.

or the same (unwanted) song every time.

Never had that problem.

It might be something you don't even think about until you've played a game that allows instantaneous restarts while the song continues on. It's great.

Reminds me of how NFS Underground 2 and NFS Undercover would continue playing a song when you entered an event and are at the starting line. (I think NFS 2015 did as well) I absolutely love it when they do that in games. I'll save this for another discussion though.

 

[BKGlover]

@Sonygamer455 -- That reminds me of a related pet peeve: when a game has a great soundtrack, you have a short challenge or stage to complete, and you can restart, but it starts the song over from a lengthy intro every time. Or the game has a radio-style soundtrack and it insists on kicking to a random song or the same (unwanted) song every time.

It might be something you don't even think about until you've played a game that allows instantaneous restarts while the song continues on. It's great.

Actually, I have another pet peeve this ties to. When restarting an event/race/challenge for the 15th+ time, I just want to go back at it, not wait for 15 seconds sitting through a cinematic/what may as well be a cinematic. GT is bad about this, NFS had gotten bad but I can't speak for the last two, Forzas are hit-and-miss, the Codies F1 games, Burnout 3 and Paradise, and the list probably goes on for another 50 games I'm not thinking of.

 

[Samus]

Yes in general why devs in many games place a checkpoint before the cut scene I have no idea. It makes no sense. Why do they think anyone wants to see them over and over? On a similar note, when a checkpoint is placed not right before the hard part, but a minute or so before with absolutely no challenge in it at all. Sometimes literally just 30 seconds of walking/running to get to the part you might actually die over and over at.

 

[Nexus]

Crash cutscenes in racing games. They make sense in Burnout but in other racing games (looking at you, Criterion NFS games) they're really irritating and often end up making me lose a race.

 

[Sonygamer455]

Here is another pet peeve I have had for a long time.

Not being able to play through certain parts of the game again after beating it.

The first game I recall being like this was Lego Island 2 for the PS1. Had the game since I was 8, loved it ever since and in my unpopular opinion, it is a great game. Their is a island on there called Adventurers Island and it's an awesome place that it is divided into several sections and you visit each one in the game. The problem is once you beat the challenges in each section, you can never go to those places again. Only the first section accessible. Which is unfortunate because they all look great and have an amazing soundtrack. Their is another island called Ogel Island in the same game that appears to be set on an asteroid and it's an awesome place as well, but unlike Adventurer's Island, once you finish it, you never go back to the island again. It always bothered me when I was a kid and I played through it again for the first time in 10 years just recently and it still makes me sad that it is like this.

(Their are more games I could note that are like this, but this post would be too long if I had mention them all)

Kind of a reminder that it is best to cherish every part to your favorite game while your playing through it, because unless you start a new game, you may never see parts of it again.

Spoiler: Disclaimer

I am speaking entirely by "normal means" when I say you can't play through them again. I am not including hacks or glitches when I say this.

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

1. Escort Missions, fricken Escort Missions! I don't encounter those that often, but when I do, they become annoying quick. Examples: RE4 with Ashley Graham and Spyro 2 with that scientist that for some reason walks towards the jerkish Earthshapers!

2. Backtracking, I just find it boring when I have to go back to an area in a game since I couldn't go there before due to not having an item or the right character.

3. Tutorials that can't be skipped. One example; Forza Horizon 2, it was just telling me how to do things that I already knew how to do. So, I should be allowed to skip it.

4. Getting penalized in a game when it's not your fault. Particularly in racing games! Why should I have to pay for the AI's screw up when they ram me or something?

 

[RACECAR]

1. Escort Missions, fricken Escort Missions! I don't encounter those that often, but when I do, they become annoying quick.

The easily most annoying thing is when the AI you have to escort have no damn sense of self-preservation. "Oh I don't want to go to the area with the least gunfire, I want to go straight to the nearest enemy packing the most heat"

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Elaborate content that goes nowhere.

In Far Cry 4, there is an elaborate sub-plot that has you finding and destroying the Masks of Yalung, the calling card of the Goat, a ritualistic serial killer who offers his victims to Yalung, a demon in Kyrati mythology. The Goat also leaves a series of increasingly-creepy notes that demonstrate his growing psychosis as he becomes aware of your presence. The further you get into it, the weirder it becomes; other notes surface, suggesting that the Royal Army has been moving the bodies around. There's a reward for finding all of the masks, but you never find the Goat or anything to explain the notes. The best you can do is subscribe to a fan theory that a lone soldier found in The Goat's Lair is the Goat.

Similarly, you are also contacted by someone called Gopal, who asks you to recover a series of packages across Kyrat and deliver them to hidden bunkers. As you do more missions for him, his behaviour becomes increasingly erratic and suspicious. When you complete the final mission for him, you find him dead in his bunker, which has been ransacked, and the local militia commander has no knowledge of anyone named Gopal. Searching the bunker reveals that Gopal was working for a third faction looking to set up in Kyrat, but there is no evidence of who they are or why they want to operate in Kyrat. As with the Goat, you get rewards, but the story is unexplained.

It's one thing for games like Fallout 4 to have fragments of stories scattered around the world that you have to piece together (it works because the world is in ruins), but here 95% of a coherent and compelling story has been told and then abandoned. To make it even more baffling, there are other secondary stories throughout the game world - the diaries of a revolutionary leader and the mystery of his death; letters from a British lieutenant who becomes obsessed with Kyrati mythology; and the collapsing relationship between two of the antagonists, Pagan Min and Yuma - that are all complete.

 

[Samus]

The easily most annoying thing is when the AI you have to escort have no damn sense of self-preservation. "Oh I don't want to go to the area with the least gunfire, I want to go straight to the nearest enemy packing the most heat"

What I always wonder is surely the programmer who intentionally codes them like that must think it's dumb. They're purposely programming the AI to be dumb to increase difficulty. They can't find it fun to play either though.

 

[ULTRAVIOLENZZ]

I know I already posted "Unesecessary Animation" But I really really hate that animation of Crane opening GRE crates one hand at a time. Why? There are zombies everywhere! I know developers made this to add tension to the game but it breaks the realism of the situation. And its stupid.

 

[ULTRAVIOLENZZ]

32. Phantom Noises- You know the sound that you can still here after playing? Some are there aren't bad like game music soundtracks. But me, I can still here the scream of the Virals in Dying Light after playing for some time. And it goes on for hours.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

That ... sounds like something that you might want to get checked out by a doctor.

 

[Obelisk]

32. Phantom Noises- You know the sound that you can still here after playing? Some are there aren't bad like game music soundtracks. But me, I can still here the scream of the Virals in Dying Light after playing for some time. And it goes on for hours.

Sounds like tinnitus or a mental issue.

 

[ULTRAVIOLENZZ]

No. Its the same thing when you listen to a song and it stuck in your head. Only the zombie screaming repeatedly in my head is very annoying.

 

[Obelisk]

No. Its the same thing when you listen to a song and it stuck in your head. Only the zombie screaming repeatedly in my head is very annoying.

I know the feeling. That happens because your brain thinks it's an incomplete task.

 

[ULTRAVIOLENZZ]

@Obelisk Incomplete task?

 

[Obelisk]

@Obelisk Incomplete task?

Why do songs get inextricably stuck in our heads? Experts say the culprits are earworms (or "ohrwurms," as they're called in Germany). No, they're not parasites that crawl into your ear and lay musical eggs in your brain, but they are parasitic in the sense that they get lodged in your head and cause a sort of "cognitive itch" or "brain itch" -- a need for the brain to fill in the gaps in a song's rhythm.

Switch music related terms for Viral related terms.

 

[ULTRAVIOLENZZ]

@Obelisk Huh! Makes sense. Thanks for the info.

 

[Obelisk]

@Obelisk Huh! Makes sense. Thanks for the info.

No prob!

 

[BKGlover]

@Obelisk That explains the Jukebox in my mind. Thanks for that.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I know the feeling. That happens because your brain thinks it's an incomplete task.

Obviously the solution is for @ULTRAVIOLENZZ to kill more zombies. If that documentary series "The Walking Dead" is anything to go by, he should also concentrate on making bad decisions, practice his brooding face for when his friends question his judgement, and hide his surprise when he leads his friends into exactly the same predicament as he did last year.

 

[Obelisk]

Obviously the solution is for @ULTRAVIOLENZZ to kill more zombies. If that documentary series "The Walking Dead" is anything to go by, he should also concentrate on making bad decisions, practice his brooding face for when his friends question his judgement, and hide his surprise when he leads his friends into exactly the same predicament as he did last year.

...Or just finish whatever mission he interrupted.

 

[ULTRAVIOLENZZ]

@prisonermonkeys Ah--ah--I will stick in rinsing zombies' scream with music. Thank you.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

...Or just finish whatever mission he interrupted.

I don't remember Rick doing that.

 

[Obelisk]

I don't remember Rick doing that.

Because we're not talking about TWD here.

Off to the (abandoned to walkers) prison with ye!

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

Here's another pet peeve that's spyro related. In Spyro 2, if you already completed a mission; you have to do it all over again! It's not optional after that. This annoys me because there's a mission in one of the levels that requires learning "headbash", but you can't do it until you do an escort mission first. So, I completed the escort mission thinking that I could do the headbash mission afterwards, but no! After coming back, I had to do the escort mission again! GRRRR

 

[Sonygamer455]

Long load times.

Now I know I am not alone here, every gamer has probably had this problem somewhere in their gaming life. The first games I recall having this problem was either Lego Island 2 or Tonka Space Station for the PS1. I don't know which game came first, but I know I got them around the same time period. I traded Tonka Space Station years ago for another game since I outgrown it, but I can still remember getting impatient at the load times. They were long even for a PS1 game and I sometimes couldn't decide if it was even worth waiting for since I wasn't good at managing my patience at the time. Lego Island 2 is pretty well known for having long load times and upon playing it again recently, I know it takes a while for it to load. (To be fair, when you see the size of the environments, it's somewhat understandable)

The slowest game I have ever known is IHRA Drag Racing Sportsman Edition for the PS2! This game is slow with literally everything it does. Even something as simple as changing the color of a car in the game is slow. Takes a while to start a race and if you fail, it's takes it a while just to load the screen to restart! So much more I could say on this game since it is the absolute worst I know. The game would have been "okay" to me, but the load times ruined what little good things it actually had.