What are your video game pet peeves?

For me,

Underwater levels

Escort quests

Silent protagonists (unless there is character customization)

Infinite respawning enemies in the same spots

Pointless enemies like rats, snakes and spiders

QTE's

Protagonist death

Unlockable perks/skills - why not have every skill unlocked at the start and leveling up is the player's choice building up our favorite skills instead of wasting skill points, unlocking crap perks to get to the good stuff? (ex. skill trees Skyrim)

Co-op that's only online. I'm looking at you, Uncharted 2.

And obviously escort missions, those things are terrible :P

timed games. even if its a really long time. e.g. i keep hearing wonderful things about P4G but, as i understand it at least, if you miss some things due to timing then it can become game over. so the game is a non runner for me. I prefer to explore games at my leisure. an overall time limit on games (need to be done by X number of turns etc.).osan0

Escort missions.

Protecting generators and the like while enemies try to damage them.

Moving blocks/dumpsters around in puzzle scenarios.

Getting caught and put in jail, escaping and getting your gear back.

Fighting evil bosses who want to destroy the world.

Bosses that are immune to status ailments.

When you go down some side corridor to do some exploring, get all the way to the end, and find...nothing.  Come on man, put some nice little weapon or something down there to reward me for doing something extra.

Crappy aiming mechanics - I'm aimed slightly left of my target, breath on the analog stick, now I'm aimed slightly right of the target.

Stupid little enemies like spiders that come at you in packs and use up all the ammo you were saving for that big tough enemy you know is coming up next.

Bad balancing - go through a whole castle full of powerful demons with only a moderate amount of effort, then get killed by some street thugs and you don't stand a chance against them. 

Cutscenes that intrude on the gameplay.  I like to watch a cutscene, then play the game.  I don't like to play, then WTF the controls aren't working - oh it's another cutscene.  Just let me kill the damned guy already, I don't need to see yet another cinematic of him acting all macho.

Stealth mechanics that don't work.  I'm crouched down, behind cover, hidden pretty good - enemies come running right up to me like they saw me from a mile away.

Enemies that just spawn out of nowhere.  If I come into an area, look around carefully with my binoculars to make sure there aren't any baddies down there, then I enter the area - oh freakin' dudes just materialize right in front of me.  Gimme a break.

For me,

Underwater levels

Escort quests

Silent protagonists (unless there is character customization)

Infinite respawning enemies in the same spots

Pointless enemies like rats, snakes and spiders

QTE's

Protagonist death

HipHopBeats

i dont know but i love your sig

Stealth mechanics that don't work in certain games.

Escort missions. Why? The A.I. partner who you suppose to protect ends up dead for acting flat-out stupid!

Quick Time Events. There are too many of those features & I wish developers would get rid of it! Plus, Battlefield 3's single player mode was another perfect example of how garbage QTEs are.

Horrible Multi-plats on different consoles. It needs to stop, NOW!

Tacked on single player or online multiplayer. Its my biggest video game pet peeve of them, period.

[QUOTE="osan0"]timed games. even if its a really long time. e.g. i keep hearing wonderful things about P4G but, as i understand it at least, if you miss some things due to timing then it can become game over. so the game is a non runner for me. I prefer to explore games at my leisure. an overall time limit on games (need to be done by X number of turns etc.).MirkoS77

Definite co-sign! Timed sections are neck and neck with QTE crap. You're playing an intense action game a few levels in, cutscene, regain control, suddenly a 3:00 timer pops up? Wtf? I always felt that is a lame way to add variety.

One of the main reasons, I started loosing interest in Assassin's Creed series when Brotherhood started adding those stupid synced missions you needed to unlock extra Ezio sequences. Takes the fun of of playing how I want to play at my own pace. 8 minutes to explore a tomb? Lol, what is this? Super Mario Bros?

When you go down some side corridor to do some exploring, get all the way to the end, and find...nothing.  Come on man, put some nice little weapon or something down there to reward me for doing something extra.

Crappy aiming mechanics - I'm aimed slightly left of my target, breath on the analog stick, now I'm aimed slightly right of the target.

Stupid little enemies like spiders that come at you in packs and use up all the ammo you were saving for that big tough enemy you know is coming up next.

Bad balancing - go through a whole castle full of powerful demons with only a moderate amount of effort, then get killed by some street thugs and you don't stand a chance against them. 

Cutscenes that intrude on the gameplay.  I like to watch a cutscene, then play the game.  I don't like to play, then WTF the controls aren't working - oh it's another cutscene.  Just let me kill the damned guy already, I don't need to see yet another cinematic of him acting all macho.

Stealth mechanics that don't work.  I'm crouched down, behind cover, hidden pretty good - enemies come running right up to me like they saw me from a mile away.

Enemies that just spawn out of nowhere.  If I come into an area, look around carefully with my binoculars to make sure there aren't any baddies down there, then I enter the area - oh freakin' dudes just materialize right in front of me.  Gimme a break.

Jackc8

Another co-sign. I usually venture off the guided path if possible and hate when there's nothing to be found. TLOU is guilty of faulty stealth mechanics. I'm crouched in cover, hiding from Clickers who can potentially insta-kill you if grabbed, yet my A.I. companions can literally run around right in front of them, totally undetected.

Getting caught and put in jail, escaping and getting your gear back.

Bosses that are immune to status ailments.

Bigboi500

[QUOTE="osan0"]timed games. even if its a really long time. e.g. i keep hearing wonderful things about P4G but, as i understand it at least, if you miss some things due to timing then it can become game over. so the game is a non runner for me. I prefer to explore games at my leisure. an overall time limit on games (need to be done by X number of turns etc.).MirkoS77

The claims of "realism" in games.  It's particularly bad in modern military shooters.  It bothers me because the only things realistic about these games are the fact that they model the guns and vehicles after ones that actually exist.  Outside of that there's very little realism in said games.

Invisible walls that don't make any sense. Why can't I jump over that small wooden fence in TLoU?Travo_basic

Shockwave attacks. Fat or tall enemies that stomp the ground or fall down and send out a shockwave that usually stuns you or knocks you down and/or does massive damage.

timed games. even if its a really long time. e.g. i keep hearing wonderful things about P4G but, as i understand it at least, if you miss some things due to timing then it can become game over. so the game is a non runner for me. I prefer to explore games at my leisure. an overall time limit on games (need to be done by X number of turns etc.).

1. Losing to random game design, or I should specify, VERY random design. I don't really mind randomness in my games in small doses, since small amounts of randomness can mix things up a bit to keep things interesting, but too much and it can feel like I got completely screwed over through no fault of my own. I think random game design is okay as long as the game still gives you a fair chance to adapt to whatever the random occurance is.

2. Scrolling levels. Instead of going at the pace I want, I have to go to the game forces on me.  

3. Cutscenes that cannot be skipped or paused. 

4. escort missions (that are poorly designed). "HEY, I'M A SUPER POWERFUL , UNSTOPPABLE FORCE OF NATURE THAT CAN LEVEL ENTIRE ARMIES, BOW DOWN BEFORE MY...Oops, failed to protect my clumsy, stupid, bumbling moron ally that walked directly into danger and got him/herself killed while I was trying to protect them, game over."

3. Cutscenes that cannot be skipped or paused.DJ-Lafleur

A lot, but, good lord, ESCORT MISSIONS!

Forcing your pacing down so much with an annoying idiot you don't even care for just for the sake of having an escort mission.

But, there's even a "Next Level" to this:

VEHICLE ESCORT MISSIONS!

Who the EFF in the gaming industry had this "AMAZING" idea "Hey, Escort Missions already ARE annoying as f*** and forcing your pace down, so why don't we hinder the player even SOME MORE by placing him / her in a car / boat / plane and have to protect another car / boat / plane with it"???? >_<

Their only redeeming quality is if the person you escort is in Godmode, a.K.a. can't die, but then it makes you wonder: "Why an escort mission at all?" I mean, sure it's nice I don't have to worry about the partners safety, but it still drags me out of MY game pacing when I always have to wait for no apparent reason...

Judging by your list TC, you must get irritated with a whole bunch of gamesTreflis

Depends on how much filler content is in the game. I enjoy Dragon's Dogma for example whoch has a lot of these flaws but most of them are more or less skippable unless you're a trophy whore.

But games like AC Brotherhood suddenly introducing Super Mario Bros timed missions needed to unlock extra bonuses is crap. Give me a difficult boss fight or something that fits the narrative general gameplay for that particular game. Not silly 'simon says' quests that make no sense.

Oh man. Woo...oh boy. Wow, um...OK.

Let me get my lists.

For me video games are what they are.  They can be hard in different ways.  But what kills is it when the system breaks or scratches discs, broken controllers and cheap products that snap into pieces.

[QUOTE="MirkoS77"]

[QUOTE="osan0"]timed games. even if its a really long time. e.g. i keep hearing wonderful things about P4G but, as i understand it at least, if you miss some things due to timing then it can become game over. so the game is a non runner for me. I prefer to explore games at my leisure. an overall time limit on games (need to be done by X number of turns etc.).El_Zo1212o

It's good to see you back on the boards, btw. :)

No pets for me.

[QUOTE="El_Zo1212o"][QUOTE="MirkoS77"]Couldn't agree more.  I hate time limits on any part of a game.  I don't mind being under pressure (chase scenes for example), but the level design has to point me in the right direction at all times so I'm not running around like a chicken with my head cut off not knowing what to do or were to go.

MirkoS77

It's good to see you back on the boards, btw. :)

Mine would be luck-based gameplay elements - especially chance-to-hit percentages and shot-scatter rolls.

Those, and "it evens out in the long-run" arguments in support of luck-based elements.

For me,

Underwater levels

Escort quests

Silent protagonists (unless there is character customization)

Infinite respawning enemies in the same spots

Pointless enemies like rats, snakes and spiders

QTE's

Protagonist death

Unlockable perks/skills - why not have every skill unlocked at the start and leveling up is the player's choice building up our favorite skills instead of wasting skill points, unlocking crap perks to get to the good stuff? (ex. skill trees Skyrim)

HipHopBeats

QTE`s seriusly if i wanted to play QTE´s i would go play Dragons Lair. Also the guy who reinvented QTE´s should be taken out and put into a VR machine where he had to do 1million QTE´s in a row.

Either just make the boss/event harder and let the player be free or dont do anything.

Mine would be luck-based gameplay elements - especially chance-to-hit percentages and shot-scatter rolls.

Those, and "it evens out in the long-run" arguments in support of luck-based elements.

Gelugon_baat

I like the ideal of having to adapt to the times the roll is not with you. Those moments are a  fun test of you skills. I can understand getting made if you keepins missing with a 90% chance of hitting.

[QUOTE="Gelugon_baat"]

Mine would be luck-based gameplay elements - especially chance-to-hit percentages and shot-scatter rolls.

Those, and "it evens out in the long-run" arguments in support of luck-based elements.

wiouds

I like the ideal of having to adapt to the times the roll is not with you. Those moments are a  fun test of you skills. I can understand getting made if you keepins missing with a 90% chance of hitting.

[QUOTE="wiouds"]

[QUOTE="Gelugon_baat"]

Mine would be luck-based gameplay elements - especially chance-to-hit percentages and shot-scatter rolls.

Those, and "it evens out in the long-run" arguments in support of luck-based elements.

Lulu_Lulu

I like the ideal of having to adapt to the times the roll is not with you. Those moments are a  fun test of you skills. I can understand getting made if you keepins missing with a 90% chance of hitting.

Being precise/exact is nothing that never happens in real life.Sometimes it not even your fault.

In games mainly RPG and tactical games I like have a percent chance to hit. It is one of the main thing I miss from the first Mass Effect game.

[QUOTE="Lulu_Lulu"][QUOTE="wiouds"]

I like the ideal of having to adapt to the times the roll is not with you. Those moments are a  fun test of you skills. I can understand getting made if you keepins missing with a 90% chance of hitting.

wiouds

Being precise/exact is nothing that never happens in real life.Sometimes it not even your fault.

[QUOTE="wiouds"]

[QUOTE="Lulu_Lulu"] I hate Critical Chance/Hit, especialy if my stats/progress is being tracked, I understand gambling with the situation but you can and can't do should be precise/exact.Lulu_Lulu

Being precise/exact is nothing that never happens in real life.Sometimes it not even your fault.

If it adds to the game then I do not mind it.

I hate those awful, long tutorialsCanvas_Of_Flesh

Oh god, this. It shouldn't take me hours before I actually get into the meat of the game.

[QUOTE="Canvas_Of_Flesh"]I hate those awful, long tutorialsJML897

Oh god, this. It shouldn't take me hours before I actually get into the meat of the game.

Multi-part transforming bosses are particularly annoying (looking at you Final Fantasy). If I put something huge and horrifically powerful in the ground let that be the end of it, don't make me fight it again in a stronger and angrier form (especially without being given the chance to recover from the pounding I received at the hands of its first variation).

[QUOTE="HipHopBeats"]

For me,

Underwater levels

Escort quests

Silent protagonists (unless there is character customization)

Infinite respawning enemies in the same spots

Pointless enemies like rats, snakes and spiders

QTE's

Protagonist death

Unlockable perks/skills - why not have every skill unlocked at the start and leveling up is the player's choice building up our favorite skills instead of wasting skill points, unlocking crap perks to get to the good stuff? (ex. skill trees Skyrim)

Jacanuk

QTE`s seriusly if i wanted to play QTE´s i would go play Dragons Lair. Also the guy who reinvented QTE´s should be taken out and put into a VR machine where he had to do 1million QTE´s in a row.

Either just make the boss/event harder and let the player be free or dont do anything.

Lol, QTE's suck in general. I can tolerate them during hacking sequences like in Mass Effect 1. Other than that, they're just a lazy excuse to add unwarranted variety.

Online/MP trophies counting towards Plats. I am a completionist at heart and seeing games sit at anything but 100% is a major bummer.

I'm going to add one one that no one ever seems to mention in these types of lists, but that drives me crazy: I am sick to death of [either player-controlled or NPC] characters that start bitching at you when you idle for even a few seconds. Examples: Roman complaining that "This is SO f***ing boring!" if you take a few seconds too long to take your shot while playing darts in GTA IV, or [insert player-controlled character] complains "Can't stand around all day!" If you don't move for a few seconds while you're reading a piece of the game's collectible "intel" or whatever.

This is all too common in far too many games, and it annoys the hell out of me. Yeah, it was amusing the first time we saw Sonic the Hedgehog tapping his foot impatiently while glaring at is in a cross-armed stance, but can we please get over it now?

top down games that dont allow you to zoom out far enough.

• Timed sections
• Regenerating boss health
• Bad framerates
• Escort missions

Timed games is a good example I saw. I couldn't play Pikmin because you had something like 24 hours to beat it. Even though it was probably a 10 hour game I couldn't play it without thinking of it. Also I don't really mind the protagonist dying as long as it's a really awesome death.

Also here are my personals -

"This area is locked, get ... DLC to play"
Microtransactions
Doing favors for people in big games (ME2 was annoying. "Help me find my cousin so I don't die at the end. And yes, this is more important than saving the universe.")
No split screen
Zombie games where there are only 4 zombie models
MOVIE GAMES!!
Repetitive dialogue
"Migrating host please wait"
Bad checkpoints (GTA...)
Racing games without good damage
Enemies that don't respond to taking damage (bullet sponge, also the new DMC chainsaw guys that nonstop ruined combos)
Games that clearly don't need multiplayer
Nonskippable cutscenes
Nonpausable cutscenes
When a character is introduced and you know they'll die (or say "leave me behind")
Orange "shoot me here" spots
Unkillable characters
Annoying kid characters
Of course, QTE (don't mind the occasional button pop up but Ryse was an example of what it shouldn't be)
Short looping soundtracks
When your character dies from touching water
When you can clearly go through a space but it won't let you (invisible walls)
Car chase scenes where if you crash they slow down to let you catch up and when you catch up to them they magically go 3x faster

I'm sure there are tons of others but they're pretty much my main ones.

I'm going to add one one that no one ever seems to mention in these types of lists, but that drives me crazy: I am sick to death of [either player-controlled or NPC] characters that start bitching at you when you idle for even a few seconds. Examples: Roman complaining that "This is SO f***ing boring!" if you take a few seconds too long to take your shot while playing darts in GTA IV, or [insert player-controlled character] complains "Can't stand around all day!" If you don't move for a few seconds while you're reading a piece of the game's collectible "intel" or whatever.

This is all too common in far too many games, and it annoys the hell out of me. Yeah, it was amusing the first time we saw Sonic the Hedgehog tapping his foot impatiently while glaring at is in a cross-armed stance, but can we please get over it now?

NodsToNothing

Interesting observation. I guess devs do that in a poor attempt to make NPC's appear less static. What devs should do is make NPC's interact with the gaming environment more like Beth did with Serana in Skyrim or pawns in Dragon's Dogma that at least do useful things like mining ores and collecting loot.

Timed games is a good example I saw. I couldn't play Pikmin because you had something like 24 hours to beat it. Even though it was probably a 10 hour game I couldn't play it without thinking of it. Also I don't really mind the protagonist dying as long as it's a really awesome death.

Also here are my personals -

"This area is locked, get ... DLC to play"
Microtransactions
Doing favors for people in big games (ME2 was annoying. "Help me find my cousin so I don't die at the end. And yes, this is more important than saving the universe.")
No split screen
Zombie games where there are only 4 zombie models
MOVIE GAMES!!
Repetitive dialogue
"Migrating host please wait"
Bad checkpoints (GTA...)
Racing games without good damage
Enemies that don't respond to taking damage (bullet sponge, also the new DMC chainsaw guys that nonstop ruined combos)
Games that clearly don't need multiplayer
Nonskippable cutscenes
Nonpausable cutscenes
When a character is introduced and you know they'll die (or say "leave me behind")
Orange "shoot me here" spots
Unkillable characters
Annoying kid characters
Of course, QTE (don't mind the occasional button pop up but Ryse was an example of what it shouldn't be)
Short looping soundtracks
When your character dies from touching water
When you can clearly go through a space but it won't let you (invisible walls)
Car chase scenes where if you crash they slow down to let you catch up and when you catch up to them they magically go 3x faster

I'm sure there are tons of others but they're pretty much my main ones.

Oozyrat

I agree with all the other points you listed. Even many though many feel ME2 had a bad story, I actually didn't mind the 'help me find my cousin' side quests due to the big payoff in the Suicide Mission and cool gameplay mechanics.

I'm currently playing ME1 and Garrus was just telling me an interesting story about some freakazoid doctor he wanted to catch using humans as test subjects to grow clone body parts inside the test subjects.

When Garrus said the doctor got away due to legalities from C-Sec, I was thinking it would be cool if there was a side quest to find this doctor and sure enough the convo ended with Garrus saying that he had a possible location of this doctor.

Stories like that can be cool if executed in the right way but I can definitely see how they can become annoying in general. Especially if the gameplay mechanics suck.