Most annoying trends in new games?

I used to have this rule that once I start a game I finish it. I stopped playing games in 2006 and only started again in 2011, but I managed to finish only a few of the games I started, because I couldn't overlook problems almost every modern game possessed. Some of these trends are not exclusive to modern games I know.

The blurring effect - I decided to start from minor annoyances. It really bugs me when I turn my camera around and the world blurs (like in Just Cause 2) as if to make it more "realistic". It isn't like that in real life, it's really annoying.

Giving you less opportunities than in older games - (for instance gta IV vs. San andreas or Skyrim vs Morrowind)I just played Alan Wake and people are crazy about it, but to be frank I don't see what's there to like. You just run around, press buttons and fight the same enemies and the story is not that great.

Dumbing everything down - I don't like games where you die 50 times before success, but when the combat consists of two buttons and jumping is all about walking straight while holding a button (assassins creed...) I feel a bit cheated.

You pretty much summed it up to me, but about the blurring effect.. meh I don't really care about that.

Without a doubt DLCs. I miss the good old proper expansion packs

- Cover systems in PC games: just give me lean. A good keyboard+mouse set-up renders a cover system obsolete. This 'press Q to be glued to wall' trend really needs to end now.

- Strawberry jam screens: seriously, having the entire screen turn red whenever you get hit grinds my gears like no other thing in gaming.

- Absence of quicksave: I thought we were past this. I don't want to have to redo 10 minutes of gameplay because I got into some deathtrap. Just let me save wherever, whenever.

- Quicktime events: "press x to continue cutscene". A pathetic and ineffective way of trying to maintain an illusion of interactivity.

- In-game pre-order bonuses. "Pre-order the limited edition free of charge and get an extra gun and vehicle". Oh go away.

Games with an absurd amount of tutorials and that insist on holding your hands.

I'm playing God of War 2 and Rayman: Origins on PS3 right now and both games have this message appear in case you die a lot in a certain stage. No I don't want to switch to easy mode, I want to improve and beat that stage even if I have to try a dozen times.

- Strawberry jam screens: seriously, having the entire screen turn red whenever you get hit grinds my gears like no other game.

- Quicktime events: "press x to continue cutscene". A pathetic and ineffective way of trying to maintain an illusion of interactivity.

DraugenCP

Yeah I forgot about those. I'd rather have a healthmeter than my screen turning red. But it's a case of:

-Almost every FPS tries to be more like COD to attract more sales, meanwhile losing their own identity.

And the quicktime events, those are annoying too. They especially bothered me in the BF3 campaign. Press 'space' to move up... uhm why can't I just press up ?

Too many cutscenes and too much focus on story telling

The focus on heavy handed story telling in most mainstream RPG's. Story telling isn't bad, but these days games are going way overboard with it. I miss old school RPG's where the world, exploration, and of course deep combat and character development were the stars of the show. Sure, all these games had stories too, but it was not so heavy handed. I guess that's why I'm looking forward to games like Legend of Grimrock more than anything developers like Bioware make.

The trend in FPS' where as you take damage, the screen becomes harder to see. The closer I get to death, THE MORE KEENLY I NEED TO SEE. It drives me up the wall when I die because I can't see enemies on my screen.

Without a doubt DLCs. I miss the good old proper expansion packs

robertlie

Addressing the jam screens in fps games. I'm ok with it in singleplayer games, it was pretty frustrating to start a level over because their were no health packs and it was seemingly impossible not to take damage.

In muliplayer games though health bars play a very important role. Games such as quake or even tf2 have health manipulation (healthpacks, medics, rocket jumping, etc.) play a major role. Games such as counterstrike, were you cannot regain health can end up in very epic situations where a player comes out on top in seemingly impossible odds. Regenerating health simply dumbs down the gameplay.

Sniper rifles have become too strong as a one shot weapon when the player could simply hide and regen whenever anyone returned fire. As such most new games sniper rifles feel like pea shooters or other weapons simply dominate them.

- Cover systems in PC games: just give me lean. A good keyboard+mouse set-up renders a cover system obsolete. This 'press Q to be glued to wall' trend really needs to end now.

DraugenCP

This is probably why I don't play a lot of shooters anymore. I feel like "lean" used to be a staple in FPSes, but now it's either removed or replaced with crappy cover mechanics that you mentioned.

Using an Xbox controller on a PC game. This and paying for DLC. Only an idiot buys DLC. You're paying for content that should have been in the game originally. You people are getting fleeced!

The overall lack of challenge is the thing that bothers me the most. I also don't like the lack of strategy games created by mainstream developers and backed by big publishers these days. Indies have helped to fill the gap in strategy games to a point, but it is a neglected genre.

I hate checkpoint systems that are used in place of save systems. Regenerating health, slow-paced shooters, and an overall lack of powerups are additional problems with today's first-person shooters. I would also like to be able to hold 8-10 guns, like I could back in 90's.

I would love to see more complex, deep strategy games with phone book manuals. Better manuals across the board, please. No more of this PDF on the DVD crap.

DLC you have to pay for when it doesn't really add anything to the game.

I don't mind cutscenes but so many games today are more cutscene than game and cutscenes you can't skip are a big peeve of mine.

Worthless "bonus" content for preorders.

3rd person shooters, especially when they're just lame console ports.

Talking about games holding your hands. Was playing MW3 the other day, and that Captain Price was yelling stuffs like go left, go here, crouch now etc every 2 seconds. As if the game wasn't linear enough and we need an npc to babysit you every step you take. I swear I could have blown his head off if I could.

DLCS. At least before they released expansion packs which had almost as much content as the actual game. Now, developers have Day 1 DLC with things that should have been in there all along.ArchonOver

Dumbing games down for consoles.

online passes

tacked on multiplayer

no new game +

when story overtakes gameplay to a point where gameplay becomes monotonous

Using an Xbox controller on a PC game. This and paying for DLC. Only an idiot buys DLC. You're paying for content that should have been in the game originally. You people are getting fleeced!

Iffy350

What's wrong with using a 360 controller with PC games? A lot of people including myself prefer it for games like Arkham City, Assasins creed, GTA etc.

[QUOTE="Iffy350"]

Using an Xbox controller on a PC game. This and paying for DLC. Only an idiot buys DLC. You're paying for content that should have been in the game originally. You people are getting fleeced!

HyperWarlock

What's wrong with using a 360 controller with PC games? A lot of people including myself prefer it for games like Arkham City, Assasins creed, GTA etc.

Its just really stupid. Besides a keyboard and mouse are easier to use. I hate the 360's awkward positioning of the to analog sticks. It makes playing Ace Combat 6 a pain in the ass. If anything a PS3 controller would be better for PC gaming. I play microsoft flight sim X with a keyboard and a Saitek X52 pro but microsoft made it so that people could play the best flightsim series with an xbox controller. Thats just pathetic.

online passes

tacked on multiplayer

no new game +

when story overtakes gameplay to a point where gameplay becomes monotonous

planetjumper

[QUOTE="HyperWarlock"]

[QUOTE="Iffy350"]

Using an Xbox controller on a PC game. This and paying for DLC. Only an idiot buys DLC. You're paying for content that should have been in the game originally. You people are getting fleeced!

Iffy350

What's wrong with using a 360 controller with PC games? A lot of people including myself prefer it for games like Arkham City, Assasins creed, GTA etc.

Its just really stupid. Besides a keyboard and mouse are easier to use. I hate the 360's awkward positioning of the to analog sticks. It makes playing Ace Combat 6 a pain in the ass. If anything a PS3 controller would be better for PC gaming. I play microsoft flight sim X with a keyboard and a Saitek X52 pro but microsoft made it so that people could play the best flightsim series with an xbox controller. Thats just pathetic.

Mabey to you, but to me I find the 360 controller easier than m/kb. I find it annoying having to look across the keyboard for different keys. A controller it's all in the palm of your hand.

DLC's & dumbing down games!!!!!!!

i share most mentioned annoyances but the ones on top of my list have to be handholding and, one that has been around for a while already, achievements. seeing a pop-up in the middle of a game for something i was going to do anyway or seeing i need to do something utterly pointless to "earn" a meaningless, virtual pat on the back is just stupid to me.

For me, the most annoying trend is the online only thing. Especially with the free to play revolution going on, games that could have been great as actual published products are being churned out as half-assed mmos with boring gameplay that accentuates the chatbox and purchasable in-game items rather than the fun of the game.

Most annoying trend.... Not having a finished product!!! Plus not putting out updates for it.

DLC for sure... I hate day one DLC because they're just taking the piss

[QUOTE="Iffy350"]

[QUOTE="HyperWarlock"]

What's wrong with using a 360 controller with PC games? A lot of people including myself prefer it for games like Arkham City, Assasins creed, GTA etc.

HyperWarlock

Its just really stupid. Besides a keyboard and mouse are easier to use. I hate the 360's awkward positioning of the to analog sticks. It makes playing Ace Combat 6 a pain in the ass. If anything a PS3 controller would be better for PC gaming. I play microsoft flight sim X with a keyboard and a Saitek X52 pro but microsoft made it so that people could play the best flightsim series with an xbox controller. Thats just pathetic.

Mabey to you, but to me I find the 360 controller easier than m/kb. I find it annoying having to look across the keyboard for different keys. A controller it's all in the palm of your hand.

Does anybody else get annoyed when your character walks FASTER than NPCs?

So if there is a scene where you have to follow an NPC, your character always overtakes him walking...

[QUOTE="HyperWarlock"]

[QUOTE="Iffy350"]

Using an Xbox controller on a PC game. This and paying for DLC. Only an idiot buys DLC. You're paying for content that should have been in the game originally. You people are getting fleeced!

Iffy350

What's wrong with using a 360 controller with PC games? A lot of people including myself prefer it for games like Arkham City, Assasins creed, GTA etc.

Its just really stupid. Besides a keyboard and mouse are easier to use. I hate the 360's awkward positioning of the to analog sticks. It makes playing Ace Combat 6 a pain in the ass. If anything a PS3 controller would be better for PC gaming. I play microsoft flight sim X with a keyboard and a Saitek X52 pro but microsoft made it so that people could play the best flightsim series with an xbox controller. Thats just pathetic.

Just because a game is capable of being played with a controller, doesn't mean you have to. Making that option available doesn't remove anything from the game. And as for using a PS3 controller instead, there's a reason that xbox controllers have been made to work so easily with PC games, and it has something to do with the fact that microsoft makes Windows. I don't really play console games, at all (the only console I've ever owned was a PS2), but I keep a usb 360 controller around, which I use for GTA, Arkham Asylum/City, and sometimes Fallout 3/new vegas and skyrim, depending on how I feel like playing. I was actually reallly surprised that I didn't end up liking the controller for Resident Evil 5. Usually third person games like that are what hand held controllers are made for, but RE5 just controls so well with the mouse and keyboard, it's amazing.

Anyway, as for actual annoying trends in new games, that aren't just something you can choose to not use, and not complain about. All that crap everyone's been saying is pretty much spot on. Regenerating health, DLC, dumbed down controls and difficulty, lack of big-budget blockbuster RTS.

[QUOTE="Iffy350"]

[QUOTE="HyperWarlock"]

What's wrong with using a 360 controller with PC games? A lot of people including myself prefer it for games like Arkham City, Assasins creed, GTA etc.

the_bi99man

Its just really stupid. Besides a keyboard and mouse are easier to use. I hate the 360's awkward positioning of the to analog sticks. It makes playing Ace Combat 6 a pain in the ass. If anything a PS3 controller would be better for PC gaming. I play microsoft flight sim X with a keyboard and a Saitek X52 pro but microsoft made it so that people could play the best flightsim series with an xbox controller. Thats just pathetic.

Just because a game is capable of being played with a controller, doesn't mean you have to. Making that option available doesn't remove anything from the game. And as for using a PS3 controller instead, there's a reason that xbox controllers have been made to work so easily with PC games, and it has something to do with the fact that microsoft makes Windows. I don't really play console games, at all (the only console I've ever owned was a PS2), but I keep a usb 360 controller around, which I use for GTA, Arkham Asylum/City, and sometimes Fallout 3/new vegas and skyrim, depending on how I feel like playing. I was actually reallly surprised that I didn't end up liking the controller for Resident Evil 5. Usually third person games like that are what hand held controllers are made for, but RE5 just controls so well with the mouse and keyboard, it's amazing.

Anyway, as for actual annoying trends in new games, that aren't just something you can choose to not use, and not complain about. All that crap everyone's been saying is pretty much spot on. Regenerating health, DLC, dumbed down controls and difficulty, lack of big-budget blockbuster RTS.

Being forced to be online to play single player games. Anything that uses GFWL - why would you use this? Why? IT MAKES EVERYTHING WORSE.Lamb_Jalfrezi

I just put my GFWL games on my firewall block list, and then sign in offline. A minor annoyance, yes, but it gets around the problem of being forced to use up even more of my computer's resources so the single player game I'm playing can constantly communicate with servers for achievements.

I hate looking around in a game using a controller. With the mouse you can pan 360 in seconds, with a controller it seems to take forever. But for games like FIFA12, a controller is a must. I use a Logitech one though.FelipeInside

Yeah, it really depends on the game. I never use the controller for shooters. Like I said, I use it sometimes with Skyrim and Fallout, but usually just when I'm feeling lazy and want to lean back on the couch on lay down and play. Plus, it's great to shut up my friends who try to tell me to get a 360. I'm like, "why? Every 360 game I care about is available for PC, universally with better graphics, and if the controls are really an issue, I can use a 360 controller. Then I'm just playing Xbox, except with better graphics, mods, and I can alt-tab to check my email."

the increasingly childish and self absorbed communities

[QUOTE="HyperWarlock"]

[QUOTE="Iffy350"]

Its just really stupid. Besides a keyboard and mouse are easier to use. I hate the 360's awkward positioning of the to analog sticks. It makes playing Ace Combat 6 a pain in the ass. If anything a PS3 controller would be better for PC gaming. I play microsoft flight sim X with a keyboard and a Saitek X52 pro but microsoft made it so that people could play the best flightsim series with an xbox controller. Thats just pathetic.

Lox_Cropek

Mabey to you, but to me I find the 360 controller easier than m/kb. I find it annoying having to look across the keyboard for different keys. A controller it's all in the palm of your hand.

Calling action-adventure games RPGs, streamlining (a.k.a dumbing things down to the least common denominator) and DLC.