Gaming Tropes That Need to GO

[Mister Jack]

Speaking of FFIX, I hope to never see another RPG that has such ridiculous speedrun requirements to get the ultimate weapon.  You literally had to skip every cutscene to get it.  You had to OPEN UP THE FUCKING PLAYSTATION to skip the FMVs because they still counted on the timer.  Speedruns shouldn't even be in an RPG unless the player wants to do a self-imposed challenge.  Why would you force people to miss out on all the cool story and eye candy for a weapon?

[Mal]

It taught me to not give a fuck about ultimate weapons. What matters is the boss fights and I can just as easily beat them with a weapon a tier or two lower.

[Mister Jack]

Not in FFX you can't.  I hope you like racing chocobos because you're gonna be that game's bitch if you want to do the bonus bosses.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

Speaking of FFIX, I hope to never see another RPG that has such ridiculous speedrun requirements to get the ultimate weapon.  You literally had to skip every cutscene to get it.  You had to OPEN UP THE FUCKING PLAYSTATION to skip the FMVs because they still counted on the timer.  Speedruns shouldn't even be in an RPG unless the player wants to do a self-imposed challenge.  Why would you force people to miss out on all the cool story and eye candy for a weapon?

 

It's not required to skip the FMVs. It just helps.

[Strangelove]

Getting the best accessory/weapon/item in the entire game by beating the toughest boss first. Makes it completely pointless.

[Strangelove]

I HATE hearing people bitch or even talk about immersion. Was this even a topic 10 years ago?

It seems everything a game does breaks people's immersion. The sci fi stuff in Assassin's Creed, Ellie never being noticed by enemies in TLoU, regenerating health, or even just having a UI. JUST HAVING A UI BREAKS PEOPLE'S IMMERSION.

Sorry, but theres only so much immersion you can have. Sorry you have such a shitty life, videogames arent going to fix it. There is no Wonderland to go to.

I know that sounds douchy, but I dont really see the big deal. I get immersed in games all the time, but I never pretend Im not playing a game or that Im part of it. Its a goddamn game. Ive been playing these things since I was 4 or 5 years old.

 

Let's just go back to bitching about controls, enemy AI and graphics please.

[TheMightyEthan]

I think there can be things that are legitimately immersion breaking, but as far as I'm concerned it's pretty much only when the game creates certain expectations about how it works, and then breaks them suddenly and unexpectedly.  Like in Catherine, during gameplay you're free to blow off Katherine and go completely after Catherine, but then every time there's a cutscene suddenly Vincent wants nothing to do with Catherine and is completely devoted to Katherine.  It's very jarring when the game appears to give you agency and then suddenly takes it away, and I think it would have been much much better if they hadn't given the player any agency at all.

 

But yeah, all the stuff you're talking about is just people sucking at suspension of disbelief.  It's a goddamn videogame, of course there are going to be some things that aren't completely realistic.  Claiming that those things ruin your immersion just means you suck at being an audience.

[Strangelove]

I understand something like that. Ive always been a big fan of games that respond to almost everything you do. But its still the exception to me. Most games don't account for most things, but I never take it seriously.

 

I guess Im really the type of person that gets lost in the game theyre playing. I never really question how things work outside of the game. If the internet hadnt brought up how Nathan Drake is a mass murderer, I never would have realized it. I was too busy playing an interactive action movie. Since I can remember all action heroes murder a ton of people and by the end, theyre still the hero. We still root for them. The 80s really solidified that. Most of my childhood heroes were mass killers. Rambo, Robocop, Terminator, etc. Its fine with me and I dont think im in any way inhuman for being ok with it.

I guess my point is that I dont find Uncharted or AC any less fantastical than Super Mario or Sonic. I never question why Sonic's shoes dont rip off his feet the minute he gets super speed or why Mario doesnt have a hole in his pants after he lost his raccoon tail powerup. Is there a point to thinking about stuff like that? Is there anything to gain?

 

And i guess it goes back to people who overanalyze superhero or fantasy movies and dissect them, which weve talked about before. I assume these people simply cant stop themselves. its not their choice, they just cant help but notice the irregularities.

Thats gotta suck, not being to enjoy most decent things.

[TheMightyEthan]

I dispute that Drake is a mass murderer. Sure he's killed a lot of people, but they're pretty unequivocally bad guys, and they typically try to kill him first.

[Strangelove]

He still kills them though. Those pixels had pixel families.

 

 

I also just realized this isnt really a trope, more of a pet peeve. Oops.

[TheMightyEthan]

But that doesn't make it murder.  If someone tries to kill me, but I kill them instead, I didn't "murder" them.  Murdering is killing somebody without sufficient provocation.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

Generally, in uncharted (and most games) aren't baddies guarding areas, then you shoot one from the shadows and then they fire back, defending their base/property? You're basically usually the instigator/agressor.

[Hot Heart]

Isn't the point not so much about how justified the killing is, but how it's a 'big jolly adventure' featuring over 700 deaths and a hero who merely cracks wise about it?

[TheMightyEthan]

Meh.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

Isn't the point not so much about how justified the killing is, but how it's a 'big jolly adventure' featuring over 700 deaths and a hero who merely cracks wise about it?

What's the alternative, you want to play as Drake who feels the pain of all of those deaths? You'd spend half the game trying not to kill yourself over the things you've done.

[Hot Heart]

I wasn't saying I endorse the viewpoint, but that's such a lazy counter-argument.

 

I will say that you look at the root of the problem not the 'outcome' of a bad decision. i.e. maybe not make the game revolve so much around slaughtering entire battalions. I mean, yes, the story's a different tone, but we've already seen a game from the same developer somewhat address ways of not making your protagonist an unstoppable (remorseless) killing machine.

[TheMightyEthan]

I would actually love it if Uncharted were more about exploration and puzzle solving than shooting.  I still don't consider the "dissonance" between the gameplay and the story tone to be a problem though.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

I remember reading all the hype about uncharted which made it sound like an adventure game with almost like-zelda gameplay just with guns instead swords  so when I finally got to playing it I was super disappointed that it was just another third person shooter with a bit of jumping around.

 

I guess that it's easier to just throw a load of enemies in to an area than create a range of decent and varied puzzles.

[Strangelove]

Over the years Ive really started to actually dislike puzzles in my games. I just hate them. I stopped playing Darksiders because of the puzzles. Well, it was a shitty game outside of the puzzles too. And outside of Wind Waker, I kind of really dislike the Zelda series. I think 2D Zelda is where it was at. Theyre just boring to me.

Each Uncharted game has about 2 or 3 obligatory puzzles, but theyre easy as can be and kind of fit into the story. I don't mind that, but I guess as Ive gotten older I like not getting stuck on bullshit. I think there should be a clear separation between puzzle heavy games like Portal 2 and Zelda and games with filler puzzles like Uncharted and Tomb Raider.

By the way, Tomb Raider is also an example of my change in tastes. This new one is so much better than the old ones combined. I feel bad for the original fans that this one is so "dumbed down", but I think the franchise is more fun for it. Now if they could write a decent story. Thatd be great.

 

I guess over the years gaming for me has become more about relaxing and less about being particularly good at it. Im not competitive and I rarely ever feel "accomplished" after I figure something out.

I will say that Im not completely devoid of challenge. I think the Portal games hit a sweet spot as far as difficulty goes. People shit on them for not being difficult enough, but I think theyre perfect. I personally never got stuck on a puzzle that I had to turn it off or look it up online(well, except for the last puzzle in Portal 2, for some reason I just couldnt grasp it). Usually Id spend a few minutes and once I figured it out id feel like an idiot over how obvious it was. Theyre clever games, I think.

 

Now Resident Evil, Im not sure how to classify those. Before RE4 of course. I like those games a lot, but Im not sure if they did puzzles right or not. A lot of them were just ways to pad out the game with backtracking, I still liked them though.

[TheMightyEthan]

My favorite parts of Uncharted are the parts where I'm not shooting anything. The shooty bits, especially where they bring in the bullet sponges, just feel like obstructions to get to the fun parts.

[Alex Heat]

Any damn game that gives you the ability to run, but attaches it to some kind of stamina meter or some shit like that.

 

Devs, if you feel that a sprint function is necessary, that probably means the default running speed is too slow or the world is needlessly large.

 

Just let me fucking run all the damn time if I want to.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

How would that work in D___ Souls?

[TheMightyEthan]

I agree with some games, like GTA, but in others the stamina limit can serve legitimate design purposes.

[FredEffinChopin]

The burning building from which you need to quickly escape to save your life, but which doesn't deter enemies in the least from laying in ambush or engaging you in prolonged combat. 

 

For that matter, burning buildings that don't contain any noticeable smoke, and that treat flames like a bunch of lamps all over the room, rather than rapidly spreading death that you don't want to get within a few feet of.

[Thursday Next]

I'm generally not keen on enemies not being affected by the environment / other enemies area of effect damage. If you are going to throw ranged, aoe and close quarters damage at me, then that needs to affect all characters. Not just me. By the same token, I'm fine with my grenades blowing me up. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander after all.

 

I'm ok with close range physical attacks not damaging anything other than the target though. Even if the animation looks like it ought to hurt everyone.