Extremely minor complaints about playing games

[RH | 4,889]

I'm going mobile for this one but in-game ads that are all about downloading an extremely basic coin-dozer or bubble-pop game and you win money.  "OMG, I just played jebeweled and earned $2,617 in 15 minutes!!!!!!!"  Yeeeeaah, no.  I'm sure there are people out there that believe that nonsense and will download those games, but it feels like most of the ads I see are that type of junk. 

I hate to say it, but I miss the days of blockbuster games with ads including Arnold or that chick from Community and Dave Franko.

[RH | 4,889]

1 minute ago, a3quit4s said:

Can we all agree on a placement for A, B, X, Y?

and Sony can get right the hell of here with triangle, circle, square, and x

Yes, so long as going clock-wise from the top it's, X, A, B, Y (like the Switch/SNES)  You know, if I had to guess they are probably all different due to some copyright/trademark/patent stupidity.  I'm all for protecting IP for content creators, but it's gone to far when it creeps into details like this and you know it does.

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

50 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

Can we all agree on a placement for A, B, X, Y?

and Sony can get right the hell of here with triangle, circle, square, and x

OMG, yes. I only play my PS4 occasionally, but am constantly going back and forth between Xbox and Switch and this is a daily headache.

I've spent more hours with my Xbox than with all my Nintendo consoles, so that would be my go-to arrangement, but Nintendo clearly has the earlier claim to their layout. 

Were there any other systems before the SNES that had these buttons in a unique layout?

[Estil | 1,261]

On 9/9/2020 at 7:25 AM, DoctorEncore said:

Developers forcing crafting mechanics into every single game.

Need to pad the length of your game? Crafting!

Need a reason for players to explore your boring environments? Crafting!

Need to add replay value? Crafting!

I loved Tomb Raider (2013). I though the gameplay loop was fantastic while still having some nice diversions and side content. Then Rise of the Tomb Raider added crafting which really ruined the pacing of the game. Having to scour environments looking for sparkling objects so you can build an arrow is the opposite of fun. God of War (2018) is another example of crafting gone wrong. Would the gameplay have been any worse if you just found new sets of armor? Absolutely not. It would have been more streamlined, though.

If I had to pick a game that did it right, I'd say Breath of the Wild and its recipes. But that's mostly because the food adds valuable buffs for exploring and fighting.  Even so, the game would have been more fun without that mechanic.

Anyone else hate crafting?

This is gonna make me sound like a total out of touch idiot but this is the first time I've heard the term.  Though i suppose I was very much doing just that in Dragon Quest 11?

[Estil | 1,261]

7 hours ago, a3quit4s said:

Can we all agree on a placement for A, B, X, Y?

and Sony can get right the hell of here with triangle, circle, square, and x

What the heck do you have against Sony's face buttons?  Though for the Tales of Destiny menu the X and CIRCLE buttons are backwards of their usual functions (in Japan they use CIRCLE to confirm and X to cancel...in the US the usual way is X to confirm and O to cancel) and yeah that does get a teeny bit aggravating.  Do I dare count that as one of those trendy microagressions?  At least when dealing with microagressions, I totally understand they are just that, micro.

[Tanooki | 4,929]

How about since trophies came up, how about a really good minor complaint.  THEY EXIST.

What ever happened to being able to enjoy your own accomplishments?  What about setting your own goals?  Why do we need the game to award of game flow environment lurching crappy pop ups to tell me I finished a chapter, killed 3 idiots with one grenade, or I'm currently watching a cut scene?!  I'd rather be pleased with my own efforts and not be told how or when to feel accomplished with my game, and I sure don't need some pop up like a browser ad blast in my face watching or playing something in a game.

I'd like to find the troll that needed more attention that invented that, hold a couple pieces of bread up to their head (one per side) and declare them the most decadent idiot sandwich ever.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

Yeah, I am SOOOOO glad that achievements didn't exist in the NES era.  Feeling like you have to jump through 25 silly hoops to fully "complete" a game is the worst kind of artificial padding.  That along with crafting and required scavenger hunts kills most modern games for me...

[guitarzombie | 923]

36 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Yeah, I am SOOOOO glad that achievements didn't exist in the NES era.  Feeling like you have to jump through 25 silly hoops to fully "complete" a game is the worst kind of artificial padding.  That along with crafting and required scavenger hunts kills most modern games for me...

I like achievements because it allows me to discover things in the game I might not have noticed.  On the other hand, achievements that are incredibly stupid and taxing are really lame.  Yeah, its an achievement, but its like going to school and the teacher gives you a ton of homework because they forget you have other classes.  On Friday the 13th, theres an achievement to play as a counselor 1000 times.  Which is extreme, but not so bad because most of the time you play as them.  When I got to max level, Im at 82%  BUT, the dummies thought it would be a good idea to have an achievement to play as Jason 1000 times.  Mind you each game lasts 10-20 minutes and the game chooses who's Jason randomly.  We're talking MAYBE you'll play as Jason one in ever 10 matches, maybe.

[Estil | 1,261]

2 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Yeah, I am SOOOOO glad that achievements didn't exist in the NES era.  Feeling like you have to jump through 25 silly hoops to fully "complete" a game is the worst kind of artificial padding.  That along with crafting and required scavenger hunts kills most modern games for me...

You could get stars/badges/hearts/etc next to your file for achieving certain things.  That kinda counts doesn't it?

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

17 hours ago, guitarzombie said:

I like achievements because it allows me to discover things in the game I might not have noticed.  On the other hand, achievements that are incredibly stupid and taxing are really lame.  Yeah, its an achievement, but its like going to school and the teacher gives you a ton of homework because they forget you have other classes.  On Friday the 13th, theres an achievement to play as a counselor 1000 times.  Which is extreme, but not so bad because most of the time you play as them.  When I got to max level, Im at 82%  BUT, the dummies thought it would be a good idea to have an achievement to play as Jason 1000 times.  Mind you each game lasts 10-20 minutes and the game chooses who's Jason randomly.  We're talking MAYBE you'll play as Jason one in ever 10 matches, maybe.

I have a love/hate relationship with achievements. For a while in the 360 era, I tried maxing every game I played. It didn't take long for that to start feeling like a job instead of a hobby, so I gave up and just started ignoring them completely. Now I've found a nice balance where I appreciate them and occasionally go after the interesting ones, but don't chase them or use them as a gauge for how complete my playthrough is.

I think it's good to have one or two achievements that are truly rare and unobtainable for 99% of players. So I guess they nailed the rare part, but they did it in the laziest way possible. Make your rare achievement skill-based, not mind numbingly time based. 

[TDIRunner | 2,721]

I've never understood the complaints about achievements.  They are purely optional.  If you enjoy them, you can go after them.  If you don't enjoy them it's as simple as ignoring them.  Nothing whatsoever to complain about unless you really want something to complain about.  

[Link | 2,707]

On 9/10/2020 at 2:56 PM, Estil said:

Do I dare count that as one of those trendy microagressions?  At least when dealing with microagressions, I totally understand they are just that, micro.

See thread title

[Link | 2,707]

On 9/10/2020 at 7:26 AM, ChickenTendas said:

This is extremely extremely minor but I wish that Breath of the Wild had a recipe book. I'd accidentally throw a bunch of things in the pan and create some amazing dish, but then wouldn't be able to recreate it because I forgot what I threw in

When games used to come with manuals instead of tutorials, this is why there were three blank pages in the back, for “Notes”. 

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

25 minutes ago, TDIRunner said:

I've never understood the complaints about achievements.  They are purely optional.  If you enjoy them, you can go after them.  If you don't enjoy them it's as simple as ignoring them.  Nothing whatsoever to complain about unless you really want something to complain about.  

I think this is a weak argument.  That's like saying you don't understand the argument that a game is too hard since beating it is optional, so no one should argue against it being too hard.  We're talking about video games - a pastime -  so everything is "purely optional" starting with the decision to boot up your system and play whatever game.  But here's the issue: if you give a man an objective, he's going to want to complete it - that's human nature.  So "beating" a game is the initial objective when you first start playing a new game, and that's fine, but when you get to the point where there are dozens and dozens of objectives (achievements) of which some are ridiculously time consuming and tedious for no good reason, like the example above where you must play as Jason 1000 times to get every achievement, it's like the game developers are baiting the gamer and his stubborn human nature into playing their game for an unnaturally long amount of time that far surpasses the amount of time the gamer would have put into said game had it not had any achievements to begin with.  And that's my issue with the whole concept of artificial padding like achievements and the like in modern games...

[TDIRunner | 2,721]

14 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

I think this is a weak argument.  That's like saying you don't understand the argument that a game is too hard since beating it is optional, so no one should argue against it being too hard.  We're talking about video games - a pastime -  so everything is "purely optional" starting with the decision to boot up your system and play whatever game.  But here's the issue: if you give a man an objective, he's going to want to complete it - that's human nature.  So "beating" a game is the initial objective when you first start playing a new game, and that's fine, but when you get to the point where there are dozens and dozens of objectives (achievements) of which some are ridiculously time consuming and tedious for no good reason, like the example above where you must play as Jason 1000 times to get every achievement, it's like the game developers are baiting the gamer and his stubborn human nature into playing their game for an unnaturally long amount of time that far surpasses the amount of time the gamer would have put into said game had it not had any achievements to begin with.  And that's my issue with the whole concept of artificial padding like achievements and the like in modern games...

They are optional.  End of story.  If you feel like you have to complete them just because they are there, that's your problem (and a serious one at that).  If a game stops being fun, stop playing it.  Same thing with your example about a game being too hard.  Practicing and playing a challenging game to get better at it is a good thing.  But if a game has a difficulty curve that removes the fun for someone, why would they ever continue playing it?  Trophies and achievements are there for anyone who enjoys the game enough that they want more.  I've only platinum trophied two games in my entire life because they were some of the best games I've ever played, and the extra achievements brought more enjoyment to the game.  The rest of my achievement library probably has less than 20% complete because I just simply don't care to go after them.  

[Tanooki | 4,929]

Are they truly optional though?  Your earlier post said you can ignore them.  That wasn't always the option on PS3, 360, or even those on PC(Steam) either.  You don't get a choice to opt into them, and for the longest time you couldn't even ghost the things out and not have to see them at all.  SO there was no optional, it was forced, and they'd interrupt the game breaking the flow or you out of a moving moment to say 'hey you watched the chapter 2 cutscene, here's an asinine popup to give you a participation prize for.)  Maybe you can ghost them now, but it wasn't always as such, and some games that have them manufactured into it around a system that lacked it (Metroid Prime 3 on Wii) you're stuck.

[TDIRunner | 2,721]

39 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

Are they truly optional though?  

Yes.  I've completed several PS3/PS4 games without going after any trophies.  

[Tanooki | 4,929]

You're kind of dodging what I wrote.  I never asked if you went after them.  I was writing specifically to them being forced on the player without having a means to ghost them (ie: remove from showing up during play.)  As a PS3 owner playing it when it was on the market you weren't given the option so these asinine pop ups were persistently getting in the way while playing or watching story driving sequences which just sucked.

[TDIRunner | 2,721]

3 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

You're kind of dodging what I wrote.  I never asked if you went after them.  I was writing specifically to them being forced on the player without having a means to ghost them (ie: remove from showing up during play.)  As a PS3 owner playing it when it was on the market you weren't given the option so these asinine pop ups were persistently getting in the way while playing or watching story driving sequences which just sucked.

No I'm not.  I know what you are saying.  I get it.  You can't opt out and I guess that would be a nice option.  But if you can't handle a tiny little ding with a super small icon that pops up every now and then, I don't know what to tell you.  

But it doesn't change the fact that you don't have to go after them in order to play the game.  There aren't any games that stop you half way through a campaign and say, "you can't proceed until you earn more trophies."  And if there is one out there that I don't know about, I will stand with you and say that game sucks.  

[scaryice | 579]

33 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

You're kind of dodging what I wrote.  I never asked if you went after them.  I was writing specifically to them being forced on the player without having a means to ghost them (ie: remove from showing up during play.)  As a PS3 owner playing it when it was on the market you weren't given the option so these asinine pop ups were persistently getting in the way while playing or watching story driving sequences which just sucked.

You can turn off trophy notifications on both PS3 & PS4.

[Estil | 1,261]

How about something like this, I remember someone on a gaming forum complaining that one of the recent-ish 2D Mario games is "too easy"...but then right afterwards admits "I didn't try for the Star Coins though" *facepalm*

 

[Estil | 1,261]

1 hour ago, scaryice said:

You can turn off trophy notifications on both PS3 & PS4.

Actually I think it's kinda neat/rewarding to see the trophy notification pop up, but I digress  

Also, as I acknowledged in that earlier topic where I said I was starting the trophy hunting for the first time (I did have a few from a few years ago), I don't really expect to get any platinums (except I am fairly close in Dragon Quest 11; just need to max everyone out, get that one special prize in that super hard "Trial" and beat the final boss))...I just see in each game how many B/S/G's I can get first.  Not to mention in some games platniums in fact are no longer possible (for example the online only trophies in Wheel of Fortune).

I might get back into the trophy hunting thing when the new DQ11 arrives in December (I was thinking of doing a second go-around and this gives me a perfect excuse) but in the meantime I'm busy with my new PS1 "Everdrive" (PSIO) working on Tales of Destiny and a few other games.  Plus my other hobbies/projects of reading my newspaper archive and Brittanica Yearbooks (just started on 1977; where they debuted a new look for that year).

[Estil | 1,261]

8 hours ago, Link said:

When games used to come with manuals instead of tutorials, this is why there were three blank pages in the back, for “Notes”. 

Does anyone actually use these pages?  Waste of paper if you ask me!  

[Link | 2,707]

43 minutes ago, Estil said:

Does anyone actually use these pages?  Waste of paper if you ask me!  

I wrote passwords on them, for Mega Man games and Metroid at least. It would be handy for A Boy and His Blob but that manual didn’t have the blank pages. 

All told, not a big waste considering the size and how manuals are constucted (1 sheet = 4 pages)

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

16 hours ago, TDIRunner said:

They are optional.  End of story. 

I'm not a modern gamer, so I don't know how the achievement tracking works on every system, but I can tell you that at least one of the XBOX systems would load up an achievement percentage on every game as soon as you played the game once, according to a friend of mine.  So if you try out a game and pop one achievement and never play it again, it will be listed at 1% complete (or whatever) forever and add that to the cumulative percentage of all of your games, and you COULD NOT OPT OUT OR ERASE THIS - it was not optional.  My friend would purposely not play some games because he didn't want to take a gamble that it would be a game he wouldn't really want to delve into.  Now if this has changed in the last generation, then that is awesome, but it won't affect me either way as I'm not into playing current-gen games where the average completion time is deep into double-digit hours...