Kangaroo Court

[Dreyski]

Bear with me here, in the 1990's, if you had an Amiga home computer it was your duty to read Amiga Power. Who did things a bit differently than most other computer mags. (Far too much to go into in detail but you can go to http://theweekly.co.uk/ap2/index.html )
And one of the features that occasionally ran was Kangaroo Court, where the writers would bitch about 'game features' that made no sense or served to frustrate the player. More information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_Power#Kangaroo_Court

Anyway, in 2017, what are your gaming pet peeves?

1. QTE sequences.
Egregious examples: Resident Evil 4, The Force Unleashed I/II
Video gamers are expected to have quick reactions, it comes with the territory. But this is just silly. I expect to be penalised for not pushing the right button quick enough, I don't expect to be summarily killed and have to go through the same damn cutscene again and again and again for he want of one button press.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZU0g7edxuI

As for Starkiller, he may be able to do some spectacular shit with the force, but what's the point if I'm too busy concentrating on the button sequences to see what he's actually doing? I swear I haven't seen him take down an AT-ST in-game because I need to know which buttons to press.

So, what annoys you in modern gaming?

[Psycho666Soldier]

I actually love QTE's. I just hate that most games make them far too easy, where you have like ten seconds before you can press it. It's never been distracting or frustrating for me, especially if the QTE has branching sequences like in Shenmue or Heavy Rain.

Online-only achievements/trophies. It's one thing for a primarily multiplayer game like Call of Duty, but games that have a focus on single player campaign that require online-only trophies to get 100% are kind of annoying.

[The_Mike]

QTEs in a game like Heavy Rain make sense because it's basically what the gameplay is. When they're in action games like Resident Evil it just seems arbitrary and is blatantly because they wanted a cool cutscene to appear interactive but not really be at all. So it's just an animated movie you have to hit a button in, like Dragon's Lair.

Something that always bothers me in games is artificial difficulty or damage sponge enemies. Games that have a 'hard mode' that's just "you have fuck all health because that's hard right?" or "now every enemy takes seventeen arrows to the face before they so much as stumble". Look, you're not making things a challenge, you're making them tedious. Obviously there are some exceptions and plenty of people will enjoy the challenge of getting through things without getting hit, or taking 12 hours to kill a boss with a billion HP, and I don't begrudge that niche kind of gameplay, but do Skyrim's bandits need to be a slog to kill at level 40?

[Dreyski]

Online-only achievements/trophies. It's one thing for a primarily multiplayer game like Call of Duty, but games that have a focus on single player campaign that require online-only trophies to get 100% are kind of annoying.

Agreed. As a self-confessed trophy hunter who tends to play cheap (old) games, I've suffered from this. Peace Walker is one medal from platinum, but from what I've read, I don't think I'll ever get it. Assassins Creed Brotherhood and Revelations both need MP trophies and no-one's boosting. Pisses me off. :mad:

[Peter Griffin]

Online-only achievements/trophies. It's one thing for a primarily multiplayer game like Call of Duty, but games that have a focus on single player campaign that require online-only trophies to get 100% are kind of annoying.

Glad it's not just me.