Things that piss you off on RPGs.

[Carlos' Bitch1]

Clickfest realtime combat. It bores me to death.

An encounter every time you turn a corner/take two steps/etc. Make encounters tougher and have them require more thought rather than have more of them.

 

[Rhalle]

The 'racism' or 'others' trope, where being good means helping said faction, regardless of realpolitik or actual grown-up conflicts of interest; it's Sesame Street-style diversity training, boring and insulting to anyone with a brain-- and apparently inevitable.

Dialogue trees so uninspired, correct and formulaic that they might as well not exist as text.

False choices in dialogue tress that all lead to the same outcome.

Gameworlds that need (or ones that condescend so much that they need) exposition; excessive explanation of what is happening, no thinking on the part of the player required.

 

[Wyrmlord]

An encounter every time you turn a corner/take two steps/etc. Make encounters tougher and have them require more thought rather than have more of them.

What would you say to tough encounters requiring thought when you turn every corner?

Because I remember that it was just like that in the 4th chapter of Betrayal At Krondor, when you come out of the dungeon into the Northlands. The result - plain juicy fun.

It just goes to show that if you have a good combat system, and enemies made on a good difficulty curve, than any infinite amount of combat is a wonderful thing. I was amazed that I never got bored of slaughtering one group of enemies after another, en masse. Every enemy was as difficult to take down as any other, and so the pleasure of knocking down each one is the same as the one you get the first time. I wanted more, and I kept getting more.

It was also fun because between ending one fight and moving on to another, you couldn't just simply rest, because there were enemies just so close nearby. Taking one step or two meant triggering another combat situation. So every single fight, you had to plan in such a way that you had enough at your disposal for the next one.

But it also made me wonder - if a good combat system and a challenging enemies are all that you need to make a perpetually fun game, then why even need innovation? :shock: It's a rather strange realization.

 

[Spectacle]

-confusing quests
-difficult combat
-quests becoming unavailable just because I'm a certain class or make certain choices in the game
-turn based fighting
-permanent death
-lack of guidance

All these things piss me off if they are lacking in a game.

 

[deuxhero]

Generic setting, I mean MoTB showed the Forgotten Realms had (as in, pre 4th edition) some interesting locations, so why does every damn cRPG in the setting take place on the same boring generic Sword Coast?

Real time with pause, at least real time can work in other genres, RTwP has never been done decently.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Things that piss you off on RPGs.

It's rabid fanboys.

 

[Derek Larp]

When the main gameplay mechanic is hunting for better equipment, like in all games that derive from the first diablo.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Dream sequences. Why is here always a damn dream sequence. I for one have never had any life altering revelations while sleeping. Maybe I need to use more drugs.

 

[Lemunde]

Linearity. Denied exploration. NWN is particularly bad about this. It just keeps pushing you forward. Yeah, there may be side quests here and there but once you're done with an area, you're DONE with that area. They don't give you any reason to go back, explore a little more, kill a few more monsters, try to find some more loot. Yeah, I like a little dungeon crawl in my RPGs, bite me. What eats me up is they easily could have but chose not to. It's not like everybody would be forced to go back to these places. If they want to move on let them but give me something to do if I'm not in the mood to finish the main quest as quickly as possible.

 

[Relayer71]

Nothing bugs me more than dull writing and slow pacing, combined.

After that I would have to say:

- Easy combat
- Repetetive quests (ESPECIALLY fetch quests)
- 1st person NON-TB (love you Wiz 8) engines
- Really bad voice acting

 

[Darth Roxor]

*snip*

As much as I agree that all the fighting in BaK was fun, I wouldn't actually call it that hard and strategic, even the fights in the Northlands weren't that tough, if you had one, absolutely gamebreaking spell, and that spell was skin of the dragon, because with that, you could just basically stand out there, use the spell on all party members, and while not using it, just rest till your hp is back up or run away from enemies.

The HARDEST chapters, were easily the ones with Patrus, because of his lightning speed >_>

And well, you *could* simply rest between fights, but given the need for rations, and the fact that on longer trips in unknown places they would be hard to come by (Dimwood and the wasteland come to mind) it wasn't really that simple. Also, I always kind of wondered, why the concept of 'rations' hasn't become more popular in rpgs.

 

[Worm King]

Dream sequences. Why is here always a damn dream sequence. I for one have never had any life altering revelations while sleeping. Maybe I need to use more drugs.

I don't recall a single RPG with a dream sequence. Lay off JRPGs, they will fry your brain.

Oh, there's PS:T but there was a dream machine, so I don't think it counts.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Dream sequences. Why is here always a damn dream sequence. I for one have never had any life altering revelations while sleeping. Maybe I need to use more drugs.

I don't recall a single RPG with a dream sequence. Lay off JRPGs, they will fry your brain.

Oh, there's PS:T but there was a dream machine, so I don't think it counts.

Morrowind, Baldur's Gate (both, I think).

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

Dream sequences. Why is here always a damn dream sequence. I for one have never had any life altering revelations while sleeping. Maybe I need to use more drugs.

I don't recall a single RPG with a dream sequence. Lay off JRPGs, they will fry your brain.

Fallout 2.

 

[Kavax]

Fallout 2.

That was more telepathy than dream.

 

[JarlFrank]

Baldur's Gate 2 had dream sequences.

 

[mondblut]

I don't recall a single RPG with a dream sequence. Lay off JRPGs, they will fry your brain.

TES Arena, for one. That stupid dead bitch in blue keeps pestering you.

Wizardry 7 (do a few screens of text count as "sequence"?). Tower of Dane, I think, when mind something personal skill is acquired.

Most Ultima intros. You always get summoned to Britannia through some hangover hallucination.

Not that I care though.

 

[Talby]

That was more telepathy than dream.

I figured it was just the Chosen One dreaming about how he had to solve his quest, not any magical telepathy stuff.

 

[oldschool]

dialogue

 

[Kavax]

That was more telepathy than dream.

I figured it was just the Chosen One dreaming about how he had to solve his quest, not any magical telepathy stuff.

The Fallout Bible confirmed that there are psychics in the Falloutverse (And Hakunin is not the only one, there's also the Deathclaw leader and the Master)

 

[Wyrmlord]

*snip*

As much as I agree that all the fighting in BaK was fun, I wouldn't actually call it that hard and strategic, even the fights in the Northlands weren't that tough, if you had one, absolutely gamebreaking spell, and that spell was skin of the dragon, because with that, you could just basically stand out there, use the spell on all party members, and while not using it, just rest till your hp is back up or run away from enemies.

The HARDEST chapters, were easily the ones with Patrus, because of his lightning speed >_>

And well, you *could* simply rest between fights, but given the need for rations, and the fact that on longer trips in unknown places they would be hard to come by (Dimwood and the wasteland come to mind) it wasn't really that simple. Also, I always kind of wondered, why the concept of 'rations' hasn't become more popular in rpgs.

But then again:

1) Using Skin Of The Dragon will use up a turn, and will only work on one party member at a time. That still gives enough time for an enemy to whip out a crossbow and poison the other party member. Or a spellcaster to use Unfortunate Flux on the other guy.

2) Skin Of The Dragon will NOT protect you against Fetters Of Rime (you'll resist the damage, but not the frost) or Grief Of 1000 Nights. Those spells immobilize the party, and that ends the fight there and then.

Because it is really offense that is the best defense when you are facing a large group of enemies that also includes spellcasters in it. It's best to make use of a damaging spell so that enemies will be so badly hurt, they will not think of using their most powerful spells against you, or will be hurt enough that their accuracy with the crossbow is reduced.

Besides, considering that the other extreme is spells that can instantly decimate the party, Skin Of The Dragon really balances it out.

But damn, those Patrus chapters were hard. Even winning Initiative kept his turn at the last,

 

[Turok]

I just want a ultima VII remake with the space siege engine...

I hate FPS+rpg games, Half-life 1 and 2 are perfect example for what use the FPS engine.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Dream sequences. Why is here always a damn dream sequence. I for one have never had any life altering revelations while sleeping. Maybe I need to use more drugs.

I don't recall a single RPG with a dream sequence. Lay off JRPGs, they will fry your brain.

Oh, there's PS:T but there was a dream machine, so I don't think it counts.

Other people mentioned a bunch of them but the games I have played that come to mind are:

KoToR 1 (maybe 2 also - don't remember)
Many Ultima's and Savage Empire
F2
CoTaB
BG2
Arena

Anytime any relevant information is passed along while the PC is sleeping or in some sort of trance counts in my book. This includes leveling up, plot advancement, hidden memories, whatever. Fantasy books are also lousy with this stuff. Drives me crazy.

 

[Stabwound]

In early JRPGs (and even some newer ones) they tried to make it look like there was some very basic choice/consequence, but it wouldn't actually let you pick the "wrong" choice. For example, something like:

Wang: Oh, please spare my life! I'll change my ways!

then you get a prompt that lets you select yes/no

If you select "no" it will just repeat the question again and ask you for yes/no. I mean, what is the point of going through the trouble to ask you to choose what to do if it won't let you choose the "wrong" answer? Annoying as fuck.

 

[poocolator]

I hated the endless droves of baddies who are all magically alerted to your presence, forcing you to fucking retreat and buy MORE potions just to finish off the final 1/100 of the dungeon romp (necessary to proceed in main quest >.< )

I'd raise some issues present in Fallout 3, but then I'm not sure whether Fallout 3 is an RPG.