Still won't review games, but decided he would do something a bit silly today.
Will talk about the mechanics/story/settings he has seen so overused it makes him lose interest. Plays a little clip of Dark Willow from Buffy saying she's bored. Not in any particular order, and he probably isn't thinking of any particular game because there have been so many.
First one: Saving the world. Demons are invading, aliens are invading, the dark god is coming, there is a plague coming and everyone is going to die. Understands why RPGs do this, but prefers lower scoped problems, or at least problems caused by other problems. Something the player can acknowledge and deal with without becoming a god themselves.
Next, villain monologue. Villains going on for minutes talking about all they stuff they are going to do. Cain would rather you show it instead of having them talk about what they do.
Next, sarcastic NPCs. Soooo original, sooooooo edgy. Has been done to death, complained to a Narrative designer that his sarcastic NPC overuse was super cliche. The designer said sometimes cliches work (This same designer had apparently ripped apart the other designers' ideas for being cliches.)
Open world just for the sake of having an open world. You have an open world, what do you do in it? There's nothing there, no exploration or discovery, just kilometers of nothingness. Finds this happens because someone had a great idea for an RPG that would have worked well with zones or hub and spoke, but thinks someone or the team or a publisher insisted they have an open world because that is the thing. It gets boring.
Complex systems just for the sake of complexity. Not getting anything cool out of it, just throwing a lot at the player. Maybe you're hoping something sticks if you throw enough at him. If Cain has to go online to figure out how to spend his level up, or use a spreadsheet, he is probably done. Level up should be fun and imaginative, and he should be able to picture where his character could develop.
Next, fake evil. They say they have evil paths, technically they do, but you try to go down it, you just get early game overs. You release the plague, game just ends. Also sees a variety where you go evil and most of the game just shuts down. NPCs don't talk to you, most quests vanish. Technically a path, but not nearly as developed as the good path.
Has also seen fake evil game where you can dress evil and maybe act evil but when it comes down to it you are going down the exact same path as the good characters, you just look goth doing it. That's why they included unusual endings in ToEE, such as joining Zuggtmoy or making her kneel to you as the greater evil. That is true evil.
Than there are a whole host of other things. RPGs with pure linear stories, RPGs with premade characters that come with name/stats/backstory. RPGs with no real CnC, or fake CnC. You can choose something, but it changes nothing really, a few lines of dialogue but you are doing the same quest in the end. Some people ask Cain if he considers these RPGs. He thinks of RPGs as a continuum and each one of these you do, you are a bit less of an RPG to him. Eventually you will get to the other side of the spectrum where it is just an adventure game.
The flipside of this is endless combat. You get an RPG, but it's really a combat simulator with some attributes or skills. Some people consider ToEE this, but that is just Cain being a bad narrative designer. Cain wants a choice in how to play and have the game reacts to that.
Dislikes WoW style combat choreography. People may think raids are hard, but he has seen a video where a guy just goes 'dot, dot', stop dot.' Very coordinated, basically combat ballet. Cain would rather play DDR at this point, Cain really liked a game that recently came out where you fought on the beat.
Having loads of loredumps in your game is also boring. They had to do it in the 80s, than in the 90s they could do it less and by the time of the 2000s there was no excuse. Show, don't tell. If there are optional NPCs to explain it if Cain wants to know more , that's nice. Books Cain can choose to read is nice. If the lore helps you with optional systems he can ignore is fine with.
A few things about the player character he is tired of. Had said this to many narrative designer over the decades, stop it with the amnesia. You get one use of amnesia in your career, use it again, Cain will roast you. Is particularly tired of the trope of the godlike character getting amnesia and having to relearn their powers. Also dislikes the young misunderstood protagonist who is super special. Entire class of RPGs that he tends to avoid. Finds it tiresome and over that trope. Doesn't mind young person who can't control their power and does something bad, but the complaining is annoying.
