The smaller things that annoy you in RPGs

[Starwars]

What are some of the smaller things that really annoy you about RPGs? Stuff that other people may not notice that much.

One of mine is when you can't turn down quests. So you talk to an NPC, they offer a quest that may be completely out of character for you to do so you say "no fuck you", and the game STILL gives you the quest with the NPC saying "Ok... but I'll be here waiting for you anyway!"

 

[Bah]

Ridiculously long load times when transitioning (and every interior building is a transition). I'm looking at you Witcher 1.

 

[aweigh]

What are some of the smaller things that really annoy you about RPGs

Being a visual novel. Not having combat. Pushing political claptrap. Not being a real RPG.

 

[Swigen]

Collect 10 of X quests.

 

[Obsequious Approbation]

1. When I carefully position my party members prior to combat only to have a dialogue or a cutscene reset all my hard work.

2. In Divinity OS, there were some NPC's that started combat with at least twice as many AP as you. Even worse, they mostly got the first turn even if you talked to them to initiate combat, so they immediately used summons, some AOE shit, so forth. As soon as I found some end-game AOE spells, I made sure to start every boss encounter with Arrow Spray and Meteor Shower.

3. Elves.

 

[Will Zurmacht]

One of mine is when you can't turn down quests.

And then not being able to remove them from the log book. Can't stand having a journal cluttered with quests that I have no intention of completing.

Asinine response lines that play all too frequently. If I have to hear Kana Rua(sp) make that same lame statement about calm seas when entering stealth...

 

[coldcrow]

Cumbersome or badly designed UI. This ruins alot of newer indie titles for me, the most egregious example being Grimoire. There is no excuse for it: RPGs have been around for 30+ years and right now it should be somewhat obvious what a functional UI is.
I want to fight enemies, not the fucking UI.

 

[the_shadow]

Relatively rare consumable items that have no meaningful value. For example, wands of fire that cast spells that are less powerful than what a low level mage can cast, or healing/bless potions that apply the same status buffs that even the lowest level priest can bestow.

 

[Viata]

Elves.

 

[Falksi]

Quests which all follow very similar patterns.

Witcher 3 was a fucker for it. Tall-walk-witcher senses-fight-walk back-talk-quest over. Once you'd done one quest you'd done 90% of them.

 

[undecaf]

One of mine is when you can't turn down quests. So you talk to an NPC, they offer a quest that may be completely out of character for you to do so you say "no fuck you", and the game STILL gives you the quest with the NPC saying "Ok... but I'll be here waiting for you anyway!"

This is definitely one. Saying ”no” bears little to no meaning. I’d rather have it so that either you accept the quest, or you forfeit it. If you come back later, the mission giver might tell you it’s already been taken care of.

Another thing that iffs me (somewhat related to the afore mentioned) is that time is almost never used as a real and effective mechanic for reactivity in quests. The games allow the player to fill out his quest log with 100+ missions, all of which - regardless of their implied narrative urgency - wait patiently until the player bothers. And if there is a timelimit, it’s a few minute deathclock that starts when you reach s certain proximity of ”the goal”. Like if there’s quest about putting out a fire on a house, the house burns for years if needed, until you arrive; or if you are to chase a fugitive, he’ll camp at the edge of the woods until you come around to be spotted. And nobody does anything about these things other than you...

And there are sooo many ways to use time to create contextual reactivity that have little to do with ”fail, try again”, but alas...

 

[anvi]

I hate lots of things. First off, I hate having to walk back and forth. If a character gives me a quest that requires running a mile to a dungeon or something, then I have to do the dungeon but then run all the way back to the quest character, then the game can get fucked. If the world is really interesting and run speed is fast, then I am fine with it. But otherwise it is obnoxious. Underrail got uninstalled in 10 minutes because it had far too much running back and forth. Fuckers.

I also really hate having too many containers in the world with stuff in. NWN was a fucking nightmare with this. You leave the first building and there are 4 barrels, a chest, 3 crates, and a plant pot, all searchable containers, and that's just in the first corner. And there are 10 corners because the area is a weird shape. If you ignore them then you end up broke and lacking in scrolls and shit, and if you decided to open all the containers you find, you spend hours clicking the millions of fucking boxes. Terrible.

I also hate stories that don't let me skip them. I've never played a game with a story and dialogue that even came close to a good TV show, so they shouldn't force me to read/listen to all the crap that they came up with. It needs to be skippable and the number 1 dialogue option should be mashable. I might make an exception if the game is like BG2 with lots of interesting dialogue choices, but generally I resent having to read stuff because it always bad.

Most of all I hate fucking towns! Because they are the above 3 shitty things compressed into one massive waste of time. Having to run all over the place, search a million boxes, talk to a million shitty characters. I hate it so much.

Basically I hate RPGs unless it is focused on combat and the combat is good. FFT, Blackguards, TOEE, etc. I love that. I even liked BG2, Dragon Age Origins, etc. If the story is decent and skippable, the travel is minimal, and there are some good battles, then I am happy. I don't think I ask for much.

 

[Bah]

I also hate stories that don't let me skip them. I've never played a game with a story and dialogue that even came close to a good TV show, so they shouldn't force me to read/listen to all the crap that they came up with. It needs to be skippable and the number 1 dialogue option should be mashable. I might make an exception if the game is like BG2 with lots of interesting dialogue choices, but generally I resent having to read stuff because it always bad.

You either play really bad games, or watch really great tv.

 

[Catacombs]

In Divinity OS, there were some NPC's that started combat with at least twice as many AP as you.

Fucking this. And the fact you never have enough AP to make a shitty situation less shitty.

 

[Gomez]

 

[Vorark]

What are some of the smaller things that really annoy you about RPGs? Stuff that other people may not notice that much.

One of mine is when you can't turn down quests. So you talk to an NPC, they offer a quest that may be completely out of character for you to do so you say "no fuck you", and the game STILL gives you the quest with the NPC saying "Ok... but I'll be here waiting for you anyway!"

JRPGs are the most guilty of fake yes/no choices. Dragon Quest XI lampshades this and even has additional dialogue for when the player selects No.

 

[Tavernking]

Equipment that has a minimum skill level required to equip them. I hate miraculously obtaining a powerful item only to be told I can't use it.

 

[prodigydancer]

Loot placement is often bad. E.g. whenever loot is randomized it's practically always bad (aside from the grindy ARPGs where random loot is by design).

But it's not always just randomness that is bad. E.g. my overall opinion on Kingmaker has improved a lot (there are still bugs but Owlcat has made the game enjoyably playable), but I still find it disappointing how the best items usually come from containers and artisans and almost never from boss fights.

 

[Kabas]

Equipment that has a minimum skill level required to equip them. I hate miraculously obtaining a powerful item only to be told I can't use it.

Kinda related to this - "Your character is a master of axes and a complete novice at using anything else because there is no point in raising more than one weapon skill."
I generally tend to dislike the very existence of specific weapon skills with a few exceptions.

Having to run all over the place, search a million boxes, talk to a million shitty characters.

I like to call this the usual rpg chores. Makes you feel like you're doing some shopping errands rather than having an adventure.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

Loot placement is often bad. E.g. whenever loot is randomized it's practically always bad (aside from the grindy ARPGs where random loot is by design).

But it's not always just randomness that is bad. E.g. my overall opinion on Kingmaker has improved a lot (there are still bugs but Owlcat has made the game enjoyably playable), but I still find it disappointing how the best items usually come from containers and artisans and almost never from boss fights.

On that point, randomized loot where it makes no sense. Most recent example of a bad offender is Wasteland 2: a trashcan in a village can have expensive ammo or some old pants. A locked safe trapped with explosives in the raiders base can have expensive ammo or some old pants. Isn't that just fucking brilliant.

Legendary armor under a shrub by a busy road is dumb too but it happens so much I don't even notice it anymore. In Kingmaker my entire kingdom economy in the early game was based on me selling ancient artifacts found in random containers then investing the money into village buildings.

 

[zapotec]

Not used anymore but i really hate spin traps, the ones that make your party rotate.
They make me puke

 

[anvi]

I also hate stories that don't let me skip them. I've never played a game with a story and dialogue that even came close to a good TV show, so they shouldn't force me to read/listen to all the crap that they came up with. It needs to be skippable and the number 1 dialogue option should be mashable. I might make an exception if the game is like BG2 with lots of interesting dialogue choices, but generally I resent having to read stuff because it always bad.

You either play really bad games, or watch really great tv.

Both :/

 

[Darth Canoli]

So many things, most of which figure in the posts above.

I can add some more nuisances like :

• Drag and drop inventory management (why not just right click/double click ?)
• Bland settings or units.
• BG & DOS EE kind of traps.
• Companions AI making them walk into spotted traps ... (Zorbus prevents that from happening, why can't AAA cRPG ?)
• Poor sound effects, generic OST (well, if it's just the music, i can listen to Brahms while playing, if it's the sounds effects, it's a real problem)

 

[Lurker47]

>Monochrome UI

 

[Tigranes]

Dialogue trees where NPCs do a long ass monologue that you have to mash 1 to get through.... and then when it does end, "1" makes you ask the question again restarting the entire monologue again.

Quest items that don't disappear from inventory after their single, scripted use case is complete.

When Run cannot be set to default and you have to hold down Shift or something the entire game.

Voice acting that cannot be turned off.