The smaller things that annoy you in RPGs

[Silly Germans]

Ok. I will say it.

I hate character creation.

Yeah, fuck you.

What an ungodly thing to say.

 

[Catacombs]

Voice acting that cannot be turned off.

And if there's no option to lower the voice volume all the way down.

 

[Catacombs]

Loot placement is often bad.

When a merchant's wares are scattered on the counter before him and the counter is too high and the objects are perilously close to the natural torso location that you want to click to interact with him. So 25% of the time you accidentally "steal" an apple off their counter which of course alerts the town guard, locks down the building, and dispatches a SEAL team to your position.

Happens to all of us.

 

[Catacombs]

Ok. I will say it.

I hate character creation.

Yeah, fuck you.

Why?

 

[curds]

- Lengthy cutscenes, especially if they're at the beginning of a game. For some reason I feel like I have to watch them, even though I don't want to. And they rarely add information that couldn't just be discovered in-game.

- Companions who interrupt at random/inconvenient moments to tell you their life story. Especially in KotOR when you get pop-ups saying "so-and-so seems quiet, maybe you should talk to him".

- When a game won't let you complete quests outside of a certain sequence defined by the developers. For example in Oblivion there is a quest in which a farmer is having trouble with bears, but the bears don't actually exist in the game until you speak to the farmer. You should be able to kill the bears on the way to the farm then tell the farmer you've already done it.

 

[taxalot]

Ok. I will say it.

I hate character creation.

Yeah, fuck you.

Why?

If it's at the beginning of a first playthrough, it's pretty hard to know what's important.

 

[Darth Canoli]

If it's at the beginning of a first playthrough, it's pretty hard to know what's important.

Makes sense, should be at the end obviously, you sir are a genius!

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

I really don't have anything to add ...

 

[undecaf]

Ok. I will say it.

I hate character creation.

Yeah, fuck you.

I agree in regards of visual ”sculpting” of the character. It’s just pointless on all grounds.

At least as long as it doesn’t have any mechanical bearings.



Oh, an one other thing... Voiced protagonists. It’s never the right voice to listen to 20+ hours. Never. It’s just fucked up.

 

[GloomFrost]

Filler combat (lazy encounter design)
bad writing (lore dumps)
survival (having to eat or sleep)
time limit quests
when NPCs constantly tell you what a special brave hero you are
autoleveling
bethesda and bioware

 

[DalekFlay]

I really hate when you know something is a setup, or a character is lying or deceiving you, but you have no other option than to play your character as if they're retarded and have no idea what's coming.

 

[taxalot]

I really hate when you know something is a setup, or a character is lying or deceiving you, but you have no other option than to play your character as if they're retarded and have no idea what's coming.

You should play Shenmue.

 

[thesecret1]

Shitty dialogue options for the MC. I hate how most RPG protagonists sound like husks with zero personality. Even worse if their whole dialogue tree is just shit about how they accept a quest. Let me fucking roleplay, don't give me that "1. I will return with the item 2. Tell me more about the item 3. I will return later" bullshit.

 

[Sigourn]

Things like "my daughter is dying, please bring medicine back fast" is just the writers not taking into account how the game plays. Though i'd rather have that than having a time limit (unless it is something like going to the doctor next door and i have a limit of three days or whatever - but at that point it becomes a question of why wont the parent go?). But preferably i'd rather have time be something abstract that doesn't get acknowledged in any specific terms (and really since most RPGs that have time treat it like that anyway, it gives me the impression that they mostly track time so that they can have pretty day-and-night visual effects rather than any gameplay reason, since you can wait/rest for the time you want anyway).

There's no contradiction with my post (if that was the one you were talking about). There's a difference between stalling a quest and outright stating to the corresponding NPCs "I don't give a damn". It sucks playing an asshole or evil character if there are no consequences to it. Not every quest needs to have the player do asshole things: not doing things can be an asshole move by itself, with the consequences to prove it.

 

[prodigydancer]

I really hate when you know something is a setup, or a character is lying or deceiving you, but you have no other option than to play your character as if they're retarded and have no idea what's coming.

What you know isn't necessarily what your character knows. But yes, there always should be a chance to spot lies and bluff attempts (probably tied to an ability score or a skill). Otherwise it's bad design.

Let me fucking roleplay, don't give me that "1. I will return with the item 2. Tell me more about the item 3. I will return later" bullshit.

Kingmaker is decent in this regard. Usually you get several dialogue options, some of them (mostly alignment-specific) can be pretty elaborate.

Speaking about Kingmaker, there's another thing I hate: typos. Especially in dialogues. Proofreading your text isn't optional, dammit!

 

[Bad Sector]

There's no contradiction with my post (if that was the one you were talking about).

It was just the example i remembered when writing the post, there were several posts before yours about time .

There's a difference between stalling a quest and outright stating to the corresponding NPCs "I don't give a damn". It sucks playing an asshole or evil character if there are no consequences to it. Not every quest needs to have the player do asshole things: not doing things can be an asshole move by itself, with the consequences to prove it.

I agree that it sucks to not have consequences for playing an asshole/evil character (my most recent example was The Outer Worlds where i tried to do a second playthrough where i kill everyone but got bored because the game simply didn't acknowledge it). However, at least for me, not being somewhere at a specific time doesn't really feel like a choice i made, it feels more like a choice i *failed* to make and in a manner that isn't fun (time limits make me feel anxious for reasons i mentioned above). I'd rather see such choices be made in other ways, like dialogs or - even better - through my actual and intentional actions.

 

[Catacombs]

there's another thing I hate: typos. Especially in dialogues. Proofreading your text isn't optional, dammit!

Especially in translations. Developers who aren't paying the translators and copy editors enough and allow typos to appear in the final game should be flogged. This applies to grammar, too.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Ok. I will say it.

I hate character creation.

Yeah, fuck you.

Why?

If it's at the beginning of a first playthrough, it's pretty hard to know what's important.

Read the manual, and if necessary look up external information about 'trap' skills and so forth.

What kind of RPGer can't handle character creation?

 

[DalekFlay]

What you know isn't necessarily what your character knows. But yes, there always should be a chance to spot lies and bluff attempts (probably tied to an ability score or a skill). Otherwise it's bad design.

Yeah. To be clear I only mean when it's really obvious, or even worse when you find a letter or something that says it clear as day. That's when having no option other than "yeah sure let's go in the cave" infuriates me. Same as when you have evidence someone's guilty but can't call them on it until the plot says so. Let's just summarize this all as "character has information the game forces you to play ignorant of."

 

[Vorark]

- Companions who interrupt at random/inconvenient moments to tell you their life story. Especially in KotOR when you get pop-ups saying "so-and-so seems quiet, maybe you should talk to him".

Reminds me of my BG2 playthrough. Was almost at Firkraag's chamber when Jan suddenly decided it was of the upmost importance to share a tale (or five) about turnips.

Then again, it is Jan Jansen.

 

[curds]

- Companions who interrupt at random/inconvenient moments to tell you their life story. Especially in KotOR when you get pop-ups saying "so-and-so seems quiet, maybe you should talk to him".

Reminds me of my BG2 playthrough. Was almost at Firkraag's chamber when Jan suddenly decided it was of the upmost importance to share a tale (or five) about turnips.

Then again, it is Jan Jansen.

Yeah, Bioware in general are the worst for this sort of thing. Happens in Dragon Age too.

 

[RK47]

I think I encounter a lot of 'dissonance' in FNV where certain factions are facing serious difficulties only for you to wonder in and solve all the problems 'quite easily'.
Off the top of my head: The Boomers need help with Giant Ants infestation. Granted, these are GIANT ants, but I doubt they're that dangerous. I know that you can't use explosive and energy weapons in there because you risk an explosion - so ... that automatically makes the Boomers unable to deal with this problem? They can just hand a small group assault carbines and have them stand atop the platform shooting down till they're dead.

Because my level 1 courier just walk in there, fire away with 10mm pistol with no issue.

There's also the Brotherhood bunker unable to deal with a 'jumping' virus. There are 9 terminals. Gee whiz how do we solve this? Goddamn, can you just... get 3 dudes to cover 3 terminals each? Why do I gotta do it myself?

 

[Daemongar]

If it's at the beginning of a first playthrough, it's pretty hard to know what's important.

But theres a metagame at work here - character creation is a mini IQ test. You crack the code - you waltz. You don't study, you flushed $40 down the drain:
* Look at the box art. Is it outdoors, in space, in a closed tunnel, underground? What stats would work?
* Read a paragraph about the game. What would do good in this time, place, or game system? Is this developer faithful to the system or clueless?
* Who the hell created this game? Could a stealth char thrive in this world? Is this a company that would design a game to let a stealth class thrive? Would they allow me to be evil?
* What race would be ideal for this world or environment? Is it worth taking a crappy race for the stat bonuses or should i play it safe and go human?
* Read the description of the classes. One is going to jump out to you as OP. One is going to be moronic. Sure, sometimes developers switch the two, but its rare enough to make it inconsequential. Either way, every game is going to have a defensive class, an offensive melee, offensive caster/ranged, healer, thief, and then variances. This has absolutely no bearing on the game but allows the player to play according to their personality. People who play thieves play thieves in most games, folks (like me) who play clerics play clerics in almost every game. Just how it is.

I honestly think character creation in a single char RPG is one of the best parts of the game. Once you play the game, char creation holds no mystery. Might as well Google a build. But at the start... that char creation is probably where I spend the most time. If the game has random stats, Jesus, I may be there for days!

 

[Daemongar]

There's also the Brotherhood bunker unable to deal with a 'jumping' virus. There are 9 terminals. Gee whiz how do we solve this? Goddamn, can you just... get 3 dudes to cover 3 terminals each? Why do I gotta do it myself?

Well - hold on. That quest you quoted was a little more than being in the right place at the right time. That dude was asking for your assistance since you wandered along and had the appropriate computer skill. That is, you had to have the Science skill to suggest the fix in conversation and actually start the quest.

A better example would be finding FISTO. He was *right around the corner* guarded by rats! But maybe it's one of those things.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

I know that you can't use explosive and energy weapons in there because you risk an explosion - so ... that automatically makes the Boomers unable to deal with this problem? They can just hand a small group assault carbines and have them stand atop the platform shooting down till they're dead.

I don't think they have any weapons that aren't explosives (or it's implied they don't use them if they have any because hurr durr their lore is they love explosives!). Which might be even dumber, but the guy who gives you the quest something like that "we can't kill them because they explode when killed with OUR weapons, but you from the outside might be able to do something."

Well - hold on. That quest you quoted was a little more than being in the right place at the right time. That dude was asking for your assistance since you wandered along and had the appropriate computer skill. That is, you had to have the Science skill to suggest the fix in conversation and actually start the quest.

I think the check if for completing the quest without running around terminals? Because I didn't pass the check and did they quest anyway, and I'd assume everyone is BoS has enough computer knowledge to operate (not even hack) a terminal, so yeah, they could literally request a few more people for 10 minutes and the problem would be gone.

 

[RK47]

And she didn't even take it in the end.

I know that you can't use explosive and energy weapons in there because you risk an explosion - so ... that automatically makes the Boomers unable to deal with this problem? They can just hand a small group assault carbines and have them stand atop the platform shooting down till they're dead.

I don't think they have any weapons that aren't explosives (or it's implied they don't use them if they have any because hurr durr their lore is they love explosives!). Which might be even dumber, but the guy who gives you the quest something like that "we can't kill them because they explode when killed with OUR weapons, but you from the outside might be able to do something."

You know the first thing I found upon entering the generator room? A dead boomer with an assault carbine.