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[Brannon]

It's time to move on, enhance thyself, and leave behind the trash that once was revolutionary and necessary in a game.

For me, it's skeletons. It started a long time ago, but for the longest now I've been thinking that skeletons are just the most ridiculous thing ever. I mean, dude... IT'S A SKELETON. It's worse than naked, it's inadequate. Vacant eyes, no nose, no muscle, and an unwavering toothy grin is supposed to jar my nerves? They were in our freaking Biology classes, with the teachers hat and tie on them almost every Friday, with a sign hung on its neck stating the weekly lesson plans and what to study for the bi-weekly tests, and candy in the hands for those who got high marks. Fuck a skeleton. Seriously, it's time to leave it in the grave or feed it to Cerebus or some other vengeful hound of the Underdark, because it's just not doing its job anymore. When the best weapon against an undead creature (club-types) is it's OWN DAMN FEMUR...

Although I must admit that during all this time I've been jaded against skeletons and skeleton-derived creatures, one has managed to queue my interest. Playing Wizardry 8, I'm climbing some stairs, hurt like all hell, near death, then I enter a seemingly random battle. But it's different....

-*FWOOM*-

A wicked sword drops from out of nowhere, and out materializes the Grim Reaper with one of the most badass musical themes ever. In seconds he reaps the peanuts out of my shit and kills me. Man, I was dissing skeletal creatures before, but that guy stepped up for all skeletons, everywhere. I give it respect, but not an apology as I return to reclaim my dignity.

So do you have any conventions you'd like to be laid to the wayside? Remember, he hands out candy to the first reply...

 

[Hellraizah]

Slime creature in japanese RPGs.

 

[Semjaza Azazel]

RPGs that have you attacking already dead enemies. The original FF did this. If they died before you got to attack them, you'd attack anyway.

I thought this died off in the early 90s, but I played Golden Sun and it was back in full force. I don't know if the Lost Age "sequel" had that or not, but I hope not. Kill it off and never bring it back.

 

[bjork]

I could do without E3 each year.

 

[Greenpanda]

I could do without E3 each year.

Haha, I was going for that joke, but you beat me to it

 

[Grizzlyjin]

Slime creature in japanese RPGs.

Dragon Quest hates you now.
But Grizzly always loves.

I guess I could sy goodbye to water levels until they stop sucking so much. And torch puzzles just annoy me these days.

 

[Crazymoogle]

Putting a jumping puzzle in towards the end of a 1st or 3rd person game just to add a few lousy hours of time or justify an (in all probability) already crappy storyline.

 

[GDJustin]

Upgradable/secondary functions on weaponry. It's not a bad concept per se, just taken too far these days. Especially when it's obvious they didn't have a good secondary function for some of the weapons, so you end up with crap. Perfect Dark was the last game to get the mixture just right, by and LArge.

 

[Hellraizah]

Double jumps, it just doesn't make any sense.

 

[FortNinety]

Double jumps, it just doesn't make any sense.

IAWTP

 

[TheGreenGiant]

subpar non existant plots no longer work for me. Integration the storyline/narrative is gettign very important.

good: zelda/mgs/re etc

bad: pn03. gta3 (too disparate.. random.. nothing adds to anything) gunvalkryrie. etc

 

[MC Safety]

The whole crate thing is so played out. Barrels are where it's at!

 

[MightyHedgehog]

Block pushing/pulling puzzles...though, I am getting Sudeki...

 

[shuri]

- Collectathon
- Random Battles
- Artificially extented gimmicks (backtracking, nightmare levels, 10 hours races, or tracks to unlock. Please i dont want to play the same 3 tracks over and over again)
- Lame ass story 'twistes'
- Racing AI that always catch up with you, or follow the same path

 

[radios shipping overview]

Placeholder, token plot/cinematics that are just there because someone decided the game should have a story.

 

[Troidal]

An action oriented game that doesn't have a JUMP button.

Resident Evil, Onimusha, and other games of the same type - pushing boxes and crates just to climb over something. Uhm...can't you freakin' jump?

Legend of Zelda - ok, so it works out fine without one, but there are just some parts where you wished you could control Link's jump.

Such idiocy in game design. We had Marios, Simon Belmont, Megaman and other action games where you had one, and suddenly you cut that part of? What, just to make it "more challenging"?

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

Games being put out on multiple platforms.

Pick a platform and do it right. Don't water the textures down or increase the load points become of a lowest common. And sure as fuck you better not sell me a PC game with a console interface.

No more multiplatform games ever!

Well, I guess sports titles can still do it, because I don't even care about 'em

 

[aerofx]

Enemies that touch you and you get hurt while they don't.

 

[Ryu]

Collect-a-thons... Thanks a lot Mario 64 for making this a standard for many platform games that could have otherwise been a lot of fun.

Unlockable mirror characters... Hello Tekken and Soul Calibur (2)!

Megaman.

The term "Halo killer."

The shattering screen effect before battles in RPG's.

Any game dealing with the word "Mana." (Not saying these games are bad, just sick of the fucking word)

Games that force back-tracking without opening up whole new areas to explore.

TERRIBLE FUCKING CAMERA USAGE!

Black and white game manuals... fuck you EA.

This influx of senseless nudity in games that serves no purpose whatsoever.

Shitty voice-acting.

Beautiful FMV cut-scenes with shitty in-game graphics.

Original games using franchise names to sell more copies (Though I can't wait for Advance Wars on Cube).

Games that are played via card battles. (MGS:A, PSOIII, etc)

...I think that's enough for now.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

Enemies that touch you and you get hurt while they don't.

Metal Slug!

The Future is Now!

 

[bobbyconover]

Cliched worlds/levels with cliched music. Desert level with middle eastern sounding music in the phrygian mode, beach/tropical level with steel drum calypso music, ice level with music that sounds like variations on Christmas themes complete with jingling bells, underwater level with dreamy waltz music, circus level with caliope music, etc.

Also, totally unrelated, but being forced to play through (and find all secrets in) the 20+ hour single-player mode of a game in order to unlock more than one character/level/play style/option for its multiplayer mode has GOT to stop.

 

[Acrylamid]

Having to learn all moves in every sequel again and again.
The great exception was Banjo-Tooie, you could do all old moves from the beginning and learned new ones in addition.

 

[Ferrio]

Foward/Back+Button for throws in fighting games. Make it two buttons dammit.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

Any game that has a lot of content, but locks it all from you at the begining. I paid fifty bucks for my toy, sir, let me play with it.

Worst ever offender: Steel Battalion

 

[Late Stage Marxist]

I guess I could sy goodbye to water levels until they stop sucking so much.

Amen. MGS2 comes to mind.

Upgradable/secondary functions on weaponry. It's not a bad concept per se, just taken too far these days. Especially when it's obvious they didn't have a good secondary function for some of the weapons, so you end up with crap. Perfect Dark was the last game to get the mixture just right, by and LArge.

Have you played Splinter Cell?

Games being put out on multiple platforms.

Pick a platform and do it right. Don't water the textures down or increase the load points become of a lowest common. And sure as fuck you better not sell me a PC game with a console interface.

No more multiplatform games ever!

Well, I guess sports titles can still do it, because I don't even care about 'em

Multi-platform games almost always have a 'native platform', so just get that version.

Enemies that touch you and you get hurt while they don't.

LOL So true.

A convention I'd like to see rid of is load times. I'd be happy next generation if the graphics were only slightly better but the levels streamed seamlessly into eachother.

 

[TTP]

Get the key to open the door backtracking

 

[Ghost]

Random Battles

Turn Based battles

 

[XS+]

Foward/Back+Button for throws in fighting games. Make it two buttons dammit.

Make it one button. World Heroes had the right idea.

 

[dark10x]

Multi-platform games almost always have a 'native platform', so just get that version.

Yeah, but the native version is always designed with the other consoles in mind.

Look at Beyond Good & Evil. PS2 was the lead platform, yet the game could barely hold 30 fps on that system. As a result of going multiplatform, every version of BG&E had framerate problems. I don't believe that would have been the case had it been designed from the ground up for a specific system. Prince of Persia is another example. The XBOX demo ran at 60 fps more often than not, but the final was locked at 30. I firmly believe that it could and would have been 60 fps AND would have offered even more detail had it been specific to XBOX.

What about one of the most successful multiplatform affairs? Even from the beginning, as it was being developed on System 246, Soul Calibur 2 was created with the intention of being ported to other platforms. As a result, the base version of the game suffered from bouts of slowdown during furious particle displays. Based on Namco's track record on PS2, I firmly believe that not only would slowdown have been completely eliminated had it been a single platform release but I also believe that we would have recieved even better visuals.

The fact of the matter is, the best looking games on each console are always designed for a single platform. Even games that eventually recieve ports, such as MGS2, were designed from the ground up to run perfectly on the original base machine.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

Good lookin' out, money

 

[Late Stage Marxist]

Yeah, but the native version is always designed with the other consoles in mind.

Look at Beyond Good & Evil. PS2 was the lead platform, yet the game could barely hold 30 fps on that system. As a result of going multiplatform, every version of BG&E had framerate problems. I don't believe that would have been the case had it been designed from the ground up for a specific system. Prince of Persia is another example. The XBOX demo ran at 60 fps more often than not, but the final was locked at 30. I firmly believe that it could and would have been 60 fps AND would have offered even more detail had it been specific to XBOX.

What about one of the most successful multiplatform affairs? Even from the beginning, as it was being developed on System 246, Soul Calibur 2 was created with the intention of being ported to other platforms. As a result, the base version of the game suffered from bouts of slowdown during furious particle displays. Based on Namco's track record on PS2, I firmly believe that not only would slowdown have been completely eliminated had it been a single platform release but I also believe that we would have recieved even better visuals.

The fact of the matter is, the best looking games on each console are always designed for a single platform. Even games that eventually recieve ports, such as MGS2, were designed from the ground up to run perfectly on the original base machine.

I think it's more a sales decision than anything. I can't even imagine how few copies of Prince of Persia or Beyond Good & Evil would have sold as exclusive titles. The disadvantages of multi-platform releases seem superficial at worst.

 

[dark10x]

I think it's more a sales decision than anything. I can't even imagine how few copies of Prince of Persia or Beyond Good & Evil would have sold as exclusive titles. The disadvantages of multi-platform releases seem superficial at worst.

It IS a sales issue, of course. That is the ONLY reason why multi-platform games exist. That doesn't mean I don't dis-approve. I firmly believe that many good games are neutered as a result of a multiplatform release. I will never support multiplatform releases.

 

[ge-man]

Collect-a-thons... Thanks a lot Mario 64 for making this a standard for many platform games that could have otherwise been a lot of fun.

Don't blame Mario, just thank the developers that didn't seem to grasp what made Mario 64 a special game--all collectibles required that you do some platforming.

Collect-a-thons can be very fun, but they won't be fun the challenges are busy work that does not require mastery of the game's system.

 

[belgurdo]

Double jumps, it just doesn't make any sense.

Considering these tend to occur in games where your character is already some kind of mystical superman or magical creature, it should make sense in game terms.

 

[SantaC]

The baby sitting in todays games. In Zelda 1 and Metroid 1 you had full sense of exploration. Today they always tell you where to go. Atleast the hints are too good to miss unless you are an idiot.

 

[thorns]

Swimming in FPSs.

 

[Gek54]

Respawning enemies and momentarly flashing invincible bosses, especially in a more realistic game, eh hem MGS. It completely takes me out of game.

 

[Shompola]

What irritates me most in games today and yesterday is that in some games the bosses don't have visible life bars. It's especially irritating in RPG's.

 

[Sergenth]

RPGs where when you face a rival, you take off 10,000 points of damage, he falls to his knees, gets up like he isn't hurt, acts smugly towards you, and simply walks outside, while your main characters let him. (Wild Arms 3)

It's time to get past that bad storytelling.

 

[Late Stage Marxist]

That reminds me: enemies that have unlimited ammo, or never seem to have to reload.

Also: hinged doors that close automatically after a few seconds (particularly annoying in Splinter Cell).

 

[aku:jiki]

subpar non existant plots no longer work for me. Integration the storyline/narrative is gettign very important.

good: zelda/mgs/re etc

bad: pn03. gta3 (too disparate.. random.. nothing adds to anything) gunvalkryrie. etc

Games are about playing -- read a book if you're looking for a good story.

Collect-a-thons...

I don't get it. This always comes up in these threads, yet I can't even remember the last time a game actually forced me to collect. Mostly it's side stuff that's there for the people who can't get enough.. and that can't seriously bother you, can it?

Such idiocy in game design. We had Marios, Simon Belmont, Megaman and other action games where you had one, and suddenly you cut that part of? What, just to make it "more challenging"?

No, sorry, but putting in a jump feature to be used like twice in a 10-hour game is what would be idiotic. So you push some boxes instead. The key difference here is that you aren't playing Mario, Castlevania or Megaman. Hence no jumping.

 

[SolidSnakex]

"I don't get it. This always comes up in these threads, yet I can't even remember the last time a game actually forced me to collect. Mostly it's side stuff that's there for the people who can't get enough.. and that can't seriously bother you, can it?"

It still happens when you compare it to older platformers. R&C is really the only one to stop it. With R&C when you beat a level you go to the next just like in older platformers. With alot of platformers today there is no "beating" a level you collect enough things to open up the next level. There's still stuff to collect in R&C but they don't have to keep playing that level or another level you've already played over and over to get a specific number of things to open up the next level. I prefer R&C's route.

 

[Soul4ger]

World War II
Vietnam

 

[lordmrw]

- Collectathon
- Random Battles
- Racing AI that always catch up with you, or follow the same path

These are two of the ones I hate the most. In this day and age, with systems as powerful as they are, there is absolutely no reason why we should have to put up with walking around on an empty field and then poof! The swirly screen effect.

The racing AI thing irks me the most. There have been so many racing games I wanted to like so badly, but the rubberband AI killed it for me. I don't know who started it, but that shit needs to stop.

 

[Lord Error]

Metal Slug!

The Future is Now!

Touching human enemies in Metal Slug does not kill you. It kills you only when an enemy pulls out a knife and stabs you, which makes a perfect sense. Touching tanks, etc, kills you while tank is moving, which again makes sense.

 

[ZombieSupaStar]

World War II
Vietnam

i love you

 

[belgurdo]

An RPG convention that I hate: Enemies that start busting out super spells every turn or some kind of denfensive ability once they drop past a certain HP point. With the exception of materia abusing in FFVII I have never been able to do this with my own characters, so why should enemies (especially enemies that are supposed to be "on my level" abilitywise?)

 

[aku:jiki]

Touching human enemies in Metal Slug does not kill you. It kills you only when an enemy pulls out a knife and stabs you, which makes a perfect sense. Touching tanks, etc, kills you while tank is moving, which again makes sense.

I think he's agreeing with you -- hence "the future is now".

 

[robot]

Resident Evil style controls (aka tank controls)

I dont know if this counts or if someone else said this, but man they need to just go away.

 

[aku:jiki]

Resident Evil style controls (aka tank controls)

I dont know if this counts or if someone else said this, but man they need to just go away.

Onimusha, Silent Hill and Resident Evil have all changed this. When will the whining ever stop?