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[Markio128]

I don’t hate anything about gaming - I just avoid what I don’t like. If I had to give an answer at gun-point, I’d probably say current football games - or even football games of the last 5 or so years, that have become something I won’t touch again until a developer actually tries. It’s sad because PES used to be one of my favourite games and Fifa games don’t seem to be able to capture the essence of football, only the spectacle.

 

[NightmareFarm]

We now get a new souls game every 3 years.
Back in mid 2010s we got a souls game every year. DS2 - 2014, Bloodborne - 2015, DS3 - 2016.

The trend is dying down a little but Elden Ring wa still the biggest game of this year and Demon Souls(which released two years ago) was one of the biggest games of 2020. Idk, I think the industry just need to move on from it the genre feels very long in the tooth.

 

[Melchiah]

Open world fad, above all, followed by invincible chaser fad in "survival" horror games.

 

[jufonuk]

Time sink. The amount of commitment they demand from you.

MTX or pay to win

If they need an always online
Patches or more that they can shut down the game for a sequel.



Pick a few or all.

 

[custardbun01]

1. Games are often released unfinished and patched later. Day 1 patches and massive patches in particular that take a whole day to download.
2. 'Communities' and the stock developers put into vocal internet minorities. Not all the time. Sometimes it improves games. But CoD is a great example of where, more often than not, it doesn't. They just whine about the game and end up ruining it because they constantly complain about the balance of everything instead of adjusting their play style to adapt to it.
3. Online games having additional paid content consistently shoved down your throat with deliberately confusing menu systems designed to funnel you into buying them.
4. Sequels and franchises. Everything is something I've played before with characters I already know. Give me something new - it's rare these days.

 

[Gone]

Playstation and its fanboys.

 

[Fitzchiv]

Just curious about what Gaf hates most about modern gaming.

For me it is:

1. FOMO.
I fucking hate how games make content time sensitive or exclusive for a small window and make that content inaccessible. If one gets truly invested in the game and wants to go after everything they can't. They missed out and should have been there from the beginning.
It feels disheartening to the player. So why bother playing anymore? It seems game designers are fucking stupid and forget about this part. You alienate and cause gamers to stop engaging with the game and step back from the game. completely.
It's worst when you see a collection of items and the game even taunts you about the things you missed and are unable to get. All these skins locked to absurd Twitch streams where you have to watch something for an hour at an ungodly inconvenient time especially. Or Namco Bandai's stupid preorder bonuses that never become available in the marketplace. Oh, also remember those store-exclusive preorder bonuses. Fuck publishers for doing stupid shit like this.

2. Challenges.
Honestly, challenges feel like a fucking chore. One example is Halo Infinite, fuck that game. The game dictates how I play. Imagine a match of SWAT in Halo and you have to melee kill 25 opponents in a single match. It's BS like that will make you want to quit the game and say fuck you game designers.

3. The grind.
You can tell if a game is poor if there is so much to grind and the reward just doesn't feel worth it. Some of the stuff in the game where you grind feels artificially baked into the game where numbers go up and the impact of it doesn't feel like anything at all.

4. Games that are released too early and fix it later mentality.
I hate how modern games are just broken at launch. You are pretty much beta-testing a game at full pop. Wait a year and that game is patched and cheaper too! So why even bother playing the game at launch at full price with all its mess?

5. Successors and sequels in the series fail at the most basic things and lack features that the predecessors had.
Look at the Halo franchise. You see a lot of features added at its peak and then it becomes a downward spiral as features become missing. No female armor, no statistics, no vidmaster challenges, no ranks, no Forge mode, etc.

Forced multiplayer when a game is capable of solo, I'm talking about Destiny 2 in particular here - it's not right that parts of the game are effectively locked away from solo players without having to use a 3rd party solution to group together with a band of strangers.

 

[rofif]

I liked HFW for what it was but I 100% agree. Leave RPG stuff to RPG games.

Don't get me wrong.
I also greatly enjoyed HFW but as you say, it could get away with so much less bloat It makes you feel like work.

Another one from me:
-I dislike TOO MANY graphical modes with bad description at that. Just fucking say "this mode is 1800p at 60fps and has lower LOD" or even include comparison image like in resident evil remake 2 pc version.
as it is now, we got tons of modes and no way to compare them without digital foundry since there is no fps counter on console (and good because I want console to stay console. Gtfo to pc with this crap)
-And late patching... like cmon. why 40hz mode ALWAYS comes out after I finish the game?
-Physical games dying

 

[Ellery]

1. Hyperpolarization of gamers weaponizing their extreme opinions in a war effort like spectacle just for the reason of canceling out positives or sometimes negatives. Though this one is not limited to games.
2. Slow desensitization of new generation of gamers into emotional and social pressure monetization schemes.
3. Growing closed eco systems that want you to be trapped inside them luring people with cheap subscription services, other forms of digital access and microtransactions and later increase price, shut down service and/or decrease quality of content.
4. Early access, play one week early with preordering.
5. The Nintendo Switch being so far behind on power that I actually get sad playing those 720p games on my 4K TV.


However in general I think gaming is pretty great. We have a huge variety of games available to us ranging from the absolute top end first party quality games from Santa Monica, Naughty Dog to great third party studios like CAPCOM and all the way to the amazing indie space which has produced some of the very best games one could've hoped for at those price points.
And even though I don't agree with modern multiplayer games being designed the way they are in terms of microtransaction there are still so many good MP games out there that people love and play. And also COOP games like It Takes Two and Human Fall Flat. I had a blast playing those games.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Too much realism and overall lack of creativity and focus on being fun to play.

 

[k_trout]

hold button to do/open something
Generation Zero has a setting to switch this off

 

[tusharngf]

cross gen games

70 dollar game plus 70 dollar DLC content

 

[Guilty_AI]

Games. Fucking games ruined gaming.

 

[mansoor1980]

shader compilation stutter

 

[RoboFu]

You are specifically talking about multiplayer games it seems?

 

[DevilMayFlyForAWhiteGuy]

Too many remakes. Remasters are one thing, but devoting a bunch of resources to remake a 360 game like Dead Space (which would still hold up just fine visually with a competent remaster collection), seems wasteful when a new game could be made.

Cross gen still being a thing is annoying. If there are indeed mid gen refreshes this gen (I hope not), then getting a XSX/PS5 will have been mostly just to play upgraded PS4/X1 games, and there won’t have been barely any games built with them as the target specs. Instead we’ll be dealing with less than optimal versions of games targeting PS5pro/XSXXX.

I would go into a rant about piecemeal DLC/micro transactions but we all know that would be beating a dead horse at this point.

 

[Rhazkul]

Phone Games. There isn't a lower common denominator anywhere. Phone games are the bottom of the barrel. They are all so samey, bland, formulaic and uninspired. If you want to lose faith in mankind, just take a look at the Google Play charts.
I swear, phone games will be the reason we will see Ads in AAA games soon...lots of phone game crap has already sweeped over to PC/Console games and 1:1 phone game ports have already found their way on Steam.

The platform had a lot of potential (though i am no fan of small displays and touch controls) and there are still hidden gems (mostly paid) but in general, it's a big NOPE from me.

 

[TheGecko]

its hard to say what I hate about it, but its easier for me to say there isn't much I like.

Gaming now just feels like you're being manipulated into parting with your money.

They just aren't as fun as they used to be but that's what happens when it blows up and goes commercial like it has.

 

[Rhazkul]

Game streamers

That.

Boggles my mind how these idiots are so big, making tons of cash being idiots. There 20-30 something year old guys acting like children, screaming like pigs and get showered in donations and subs for it.
But what's to expect from grown men playing video games and cussing like mad all day for a living...? Certainly no maturity.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Influencers, shills etc. Despise them all.

Streamers/YouTubers gloating about the freebies they get, offering zero constructive criticism to said product. Egos the size of Jupiter some of them too.

The constantly growing sycophantic mentality to companies sometimes resulting in half baked products that should of been better. They work to get our money, that seems to be a problem for some.

Release now, fix later games.

“Service” aka rip people off games

 

[Topher]

Playstation and its fanboys.

you ok?

 

[ThatStupidLion]

Horse armor

 

[nush]

I will add: cinematification (yes, I know that's not a word) of games.

Yup, Hollywood envy. So many games want to have the profits and cultural relevance of movies. Laugh every time you read any article saying oh X game had made more than X hollywood movie. Movie tickets don't sell for as much as a game.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Body Type A
Body Type B

 

[Haggard]

For my personal taste in games FOMO is probably the biggest issue.

No playing and building your characters at your own pace anymore in a game like Diablo. Nooo Sir, now you have to have seasons with exclusive mechanics/items/whatever that you can only get in that timeframe to keep you constantly engaged.
The result is that it feels like work instead of just being fun.

This is the main reason why my gaming time has shrunk to the pitiful state it`s at now.
I can ignore influencers, streamers, esport bimbos etc perfectly well, but that shit intrudes into the actual games.

 

[saintjules]

People complaining about pricing. Strangely it didn't happen for GOW though

 

[U n i o n 0015]

Time-boxed content (ala seasons). Let me collect things on my own time. It's insane that so while TV and movies are becoming more of a "enjoy when you have time," gaming is doing the opposite by saying "you need to play during THIS time slot or you don't get game content."

 

[Impotaku]

Half finished betas been sold as full price games. Cough cuberpunk cough. Games that demand you stay connected online even when it’s a single player game.

 

[jufonuk]

Back in the day I would hate the fact in CoD if you didn’t grind you get left behind.

Miss two days of play. Boom everyone else has all the new shoot bangs

 

[fart town usa]

"looks cool, I'll wait for gamepass..." (or any subscription service).

I get the mindset but it's really poor wording, comes off as entitled.

 

[wolffy71]

By far #1, fetch quests. There has to be a better way.

 

[Ultra Donny]

Grind
Grind
Grind
Loot
Crafting
Poor dialogue
Cringe dialogue

 

[Kupfer]

MTX
Bloat
Grind
Studios be like :

and forget about the soul of the game

 

[yamaci17]

mocap riddled overhyped franchises

 

[Trogdor1123]

Everything takes so long. So long to make, so long to complete, the marketing cycle is long, etc. drives me nuts

 

[64gigabyteram]

Lack of simple games everything must have RPG elements these days

I feel like that's a symptom of devs just not being able to make good enough gameplay so they gotta tack levels and exp and skill trees and all that other shit just to add a false sense of progression. Devs confident in their gameplay would just let it shine and have none of that RPG stuff.

 

[Fuz]

double post somehow, sorry

 

[Fake]

- Always online
- Generation Z music
- Cringe dialogues
- Social media stuff/memes
- Forcing you into horrible mechanics
- DRM

 

[64gigabyteram]

also what 01011001 said. couple the overly bloated studios and budgets with overly bloated open worlds and all the other shit and you get games that take 7 years to create that end up still coming out unfinished. Instead of focusing on bigger, better, more cinematic, we should focus on more unique, smaller experiences that take 2-3 years to make and aren't generic open world stuff. Like what capcom makes. They're the japanese insomniac in terms of efficiency in making games and its because they arent out here trying to make some big giant open world

Lack of memorable music in modern games too. i've already made a big ol thread about this https://www.neogaf.com/threads/video-game-soundtracks-need-to-make-a-comeback.1636549/
they've got the budget for amazing visuals but not enough to hire a great music artist...

DRM, too many sequels, and indie's obsession with roguelikes. Like yeah it's amazing when Spelunky and Issac do it, they've built their legacies off of being the first and best, and there are plenty of roguelikes that are amazing at what they do (cough cough Risk of Rain 2 cough cough).
But does Cult of the Lamb really need a roguelike section? Wouldn't returnal be better off as a traditional metroidvania with none of the roguelike elements? It feels like they're being milked and shoved into a game to create more replay value than it actually has. i bet Returnal would be more of a GOTY contender if it were made to be more like the Metroid Prime 4 we haven't got.

oh yeah and uh, DLC (expansion packs are better) MTX, battle passes, season passes, yadda yadda yadda all that shit that ruined multiplayer shooters since 2017. 70 buck video games too

 

[normalguy09x]

The lack of meaningful story driven quality fps games. Where have they all gone?? What happened to this idea?

 

[Fuz]

FOMO
Battle passes
Subscriptions
Offcentered cameras
Mtx in paid games
Streamers
Always online

By far #1, fetch quests. There has to be a better way.

 

[Laptop1991]

That's easy, games being made around greed and not gameplay or enjoyment, ie, MTX, in game stores, price rises, and all the monetization basically which is resulting in unfinished broken triple A games being released and a drought of big new titles even though they are making even more money than in the past,

I'm replaying Fallout 3 now after 10 years with some free mods, infinitely better than the newer games, doesn't look dated either with the texture pack i put on, not a store or mtx in sight.

 

[AJUMP23]

Games take forever to develop now. I would like people to develop tools that speed up development by years.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Fully priced "AAA" titles lacking in content, staying power, or overall retention
Marketing terms being thrown around more frequently
MTX in paid games
Games released in a state that ISN'T fully complete, but is treated as such
Forced "humorous" writing that falls flat
Multiplayer games with classes/roles/heroes/champions, and every class has to have an overly "wild and unique personality" and won't stop talking
Forced crafting
Multiple games being so similar to one another

 

[cireza]

Games take forever to develop now. I would like people to develop tools that speed up development by years.

Games take years because everybody is making open-worlds and trying to fill them with meaningful content, which is by definition impossible.. Not a single dev has a clue of what an open-world should bring to the table.

If you are in vast world, the challenge and fun should come from finding the few places of interest (with clues, cryptic or not, rumors told by NPCs or whatever etc...), and not trying to put copy/pasted places of interest everywhere, because this beats the very concept of being "a place of interest".

 

[yugoluke]

1) Trying to impress the gaming audience with the size of the world.

2) Trying to impress the audience with "Millions of combinations of [insert weapons, attachments, skill tree combinations, cosmetics, etc...] - not a feature. Your game is just less polished, more prone to gamebreaking abilities, less balanced, etc...

3) Poor mechanics generally. We now live in an age where there is at LEAST one game that excels at specific game mechanics. Gun combat (machine games, id, bungie), melee combat (FromSoft, Sony Santa Monica), world building (Bethesda), platforming/game world traversal (Nintendo).

The fact that developers don't at least try to draw on taking the best ideas of games that have amazing specific mechanics and integrating a similar system in their games just feels like a waste of potential industry guidance. Your game is reliant on third person melee combat? Please look to others in this space and make it play and FEEL compelling. It doesn't have to be identical, but you can use those games as a base and add your flair and contribution to the mechanic.

4) Grind with a caveat. I have played grindy games in the past, but I only felt it to be worth it if other aspects of the game were so compelling, that I felt that the grind was worth it. Most of these grinds felt rewarding, and there was a end of the tunnel as to when the grind would be over and I could move over to other things. It is a fine line between grinding OPTIONAL content to get something that is not necessary, but I want. For me this was getting a specific attributes on a weapon in Destiny 1 from a fun activity that I actually enjoyed doing in the first place.

Grinds that enforce FOMO, and are just utilized to SOLELY drive engagement are horrible. If the activity I am grinding is not interesting, then my focus will wane as I just realize I don't like the game generally, and the activity is just an exercise in futility.

 

[Laptop1991]

Games take years because everybody is making open-worlds and trying to fill them with meaningful content, which is by definition impossible.. Not a single dev has a clue of what an open-world should bring to the table.

If you are in vast world, the challenge and fun should come from finding the few places of interest (with clues, cryptic or not, rumors told by NPCs or whatever etc...), and not trying to put copy/pasted places of interest everywhere, because this beats the very concept of being "a place of interest".

Bethesda managed to do 4 open world games in just 5 years over 10 years ago just fine,
Ok 1 was made by Obsidian but still owned by Bethesda, it's their game,

Oblivion 2006
Fallout 3 2008
Fallout New Vegas 2010
and Skyrim 2011

 

[Trumpets]

No game manuals
Huge day 1 patches
AAA games take 5 years to make

 

[cireza]

Bethesda managed to do 4 open world games in just 5 years over 10 years ago just fine,
Ok 1 was made by Obsidian but still owned by Bethesda, it's their game,

Oblivion 2006
Fallout 3 2008
Fallout New Vegas 2010
and Skyrim 2011

So it took 5 years for the team between Oblivion and Skyrim. That's already pretty long.

 

[Laptop1991]

So it took 5 years for the team between Oblivion and Skyrim. That's already pretty long.

Including Fallout 3, the same team made that so that's 3 games in 5 years and they still had Obsidian make another one, so from a consumer's point of view, 4 games to buy and play in 5 years, not it takes years to make 1 open world game.