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General discussionEvil things game developers could do, and actually did(54 posts)(54 posts)
(54 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted June 01, 2017
No Man's Sky
Posted June 01, 2017
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AB2012: "Evil things game developers could do, and actually did"

Where to begin...

- The general dumbing down trend including:-
- FPS Dumbing Down : http://new1.fjcdn.com/pictures/The_772b34_1193477.jpg
- RPG Dumbing Down : http://i.imgur.com/xJdPF3z.png
- More RPG Dumbing Down : http://i.imgur.com/lCo1uAP.jpg
- Stealth Dumbing Down : http://i.imgur.com/fyOaSrg.jpg
- Consolization and using controllers as a primary input for isometric RPG's (Dragon Age Inquisition)
- FPS's with auto-aim for the sake of controllers
- Giving people in multiplayer FPS's the ability to see enemies through walls or on a mini-map and a community that bursts into tears if you try and take that away "old school" style
- Day One DLC
- Pay2Cheat DLC
- DLC for the sake of DLC : http://i.imgur.com/TVRObla.jpg
- DRM (including multiple layers)
- Adding DRM back into "Enhanced" Editions of older games that already had it removed (eg, Age of Empires 2: EE vs AoE Collectors Edition DVD)
- Limited activation limits
- Have to be online to save the game
- Junk mobile cash ins (Deus Ex: The Fall, Age of Empires Castle Siege, etc)
- Aggressively pushing pre-orders combined with review embargoes to encourage gamers to get into the habit of making uninformed decisions vs waiting for reviews (informed decisions)
- "Shaping" gameplay in modern AAA FPS's to be a grind-fest to 'encourage' gamers to use Pay2Unlock micro-transactions
- Bad ports and horrendously unoptimised games
- "Platform Parity", eg, 30fps locks or massive reduction in size of PC maps (eg, Deus Ex 2, Thief 3, shrunk 75-80% to fit original XBox's 64MB memory)
- Moving from quick-saves in multiple slots to single-slot checkpoint-only save systems, only to have one bug then break the whole game
- "Nausea simulator" (over the top camera shake)
- "Myopia simulator" (laughably exaggerated Depth of Field which gives your avatar worse vision than my 94 year old granny)
- "Cataract simulator" (Motion Blur)
- "Glaucoma simulator" (Vignetting)
- "Severe migraine simulator" (Film Grain)
- "My characters vision should resemble a faulty 1990's digital camera lens for absolutely no logical reason" simulator (Chromatic Aberration)
- "Giraffe with a broken neck simulator" (excessive Head Bob)
- "Penguin with a gammy leg simulator" (even more stupid side to side Head Bob)
- Sequels or DLC of old games made 15-20 years later by completely different overly political teams (Baldur's Gate Siege of Dragonsphere)
- Stale mechanics (crafting for the sake of crafting, unlocking for the sake of unlocking, 2-weapon limit, auto-regenerating health, Ubisoft's annual reskinned "tower climbing simulator", etc)
- Devs that leave it up to the community to finish their games with free mods, then later try and lock same mods behind store-fronts (everything Bethesda)
- Parasitic publishers that vacuums up quality studio's, then dumbs everything down into generic mush (everything EA)
- "Anti-cheat" programs that send back data on what the user is running
- In-game telemetry that send back data on how the user plays
- DRM'd clients that send back data on what, how, where and when the user plays
- Quick Time Events and "Simon Says" / "Press X to win" boss fights
- "Peashooter vs tank" gunplay to over-exaggerate the "importance" of levelling up in FPS's where the "RPG" mechanics feel completely fake and tacked on.
- Overly large skill trees which results in "Excel gameplay", ie, each adds a non-perceivable +2% which ends up "number chasing" / grinding for trivialities
- The "need" to unlock perfectly normal actions you should have had from the start
- Releasing games in a half-broken buggy state then using gamers as week-one patch beta testers as a substitute for a half-decent QA team
- Industry "bullshots" (Massive graphical downgrades from E3 footage to real-world release gameplay)
- Bloated VRAM requirements on PC's in otherwise ugly looking games (eg, Mirrors Edge Catalyst) due to lack of optimization when porting from consoles unified memory to PC's split RAM/VRAM
- Major AAA studios not bothering to even test keyboard & mouse before launch due to the expectation everyone will be using a controller
- Giving gamers a nervous twitch when they start the game and a "Unity Engine: Personal Edition" logo pops up...
- Mobile Pay2Win troll developers like King patenting the word "Candy" then suing over "Saga"
- 15GB games that "need" 50GB space due to uncompressed audio (Titanfall, etc)
- Developers that get busted trying to inflate the score of bad games (EA employees caught posting high Dragon Age 2 reviews on metacritic)
- Developers that get caught with obvious "bribes for reviews" (can I get a free tablet for reviewing WatchDogs too, please Ubisoft?)
- "Streamlined for the casual audience". I think we've all figured out what this industry code-word means by now
- Trying to force all FPS's to be "open world", all adventure games to have branching plots, etc, even in games where that doesn't fit the plot due to an obsession with genre "formulas"
- Churning out reboots, remakes, over-sequels, cash-ins, etc, long past franchise's natural sell by date, and a complete inability to actually make new games (virtually all AAA studios)

In short - pretty much 80-90% of modern "evolved" AAA game design...
I agree all!
Posted June 01, 2017
Unpolisched games full of bugs, which get released anyway with the premise of the developers, that they'll fix it afterwards ... eventually.
Posted June 01, 2017
Hopefully I did not miss this one in AB2012's extensive list:

The decision to not provide all patches to customers from all stores. (With an exception for store/client-related patches)
Posted June 01, 2017
Didn't this thread have 2 pages?
Posted June 01, 2017
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Shadowstalker16: Didn't this thread have 2 pages?
I think you're confusing it with the other thread.

Of course, this post should make *this* thread have a second page.
Posted June 01, 2017
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Matewis: Can't remember which game it was :
checkpoint -> unskippable cutscene -> difficult bossfight.
Hated that.
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dtgreene: I am aware of one part in Final Fantasy 10 that does that. After the save point, there is a 5 minute cutscene (looking at time stamps on Youtube) followed by a boss fight with three phases. Even worse, in the third phase the boss has an attack that will wipe out your entire party if you aren't prepared for it, and you probably won't be on your first attempt. (To give you an idea of how nasty that is, a party setup capable of defeating Penance could easily die to this boss.)

Interestingly, FF5 inverts the order at one point, putting the boss fight *before* the cutscene. This also happens in FF4 DS, where you have a boss fight that has a good chance of wiping you out at the start (but if you get past the start, it becomes quite easy and repetitive), and then follows with a cutscene.

It's still annoying not being able to save right after a boss fight, but it isn't as bad as having to re-watch a cutscene because you died to the boss.

By the way, one example from Breath of Fire 2:
Game gives you a character who, for much of the game, doesn't need to be used, and doesn't really have any notable gameplay traits. Also, characters not in your party don't level up. Then, all of the sudden, you have to *solo* with that character in an unfamiliar place that you are trapped in, and where the enemies are likely too strong for a low level character, with no accessible shop.
Haven't played FF, but that does sound pretty hectic :\

This thread mentions a few examples as well:
https://forum.quartertothree.com/t/long-cutscenes-before-boss-battles/49652/24
and it names the game I'm probably thinking of : Prince of Persia Two Thrones.
That one mid game boss fight against the two big guys almost made me quit the game :P I'm not sure but it's possible that the final boss presented the same scenario.
Posted June 01, 2017
Release DRM free Fallout New Vegas after my version has been heavily modded with Fallout 3 via TTW and Nexus.
Posted June 01, 2017
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Matewis: Can't remember which game it was :
checkpoint -> unskippable cutscene -> difficult bossfight.
Hated that.

Also: npc you have to follow at a speed greater than your walk speed but slower than your run speed. Again, can't remember which game :P

2013's Simcity : How can we improve the Simcity experience? Of course! Miniature cities, focus on multiplayer and a persistent internet connection for extra features even when playing single player!
Yes this. And even worse - followed by no immediate checkpoint after the boss fight! Looking at you Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth...
Posted June 02, 2017
Some examples of things games companies do and have done that I consider bad/evil:
1.Going after people who create mods for PC game titles (consoles are different since to mod a console game you basically have to do all the things you would do if you pirated the game except that you change the game files at some point, also multiplayer cheating is different as well because its unfair that one player has an advantage over others).
2.Allowing gamers to buy and sell in-game items for real-world money (Diablo III, I am looking at you here)
3.Intentionally encrypting/protecting/obfuscating game data files of PC games to thwart modding or to give companies greater legal ability to go after modders using laws like the DMCA
4.Ruining a franchise by making the new installment play nothing like previous entries in the franchise. (Command & Conquer 4 is the best example I know of where this has happened, the new Sim City always-online game also counts here)
5.Releasing a game (as a beta, Steam early access, full release or whatever else) that contains bugs and problems and then spending dev time working on the wrong thing e.g. new features instead of critical bug fixing or working on improving parts of the code that didn't need improving whilst not fixing the things that do need fixing. (anyone who has been involved with the beta and early-access stuff going on with Rollercoaster Tycoon World would probably know what I am talking about here)
6.Releasing "complete collections" or other "all-in-one" collections that dont actually contain every piece of content or DLC for that game even though all development and updating of the game has finished and there is no reason they cant include everything.
7.Having content you can only get by buying a particular version of the game or by buying from a particular retailer (or worse, having multiple such pieces of content exclusive to multiple retailers)
8.Using open source software in their games and not following the license (at least one company got busted for using SCUMMVM source code in a title and to this day they have not published the required source code AFAIK although I may not have the full story here)
9.Claiming to support modding (and releasing tools) but intentionally not sharing tools for editing specific pieces of game data (e.g. releasing mod tools for the game but not releasing anything for making new 3d models or new music or new animation as is the case with some games that I am aware of), This also applies where essential data is baked into the executable and can't be edited at all.
10.Intentionally removing features post-release (e.g. game is released and allows editing of certain data then patches come out that prevent that data from being edited anymore for some reason)

To be fair some of these may not always be the fault of the games company concerned e.g. #9 may happen because they cant legally publish all the tools or #6 may happen because the publisher of the game doesn't have the rights to the missing content anymore for some reason or situations like the "Hot Coffee" incident that caused Rockstar to lock down PC versions of GTA:SA and future GTA titles against modding (because of the risk of someone doing something that could be seen as "bad".
Posted June 02, 2017
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Darvond: Requiring Players be at a physical location in order to get a rare ingame item or similar
The Pokemon Company
1. Glitches to the game's code. Example: In Gen 1, there was the "catch mew" trick; in gen 2, the "make Celebi egg" trick, etc.
2. Cheating devices. Not very expensive.
3. Emulators. Since many years ago, you can trade with yourself, even through the same pc. It also has the option to use cheats/codes, in order to put certain pokemon/items inside your game...
4. FANGAMES! Latest fangames, have ALL pokemon found inside them, across all generations and most of them, have online functionalities, too!!! Add in the more "grown up" story/themes, the harder difficulty, the special challenges (like built-in Nuzlocke) and there you go!

My contribution to the thread, is the ORIGINAL DARKSIDERS 2 (before THQ bankruptcy). It is the epitome of greed, SCAM and customer fleecing. They mutilated the game's content horribly, into a multitude of endless, different DLCs, locking off game content and scattering it all around, forcing you to pay in order to unlock it for each and every different stinking piece, preorder DLCs were exclusive and bound to a certain distributor each at the time, the Collector Edition cost 150 grand bucks and worst of all, it was HALF and INCOMPLETE (didn't include all game's content)... This fine mess made me immediately cancel my preorder (of the Collector Edition, mind you) and wish hard that THQ goes under... Years later, my wish is granted and i merrily buy off the entire series, with all DLCs and extras on gog, for 20 euros only, during a sale. Few months later, Nordic, the new owner, gifts me with the Remakes of both 1 and 2... I felt like a cheap bastard, completely unworthy of such a grace, but what can i do now? I simply remember the THQ handling of the game's marketing/promotion model and i merely justify myself...
Post edited June 02, 2017 by KiNgBrAdLeY7
Posted June 04, 2017
For me, it's the mandatory stealth segments in non-stealth games.

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dtgreene: (To give you an idea of how nasty that is, a party setup capable of defeating Penance could easily die to this boss.)
Which one was it?
Posted June 04, 2017
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Tauto: Release DRM free Fallout New Vegas after my version has been heavily modded with Fallout 3 via TTW and Nexus.
Wut? You actually play video games?
Posted June 04, 2017
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Ikarugamesh: For me, it's the mandatory stealth segments in non-stealth games.

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dtgreene: (To give you an idea of how nasty that is, a party setup capable of defeating Penance could easily die to this boss.)
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Ikarugamesh: Which one was it?
The mandatory stealth segments ruined Zelda: Ocarina of Time for me and caused me to never play Zelda: The Wind Waker.

The particular FFX boss I am thinking of is the one that uses an attack called Mega Death. What might happen with a party capable of defeating Penance is the following:
1. Party member attacks, putting the boss into its second phase.
2. Boss uses Hellbiter, inflecting Zombie on the party.
3. The player, of course, uses some Holy Waters to cure the Zombie status. (Seems like the smart thing to do, right?)
4. Party member attacks, putting the boss into its third phase.
5. Boss uses Mega Death, killing the party.

(Note that the setup that is considered optimal for defeating Penance does not use Ribbon, so the party is wide open to status ailments and will therefore be killed by Mega Death (assuming the player doesn't skip step 3).)
Posted June 04, 2017
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AB2012: "Evil things game developers could do, and actually did"

Where to begin...

- long list
Thanks.

Topic title should say "developers/publishers" though. The latter do definitely more evil.
Post edited June 04, 2017 by Lucumo
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionEvil things game developers could do, and actually did(54 posts)(54 posts)
(54 posts)