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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
Get the players hope up for something epic, only to deliver an Ice Age ripoff:
Spore

Create a raptor-themed VR game where the player is armed with a flashlight:
Raptor Valley

Making a VR game inspired by the weeping angels:
Don't Blink

Forcing each player to be stuck with a randomly decided gender and race:
Rust
Posted June 01, 2017
Requiring the use of a smartphone app for multiplayer.
Nintendo Switch

Requiring Players be at a physical location in order to get a rare ingame item or similar
The Pokemon Company

You have a limited amount of time to complete the game; the timer isn't anywhere to be found.
Various

There's a timer, but absolutely no reason for it to exist:
Mario Series

Oh, just thought of a really bad one.

Physical DLC.
Amiibos.
Post edited June 01, 2017 by Darvond
Posted June 01, 2017
This is easy:

Game randomly deletes your save, and it's not a bug. (Classic Wizardry, also some roguelikes.)

Game contains an item that's both permanently missable and mandatory to progress. Bonus points if there is a long time between when you can get the item and when you need it, and if there is no warning about the point of no return. (Many classic adventure games, Wizardry 4 (though at least Wizardry 4 warns you about the point of no return, doesn't autosave, and has 8 save slots).)

In what is otherwise a turn-based RPG, include a mandatory minigame that is not turn-based. Or, more generally, include a mandatory part that some players, while otherwise able to enjoy the rest of the game, can't get passed. (Ultima 1's space shooting section, Chrono Trigger requiring button mashing at some point, I hear Albion has this issue, perhaps Final Fantasy 10's postgame).

I consider permanent missables, when done intentionally, to be evil game design.
Posted June 01, 2017
Adding annoying mazes in adventure games to extend gameplay, that's pure evil. Some that really annoy me are the mazes in Zak McKracken and Legend of Kyrandia, though I love both games. :)

Difficult fights in adventure games, the kind of fights that can ruin your chances of ever completing the game... yes, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, I'm looking at you. I wanted puzzles, PUZZLES!, not a boxing game. :P
Post edited June 01, 2017 by krugos2
Posted June 01, 2017
Day one DLC and microtransactions.
Posted June 01, 2017
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dtgreene: This is easy:

Game randomly deletes your save, and it's not a bug. (Classic Wizardry, also some roguelikes.)

Game contains an item that's both permanently missable and mandatory to progress. Bonus points if there is a long time between when you can get the item and when you need it, and if there is no warning about the point of no return. (Many classic adventure games, Wizardry 4 (though at least Wizardry 4 warns you about the point of no return, doesn't autosave, and has 8 save slots).)

In what is otherwise a turn-based RPG, include a mandatory minigame that is not turn-based. Or, more generally, include a mandatory part that some players, while otherwise able to enjoy the rest of the game, can't get passed. (Ultima 1's space shooting section, Chrono Trigger requiring button mashing at some point, I hear Albion has this issue, perhaps Final Fantasy 10's postgame).

I consider permanent missables, when done intentionally, to be evil game design.
In addition to this, missables that are missed by either opening a chest early, at all, or too late and minigames that set themselves up as appearing optional, but suddenly become mandatory. Lookin' at you, Final Fantasy 9.
Posted June 01, 2017
high rated
"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...
Post edited June 01, 2017 by AB2012
Posted June 01, 2017
Woah, how long did it take to make this post?
Not bad!
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AB2012: In short - pretty much 80-90% of modern "evolved" AAA game design...
Which is one of the main reasons why I only play Indies post 2005 release date.
Posted June 01, 2017
DRM

/thread
Posted June 01, 2017
Oh, you know. Steam.
Posted June 01, 2017
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!
Posted June 01, 2017
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AB2012: The list of shame
I think we can close the thread, you pretty much nailed it.
Posted June 01, 2017
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Jonni: Day one DLC and microtransactions.
I am so glad that gog does not support microtransactions - oh, wait, they do now!
Post edited June 01, 2017 by Sdfghj
Posted June 01, 2017
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Matewis: Can't remember which game it was :
checkpoint -> unskippable cutscene -> difficult bossfight.
Hated that.
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.

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AB2012: The list of shame
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Breja: I think we can close the thread, you pretty much nailed it.
Actually, most of these things seem rather minor to me; when I created the first of these "evil things game developers could do" topics, I was thinking of far worse offenses.
Post edited June 01, 2017 by dtgreene
Posted June 01, 2017
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Darvond: In addition to this, missables that are missed by either opening a chest early, at all, or too late and minigames that set themselves up as appearing optional, but suddenly become mandatory. Lookin' at you, Final Fantasy 9.
Final Fantasy XII had the same issue.
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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)