Little details in RPGs that annoy you

[NJClaw]

- Friendly/neutral person is hurt and I can't heal them using the typical way I heal my own characters.
- I can heal them and they don't even acknowledge it
- The only way to heal them is through dialogue

I think this may become my basic test(Good Samaritan test) as to whether I think an RPG allows me to engage with the world or not. It's such a simple feature, essentially comes up in almost any cRPG, and something most people would do immediately in a tabletop scenario. Yet most cRPGs fail this test.

Based rusty shilling for Icewind Dale 2. Thank you, based rusty!

 

[Barbie]

NPC's that are essential until a quest makes them non essential just to mess with the player. NPC's, that would make sense to be essential or to have a lot of health, that are one shot kills. Witcher 3 has a few quests that are easily failed due to this, namely the Black Pearl one in Skellige.

Over important party members that are "quirky" and "vocal" - hence you are forced to keep them in your party and listen to the developers self insert Mary Sue. Examples; Carth in KOTOR and the bard in Pathfinder.

 

[JarlFrank]

NPC's that are essential until a quest makes them non essential just to mess with the player. NPC's, that would make sense to be essential or to have a lot of health, that are one shot kills. Witcher 3 has a few quests that are easily failed due to this, namely the Black Pearl one in Skellige.

The best way to do "essential" NPCs is to make them very strong and resilient so you can't kill them by accident... but if they die, the quest they're involved in just fails.

That adds in some additional work of course because if a main quest character dies you need an alternate way of advancing. But one look at Arcanum shows that it's not actually that much work: when an NPC who has important information dies, you can usually find some documents nearby that give you the same information.

 

[Bigg Boss]

It just depends on the source but Jason and the Argonauts skeletons are clearly being animated with magic.

That's partially my point. If you're able to completely animate skeletons with magic, the skeletons become pointless.

Animating an entire army of skeletons with the force of your electromagnetic willpenis is useful. It does take a 30 day ritual to complete and you must sacrifice a virgin with your Dagger of Hekate on the full moon. Roll to see if you are too stupid or not.

 

[hivemind]

white male protagonist

 

[Bigg Boss]

Yeah also white female protagonist.

 

[Raghar]

Fantasy games are not Medieval. They can be postmodern era where people are using swords and stuff.

 

[Diggfinger]

stats

 

[ValeVelKal]

- Medieval-Fantasy games (or Sword & Sorcery) with late Renaissance or even Enlightenment firearms (Handgonnes and culverins : Yes ! Arquebus: OK. Musquets ? No ! Rifles ? WTF !).
Same with firearms with fast RoF. I mean, except if it is Kalthoff repeater but then you'd better have a good justification.

- Cultural weapon mix, eg regions with claymores, scimitars, bolas AND katanas,...

- Modern way of thinking in a Middle Age or Sword & Sorcery settings (High Fantasy => Sure).

- Inconsistent fantasy universe. "Someone stabbed the King ! I have a cleric here - can he heal it ? No ! No resurrection either !"

- Atheists in universes where there is clerical magic, skeptics in a high fantasy universe.

 

[thesecret1]

I hate it when I meet a bunch of dipshit mobs I'd normally roll over, but then suddenly a cutscene starts and my character gets his ass kicked, or is intimidated by them, or something along those lines. If you want to pull this shit on me, at least put something actually threatening there, not enemies that I've already killed battalions of.

 

[Lim-Dûl]

If you mess with an NPC even slightly, like push them a little, or touch their sword and other stuff, some of them should get so angry as to try to kill you or imprison you. Every RPG should do this.

 

[Sigourn]

Specific to RPGs? Kind of hard not to fall into the usual suspects, but I'll try.
When NPCs treat me overly nice/like shit, but interactions with them (e.g. barter) play out just like it would with any other NPC.

 

[Lim-Dûl]

Fantasy games are not Medieval. They can be postmodern era where people are using swords and stuff.

Why would they use swords in the postmodern era?

 

[Reinhardt]

pronouns

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Fantasy games are not Medieval. They can be postmodern era where people are using swords and stuff.

Why would they use swords in the postmodern era?

 

[Nortar]

• Stupid armors - sexualized female armors which hide the tits and pussy under a piece of metal yet leave all vital organs and arteries happily exposed

 

[Asymptotics]

• When a game has a list of selectable portraits - all of which in no way can be replicated in the character creation process.
• Games with level based loot (e.g. DOS games). The legendary sword forged by a god is suddenly beat by a random iron sword you swiped from a drunk guard.

 

[Reinhardt]

If you mess with an NPC even slightly, like push them a little, or touch their sword and other stuff, some of them should get so angry as to try to kill you or imprison you. Every RPG should do this.

it was pretty cool in way of the samurai. watch where you walking if you are not ready to defend your honor.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Stupid armors - sexualized female armors which hide the tits and pussy under a piece of metal yet leave all vital organs and arteries happily exposed; pauldron fetish; "spiky" armors...

This argument is absurd because women in combat itself is stupid.

 

[Storyfag]

It just depends on the source but Jason and the Argonauts skeletons are clearly being animated with magic.

That's partially my point. If you're able to completely animate skeletons with magic, the skeletons become pointless.

Your understanding of Necromancy is akin to that of a nigger's.

 

[Bigg Boss]

It just depends on the source but Jason and the Argonauts skeletons are clearly being animated with magic.

That's partially my point. If you're able to completely animate skeletons with magic, the skeletons become pointless.

Your understanding of Necromancy is akin to that of a nigger's.

SO TRUE! HAHAHAHA!!!!!

 

[d1nolore]

The worst thing for me is when a game is designed to be completed not defeated. Basically that means the game caters to casuals who cannot handle challenge or adversity. You are playing the game and you realise that unless you are a retard you can’t lose, no reloading, no defeats. It’s one thing if a player is autistic and figures out how to maximise characters and master the combat but if I’m chugging along and not losing battles or only losing when I do lazy retarded things then this is an issue. It’s no longer a game really just an interactive story.

This is a real issue with modern games, they cater to casuals and dumb down the difficulty. Infinite healing, abundance of supplies you never use because you don’t have to. When I come across a hard encounter I expect to be defeated the first time, then I reload scrape together potions and supplies and swap them around and be forced to use tactics. Even if you replay the game and now know what to expect you are still forced to use tactics and supplies to defeat the encounter.

KotOR is a good example of this; I enjoyed the game and atmosphere but it doesn’t take long before you realise you can’t lose combat. I used laser rifles, and even then you are forced into using a light saber, even though I spent the first part of the game focusing on rifles and grenades I was able to switch and use a lightsaber and melt everything, no grenades or supplies required after that. I’m no longer trying to defeat the game, just completing it. You know if you just keep playing you will complete it.

Im not even good at games, so I use my own ability as a barometer, if it’s too easy for me then it’s made for filthy casuals.

 

[KörangarTheMighty]

I'm more partial to lesser malevolent spirits being conjured to inhabit a corporeal form than explaining it via "magic". Skeletons just being the most handy vessel fulfilling the criteria the spirit needs to interact reliably with it's physical surroundings.

 

[vota DC]

Stupid armors - sexualized female armors which hide the tits and pussy under a piece of metal yet leave all vital organs and arteries happily exposed; pauldron fetish; "spiky" armors...

This argument is absurd because women in combat itself is stupid.

They have natural armor on their chest, if you try to hit their heart with a mace the attack will bounce.

 

[Üstad]

Overly cartoonistic writing and voice acting, PF:Kingmaker I'm looking at you.