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The RPG that pissed you off the most

SumDrunkGuy

Guest
Dragon Age Inquisition. I hated everything about it, right down to each and every character's fugly face. The world was empty, quests were repetitive and annoying, lore generic as fuck, and the whole thing stunk of gayness. It's the very definition of "singleplayer MMO" and It's probably the worst RPG I've ever played. After that I will never look at anything Bioware has made past or present. I legit hate that company. Seething raw hatred. They are the poster child of clownworld.
 

DY050503

Educated
Joined
Jan 22, 2022
Messages
59
Divine Divinity
this game is fantastic tho

It's garbage

It's fantastic garbage. One of the best shit games I enjoyed playing,up there with Two Worlds

DD was the first RPG I played that felt truly adult (or at least definitely not for children) in some of its subject matter, especially in one of its quests where you had to solve the mystery of who's been pissing in the sacramental wine. It's definitely not a "Can I play, Daddy?" kinda game.
For me it just is ordinary old fantasy, which is good. But the game map and control mechanism seems not very convenient.
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
ATOM RPG - The game itself isn't bad but does have some odd design choices that lead to me getting quite frustrated but nothing quite got on my nerves like being unable to control party members in combat. The final fight took me ages simply because I could not get my companions to either enter the final room or shoot the people I wanted. While this was a feature in classic Fallout there is not a single good reason why it should have been kept for ATOM.

I'm currently playing through Trudograd, and I remember ATOM RPG also having this feature: you can command your companions during battle by hovering your cursor over them, holding the left mouse button, and choosing from various commands.
You can change their behavior (run away from enemies, stick close to you, attack enemies on your own) and give them priority targets to make sure they shoot what you want them to shoot.
 

jackofshadows

Arcane
Joined
Oct 21, 2019
Messages
5,099
Yes there's quite advanced system to control them which not all players are aware of but even better advice would be not to bring companions at all (or not to play those mediocre RPGs).
 

jimster

Educated
Joined
Oct 2, 2021
Messages
122
Morrowind. It started as the best thing ever, but after a while the game started to feel really shallow due to the copy pasted dungeons, generic random loot, people responding with the same Wikipedia style entries 99% of the time, etc. I really liked the books, *but* I hated how it interrupted the gameplay. So I was like, okay I'm gonna play the game for the next two hours, then I'm ending up reading some books for an hour instead of really *playing* the game. Dunno, it just felt frustrating and I couldn't enjoy the books because I wanted to finish reading as quickly as possible. The other frustrating thing was that the world-building and the general atmosphere was topnotch, but the game couldn't realise its full potential due to all these issues. IMHO, etc...
You hit the nail on the head... this is an issue with every Bethesda game. The world is really cool and has a lot of potential. When you first look out at the open world, make your character, and do the first couple dungeons they can be pretty fun and you're excited to see what else the game has to offer. But once you realize you're still just repeating the same thing ad nauseum, it wears off.. They're so damn repetitive. I do the same thing you described with the ingame books too, since usually the stories told in them are more intriguing than the actual game.
 

Harthwain

Magister
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Dec 13, 2019
Messages
5,428
Morrowind. It started as the best thing ever, but after a while the game started to feel really shallow due to the copy pasted dungeons, generic random loot, people responding with the same Wikipedia style entries 99% of the time, etc. I really liked the books, *but* I hated how it interrupted the gameplay. So I was like, okay I'm gonna play the game for the next two hours, then I'm ending up reading some books for an hour instead of really *playing* the game. Dunno, it just felt frustrating and I couldn't enjoy the books because I wanted to finish reading as quickly as possible. The other frustrating thing was that the world-building and the general atmosphere was top-notch, but the game couldn't realise its full potential due to all these issues. IMHO, etc...
Interesting. For me it would be Oblivion.

Mostly because of what a failure it turned out to be, compared to what was promised. Tthe end result was very uninspiring (to put it mildly), especially in the context of Morrowind, but apparently - and contrary to my personal chagrin with the game - for many people it was still enough so nowadays Oblivion is considered to be one of the classics, much to my utter mystification. I mean, I always saw Oblivion as devoided of many of the strong points of Morrowind (like you said: the setting, the atmosphere, the lore) with no real strength of its own (other than physics, which was very underutilized).

The second one to piss me of was Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Making a singleplayer MMO was so stupid idea that I still can't believe they actually went with it. This was really annoying and felt like a giant time waste, which isn't something you want the player to realize when he's playing your game. The second stupidest idea was to completely break the combat control scheme for PC by making it so console-like that it was practically impossible to play it tactically. Therefore I was forced to play with a single character for most of the time that I spent with it, with the rest of my team just doing auto-attacks. By the way, I had to turn off friendly fire setting, because the mages liked to set EVERYONE on fire for some reason. While I wasn't as charmed with Dragon Age: Origins as some (most?) players (I thought it was very average game, with some nice highlights) at the very least combat felt proper and I had some fun with it as a result.

The third one was Torment: Tides of Numenera.

I can't find a better example to illustrate the words "souless", "boring" and "purple prose". To me this is proof that if you want a text-heavy game you ought to know how to keep the writing interesting. Failing that keep it short, like Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire did, which made everything much more bearable, even if the text quality wasn't amazing.
 
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HansDampf

Arcane
Joined
Dec 15, 2015
Messages
1,548
The first game that comes to mind is Mass Effect 3, but it has nothing to do with the quality of the game. I expected the ending to be bad based on what I'd read before. But everything surrounding the game made me angry. Being forced to install the EA launcher. The audacity to sell Javik as day 1 DLC. How gaem jarnalists were defending Bioware and the ending. I was still reading GameStar back then. Their defense of the ending was the final straw that made me cancel my subscription. This was also the last time I payed 60€ for a game.
 

Maelfyn

Neverworks Games
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Joined
May 20, 2022
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3
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Maryland
Title. And in what way or means, such as a particular happening or feature of the game.
I don't think RPGs have made me angry. I don't have that type of personality, but they have made me felt despair. The worst thing that ever happened was when I was playing EverQuest and my corpse was stuck in the plane of fear for an entire day. I thought that I might completely lose my corpse, but someone came to our rescue and we managed to recover our corpses. I ran in and looted so quickly that I accidentally deleted my Short Sword of Ykesha. Nevertheless, it hardly phased me because I was able to recover everything else.
 

ProphetSword

Arcane
Developer
Joined
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Messages
1,758
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Monkey Island
Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor: Not only does it not live up to the game it's named after, it had the potential to completely destroy your computer if you tried to uninstall it. Bought it day one, and I'm still mad about it.
 

Rephyrnomicon

Novice
Joined
May 19, 2022
Messages
48
Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor: Not only does it not live up to the game it's named after, it had the potential to completely destroy your computer if you tried to uninstall it. Bought it day one, and I'm still mad about it.

I had completely forgotten that this game existed, and now I'm pissed off at you for reminding me and everyone else. You fuck.
 

Crispy

I feel... young!
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Strap Yourselves In
Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor: Not only does it not live up to the game it's named after, it had the potential to completely destroy your computer if you tried to uninstall it. Bought it day one, and I'm still mad about it.

I know this thread exists to allow us each to vent our hatred at whichever RPG we choose, but I think RoMD deserves a bit of a reprieve.

My experiences with it not too long ago:

Well said, Dorateen, in your assessment of RoMD.

I started a run of this game myself last night. I agree with you. It's an enjoyable, old-school dungeon romp with simplified 3E D&D rules, admittedly neutered character advancement (you can't choose any of your feats or skills once you level up; they're chosen for you), and rather pleasing graphics and sound.

With the latest patch (1.4 I think?) it's surprisingly and pleasantly bug-free so far. It's a lot of fun to play. I love the atmosphere, I love the D&D lore in it, and I actually enjoy the combat. You can't just stand there in a doorway and let the orcs pile up in front of it and come to you, they're going to pincushion you with their bows unless you back into the room and draw them in. There are rudimentary AoO's, there are defend and delay combat options -- just enough to be light tactical enjoyment.

I'm actually glad I never played it when it was released. Going into the game completely blind has been a pleasure so far.

-----

Pretty rude of you guys to hijack this thread like that.

Anyway, RoMD continues to impress me so far. I'm still in the beginning parts of the dungeon, just cleared out the orc-infested Main Hall, and found a neat little room with some good treasure in it. I've battled ghouls, who are tough, wraiths, who are tougher, and a ghast so far, who took a near-miracle to beat. My dwarf cleric saved the party.

As Black Cat stated in her LP, the DM narrative is a nice little touch. There's always something interesting to check out in each part of the dungeon, driving away any monotony that might arise due to the sameness of the graphics assets used, etc. I love how the music changes to new tunes the deeper in you go.

Unless this game takes a turn for the megaderp, which I realize it may, I don't know why it was hated so much. For a D&D nerd, so far, it's heavan. I just wish it had more depth of character development.

-----

Just had another excellent session with this game. Happened upon the orc boss and his two lieutenants, one an orcish sorcerer and the other a witchdoctor. We tried to close with them but the boss laughed at my 2nd level warrior's puny attempt to swat at him and the witch doctor pummeled my own sorcerer with Magic Missiles. Party wipe. Cool death scene. Reload.

I go carefully around them this time planning a major comeback once I've leveled up, and this time come upon a creepy room with two very powerful undead -- I think they were called origons? In any case it was a pretty hairy encounter until my fighter equipped his recently-found two-handed warhammer of death which is +2 against undead and +6 damage against them! Two nice hits and the first one went down. My dwarf cleric held the other one off long enough for the fighter to leap over and smash the thing on its rotting head. Nice. Found some very nice amulets in their coffins, one of them +2 to STR and the other one perfect for the dwarf.

I'm playing Dungeons and Dragons the way it was meant to be and I'm loving it. How's that for borrowing two slogans at once?

Suck it, Volourn.

-----

The hits just keep on coming! Here's another exciting encounter:

Still exploring Main Halls. Bust the doors open on what must've been the orc boss's second-in-command. He's got a nice little pad down here, pretty well tucked away. Problem is he's got some serious muscle with him. Two big bodyguards and a priest capable of casting Hold Person. Not good for a 2nd-level party. But I've got a couple of aces up my sleeve, one of which is a brand-new sorcerer I just added to my party by freeing him from a stone prison (long story). More muscle of my own.

Combat starts with me trying to range the caster. Big guys rush my fighter who's blocking the door. Dwarf cleric's right next to him. That's good because the orc priest Holds my fighter and I'm thinking "oh, shit." Luckily, dwarf's got a Cure Paralysis scroll on him, two in fact. Other members are doing what they can but my priority is now saving the fighter's ass. Dwarf uses the scroll even though one of those big guards is right on top of him, fighter's now free, dwarf takes a big hit. He's now low on HP. Start pummeling the guards up front now but the orc priest gets the fighter AGAIN with another Hold Person. Dammit! Alright, dwarf, you know what you gotta do. Frees the fighter but takes another AoO, and dwarf drops like a stone. Not good.

Now by this time I'm getting sick of this orc priest asshole. Time to pull one of those aces. My female sorcerer pulls out her newly-purchased Wand of Stinking Cloud, which cost a pretty penny. Perfect placement. Now that priest and all his friends along with the boss are puking their orcish guts out. The tide has turned. Multiple Heal skill attempts on the dwarf finally stabilize him. Fighter takes down the guards. My half-orc rogue/barbarian sticks a +1 arrow in that priest's eye and he goes down.

The underboss is now pissed. He tries to rush the fighter but gets a big whiff of those noxious fumes. Ha, take that! He stands there helplessly, turning greener than the cloud itself. We all casually step back, equip missile weaponry, and proceed to pincushion his ass at will. He drops, cloud dissipates, we heal up, and loot this nasty-looking mace he was carrying. Well done.

Think anything like that ever happened in NWN? I don't.

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/pool-of-radiance-ruins-of-myth-drannor-worth-playing.91470/
 
Self-Ejected

Lim-Dûl

Self-Ejected
Joined
Apr 11, 2022
Messages
388
Probably Inquisitor for me.

Good lord, those orc mines...
:negative:
The worst part was that the game had some nice things going for it but those diablo-esque combat - except much worse, and even more combat. Good pick, i agree.
True.
Many games are shit like that.
But Inquisitor was the first that came to mind which actually had so much promise that it made the shit hit even harder.
I don't get how they could put so much work into the lore and art and then settle for such simplistic combat.
 

Aemar

Arcane
Joined
Aug 18, 2018
Messages
6,319
Planescape Torment, hands down. I was playing it for a week, waiting for the game to really "start". Then realised that *this* is the game...
Exactly this. And also Arcanum because of its horrible combat.
 

SniperHF

Arcane
Joined
Aug 22, 2014
Messages
1,110
Title. And in what way or means, such as a particular happening or feature of the game.
anachronox continues to aggravate me with its vomit inducing content placement which manages to outdo anything bioware has ever developed when it comes to the sheer number of miniscule areas traversed back and forth

This is my answer as well, and it pisses me off more so because the enjoyable bits of the game are worthwhile but slogging through the trashheap map design and quest layouts is such a chore.
 

Not.AI

Learned
Joined
Dec 21, 2019
Messages
318
The shitty superfluous writing in Divinity OS1 and Divine Divinity. Haven't played anything else by Larian since.

What? *Whaaat?*

DD & DOS1 had amazing writing. Shakespeare it is not, but it is like 93 1/2 percent Shakespeare. It's fine.

Larian always had decent writing, I propose.

EDIT: To the naysayers, name some RPGs that have better writing, eh? It's fine.

It's just German style rather than English style or Japanese style.
 
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Rincewind

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Betrayal at KronHawk's Hollow.

I found the writing in BaK juvenile and silly in a bad way. But I'll take it over the verbal diarrhea of PS:T any day, of course.

RPGs where I specifically enjoyed the "writing" a lot (it can be only dialogues, like in the case of Gothic), roughly in order:
  • Age of Decadence
  • Gothic
  • ELEX
  • Witcher 1
  • Banner Saga trilogy
  • Morrowind (if we forget about the information-dispenser nature of the NPCs)
  • Fallout
  • Nehrim
  • The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk (for an amusing and silly plot; I enjoyed it a lot more than the Larian style silliness)
 

Zlaja

Arcane
Joined
Aug 17, 2006
Messages
6,117
Location
Swedex
but the gameplay made me feel more like a fantasy janitor

Playing Skyrim made you feel like a fantasy version of Scruffy? Apparently, some people really did enjoy the game less than me.

Dragon Age Inquisition. I hated everything about it

I remember being pissed at how they made Cassandra from DA2 uglier. Look at this shit:

766000-dragon-age-ii-playstation-3-screenshot-cassandra-has-a-few.jpg


Vs.

592948fb3a11881c4067696360476435.png


1*5aiC9tgEFK9ac47Kfq7heQ@2x.jpeg

This was also the last time I payed 60€ for a game

You payed 60€ for Mass Effect 3!? Were you held at gunpoint by a Bioware employee or something?
 
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octavius

Arcane
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Bjørgvin
I found the writing in BaK juvenile and silly in a bad way. But I'll take it over the verbal diarrhea of PS:T any day, of course.

Then you should read the books. The game has mature writing in comparison.

Anyway, personally I think the Baldur's Gate games have "good" writing. At least it's memorable, as in having some of the most quoteable and memeable lines of any game I've played. I don't remember any lines from Gothic, but I remember thinking I liked that they talked like adults.
 

Rincewind

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Then you should read the books. The game has mature writing in comparison.

I've heard bad things about the books from a lot of sources; the general consensus even among fantasy fans seems to be that he's a hack writer and his output is entirely skippable. So that's what I've done.

Anyway, personally I think the Baldur's Gate games have "good" writing. At least it's memorable, as in having some of the most quoteable and memeable lines of any game I've played.

Yeah, I found the writing in BG competent too; it's actually not bad at all and I didn't find it irritating like in many other games.

I don't remember any lines from Gothic, but I remember thinking I liked that they talked like adults.

And that's exactly my point! Same thing with ELEX. Whereas many times in BaK you get the impression that these people are just a bunch of hobos LARPing in the countryside (including some major plot characters). Having said that, there's a lot of good text in BaK, e.g. the flavour text of items, and the writing in some side-quests is genuinely good. But the *overall* impression, especially that of the main plot, is meh.
 

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