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Games tropes that piss you off?

A topic by The Manimal created 13 days ago Views: 161 Replies: 4
Viewing posts 1 to 5

What type of tropes in games make you uninstall it within seconds?

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I don't think there are any tropes that put me off- even if a horror game begins with a cheesy jump scare, I'll probably persevere for a bit.
If there's one thing I instantly judge a game on, it's the font. If there's no effort made with this in the main menu, it's almost always going to be an awful game.
Also, an infodump at the start of a story based game will halt me in my tracks. If a game begins with a wikipedia entry, it's not going to get much better...

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I have tropes that piss me up but none that could make stop playing and uninstall.

My hated tropes:

1. Deus ex machina and any gameplay interruption.

2. Chosen one, for games with multiple characters.

3. Gambling.

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Strongly dislike, but might tolerate if the rest of the game is good enough:

  • Permadeath.
  • Randomized procedural content.
  • No single player mode, only multiplayer.
  • Online leaderboards.
  • Games with no win condition, just a high score.
  • Games that brag about how difficult they are.
  • Microtransactions.
  • In-game ads.
  • Intentionally ugly art style.
  • Quick-time events.
  • Luck-based missions.

Dealbreakers, will never knowingly play:

  • Microtransactions that are necessary for completing the game.
  • Any use of cryptocurrency/blockchain tech.
  • Any use of generative AI.

One thing I really hate is when games throw High Level content at you super early in the game, just to take it away it again. 

The most famous example was Fallout 4, where the game throws Power Armor and a Minigun at you in the first 30 minutes of the game. In all previous Fallout games, getting your first power armor was a huge late game thing. Really killed my excitement to get it that early. The fact that the first power armor is really awful and the fact you can't use it for more than 3 minutes thanks to the Power Core requirement just makes it worse somehow. 

There was a also a really old Star Wars game where you START as freaking Darth Vader, with a crap load of abilities and an completly overpowered character. Just to switch to a random dude (without any force powers) in the second level. I really hated that - both parts, the starting overpowered AND the taking away the powers part.