Game mechanics that piss you off or are just missing part 2

[Nathan]

For me personally (with Mass Effect) when i'm using my curser I want to use it across the whole screen not be restricted to directing a wheel. The detail in the text is also lessened with a general indication of what your character say in spoken lines as oppossed to exactly what you want them to say. I think it just exists as a form of dumbing down. Less reading. That's what Biowares about now.

Sadly, that's true. I'm playing the Star Wars MMO and I find myself often thinking "That's not the response I wanted.", because the choice they show you and what they actually say is completely different.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

-Toxic water. And I'm not talking about the water in Fallout. I mean the, "Oh, no! I fell in a puddle and it killed me." water. These characters really need to either learn how to swim, or live in the desert.

But radiation does effect water. In Fallout a nuclear bomb went off.

 

[Hotwire]

But radiation does effect water. In Fallout a nuclear bomb went off.

I know that. I wasn't talking about the toxic water in Fallout. I was talking about how so many characters in past games would die instantly just by falling in water.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

Ok. Personally I don't mind if it's used in some gaming manner like basic platforming (see Halflife: Opposing Force) but if it's just random willy nilly, eh.

 

[zenith16]

heh I found that funny when I let the solders trying to hunt me down in Crysis and watch them drown on that beach. ahhhhhh good times.

 

[Darkness Falls]

I know that. I wasn't talking about the toxic water in Fallout. I was talking about how so many characters in past games would die instantly just by falling in water.

agreed, sometimes it makes no sense, like in tmnt for the nes, you die if they fall in the water
WHAT THE HELL, THEY'RE TURTLES

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

Yes because that's totally a screenshot from Mass Effect.

Oh wait it isn't.

or

In any case let's be serious now - you've played ME, so snarky screenshots aside you know posting a shot of a dialogue wheel with three options is flat out wrong and misrepresentative. Not to mention that ME conversations flow differently than the I have 8 different things to talk about here, I'll fire them off at you one after the other and then just say goodbye.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

Yes because that's totally a screenshot from Mass Effect.

Oh wait it isn't.

Here's one.

Spoiler

In any case let's be serious now - you've played ME, so snarky screenshots aside you know posting a shot of a dialogue wheel with three options is flat out wrong and misrepresentative.

But... every point I made still stand.

 

[Quasimod0]

Its still less options than that huge wall of text. lol

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

But... every point I made still stand.

If you say so. I'm sorry that you have to make the difficult motion to click the investigate button to ask more specific questions, that moving your mouse around a radial circle is somehow taxing you, or that you want all your dialogue options NOW rather than being a little patient and letting the conversation unfold, but I don't agree with your "dumbed down" stance. Paraphrasing options with a voiced protagonist strikes me moreso as mechanically good design.

What I found in the Witcher 1 was that reading the text that your character usually literally ended up saying word for word for the most part made me want to skip the voice work -something that the devs seemingly realized when they did the Witcher 2 and used paraphrased options as well. They did it Deus Ex and Alpha Protocol as well - it just makes sense.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

If you say so. I'm sorry that you have to make the difficult motion to click the investigate button to ask more specific questions or that moving your mouse around a radial circle is somehow taxing you but I don't agree with your "dumbed down" stance. Paraphrasing options with a voiced protagonist strikes me moreso as mechanically good design.

What I found in the Witcher 1 was that reading the text that your character ended up saying made me want to skip the voice work -something that the devs seemingly realized when they did the Witcher 2 and used paraphrased options as well. They did it Deus Ex and Alpha Protocol as well.

The other thing I didn't pick up on was color coding. A basic good/bad/neatural with two-three word indicators seems about as rudimentary as you can get, with vague guesswork as to how GQ man will respond.

I think "make your own story" is abit overblown. It should be discribed as "a vague indicatation to directing a pre-written story" but that probably wouldn't market well. When it comes to "making your own story" Shogun 2 (which does it by other means) is actually far better than Mass Effect in that regard.

 

[Soapy]

For me personally (with Mass Effect) when i'm using my curser I want to use it across the whole screen not be restricted to directing a wheel. The detail in the text is also lessened with a general indication of what your character say in spoken lines as oppossed to exactly what you want them to say. I think it just exists as a form of dumbing down. Less reading. That's what Biowares about now.

The first thing is valid I guess, but the second is a fault of Bioware's writing, not the dialogue wheel format.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

The other thing I didn't pick up on was color coding. A basic good/bad/neatural with two-three word indicators seems about as rudimentary as you can get, with vague guesswork as to how GQ man will respond.

So you complain about wanting more detail about how you're going to respond?

But then you deride the game for giving you said info.

I think "make your own story" is abit overblown. It should be discribed as "a vague indicatation to directing a pre-written story" but that probably wouldn't market well. When it comes to "making your own story" Shogun 2 (which does it by other means) is actually far better than Mass Effect in that regard.

Sure, okay whatever.

I've got two playthroughs I'm bringing into Mass Effect 3, one in which nearly my entire crew is dead, I've screwed over half my potential allies, I sided with the extremist terrorist faction and I'm planning to have result in a Reaper's win ending.

The other in which the crew is alive, I've built bridges between various factions and I rebuked said terrorists. Both these Shepard's are vastly different from one another on some very fundamental levels.

But sure! I had no hand as a player in crafting those two narratives - apparently.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

So you complain about wanting more detail about how you're going to respond?

But it isn't more detail, how exactly he responds is still guess work.
All of them, color or not are simply a general indicator. This seems to exist for people who can't even read a general indicator. I guess something like this could be useful for maybe disabled people or people with bad eye problems as even if you can't read something, you can pick up color easily. Which is great but I doubt that was actually the reasoning behind it. More to do with $$$ and Bioware having an extreamly low opinion of the gaming audience at large. Look at the marketing for Dragon Age 2 for example. Or even Dragon Age, trying to hip it up with rock and or roll music cause thats what them cool kids that don't play DnD like, yo.

Actually thats another point I didn't bring up (I can't remember if it's the case with Mass Effect) but In Dragon Age, you basically have a big bar telling you who likes you and who doesn't. Thats contrived and obvious and most likely more dumbing down.

The other mechanic that annoys me about Mass Effect, kotor and Dragon Age is the "pokeball mechanic". Collect people, have them stand around your pokeball until you call them for use. It's became redundant and it isn't even implimented as well as we spoke about before. The Normandy is utterly lifeless and sterile as with most of Mass Effects areas.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

But it isn't more detail, how exactly he responds is still guess work.
All of them, color or not are simply a general indicator. This seems to exist for people who can't even read a general indicator. I guess something like this could be useful for maybe disabled people or people with bad eye problems as even if you can't read something, you can pick up color easily. Which is great but I doubt that was actually the reasoning behind it. More to do with $$$

Seems like your reading into things and making a lot of assumptions about what is and isn't the thinking behind decisions made. I don't honestly see the difference between that and something with a [PERSUADE] before it except some sense of elitism about being tainted by the unwashed masses.


Now as for the rest of it and we have talked about this you and I before so I'm not up for getting into matters we've already had the run around about (the Deus Ex thread I believe) there is a Mass Effect thread right on the first page for you to use.

 

[Alchemyst]

I hold God of War to blame for this, the over-saturation of Quick Time Events, seems like every other action game has them, you beat up an enemy until either he starts glowing or has an icon over his head, and then comes an obstacle course of QTE's, enough is enough

 

[zenith16]

agreed, sometimes it makes no sense, like in tmnt for the nes, you die if they fall in the water
WHAT THE HELL, THEY'RE TURTLES

lol their amphibians not fish and being sucked in and dragged down a very strong current or whirl pool can kill someone or some animals that needs air to live. And no I ain't sassing ya. I'm just using common sense. if itb suck you down long enough you can't swimm back yup . your plain dead. I don't think it had anything with toxic water in that game. even if it was to be Expected in that game. well un less your talking about O.D.ing which is a nother issue all together.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

I remember falling into that river in Assassin's Creed 1 and drowning and the angry muttering that followed.

 

[Hotwire]

lol their amphibians not fish and being sucked in and dragged down a very strong current or whirl pool can kill someone or some animals that needs air to live. And no I ain't sassing ya. I'm just using common sense. if itb suck you down long enough you can't swimm back yup . your plain dead. I don't think it had anything with toxic water in that game. even if it was to be Expected in that game. well un less your talking about O.D.ing which is a nother issue all together.

In another level of that same game they swim the entire level without ever coming up for air.

 

[zenith16]

the current just wasn't as strong there it's like comparing stream to a super strong Niagara falls. there are just some raging rivers you can't and shouldn't fight against. oh And the fact they just programed it that way.