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[kicker]

You're disgusting OP, I feel like I just ripped apart my childhood. I still love every one of these games dearly.

Meh. I feel like, has already been said in this thread, the games are still great despite their flaws.
And another thing, I've noticed most game franchises don't have flaws that persist in the exact same way throughout their games. MGS, for example improved on the controls, and added skippable cutscenes by 5. 5 has its own issues, but the point is that very few devs (outside of FROM and technical issues, really) keep the same flaws game after game. It's encouraging to think that devs really notice the issues people have.

Also, it feels like people don't even consider the issues others have that prevent them from enjoying the best games, and when they hear their favourite games criticised they get defensive. I felt if people looked at the games themselves and noticed some issues, they might more readily understand why others don't love it as much as they do

This thread is really aimed at thinking about the gameplay elements that would make the very best games even better. I'm really tired of graphical advancements being celebrated so much when gameplay is stangnating (at least in the AAA space). All the photorealism and accurately-traced lighting and cinematic immersion won't make the lack of a jump action in GOW2018 more appealing to me, to give a petty example.

---

Nobody has any issues with titanfall 2, portal, outer wilds, far:lone sails? I'm trying to think of some issues with those games specifically but they just aren't coming

 

[TheAssist]

I'm currently playing through FF7R for the fourth time and boy do I love this game no matter what.
But yeah it has some bad pacing here and there, certain scenes that just drag on for no reason, forced slow walks, unskipabble puzzles (looking at you robot hands), quite a useless last dungeon and bad sidequests.

But then you see Cloud and Aerith or Tifa and Aerith interact with one another and fight a super spectacular boss fights with awesome music, you laugh your ass of and a few minutes later try not to cry and all is good in the world. Oh wait there is this random secret lab dungeon that no one ever asked for. Gotta force myself through that real quick...

 

[01011001]

the original version of Halo 3 would be unplayable for me today.
the game has an FOV of 75°, which is IMO not defendable.

with age I became more and more sensitive to low FOVs in games, and nowadays I really have issues as soon as the FOV of an FPS is below ~85°

 

[Virex]

VTMB - Gun combat is awful and if you are melee only, you are in for a rough time with a specific boss in Chinatown

 

[hyperbertha]

Deus Ex Mankind Divided - Glitchy sometimes. Gunplay can be improved. Some abilities when fully upgraded felt overpowered. Only one boss fight. And too damn short. Which would have been fine if they had actually released the sequel.

Prince of Persia WW - A lack of challenge. Enemies don't switch up their attack patterns or keep the pressure enough. Blocking is overpowered. Needed more enemies that can counter your blocking to keep you on edge. An enemy type introduced early in the game is more threatening than late game enemies due to their ability to get to you despite blocking.

Dark souls - HORRIBLE second half. After Anor Londo, its all downhill and turns into one of the worst games of all time. Blighttown sucked. Especially the swamps.

Last of us - the story felt too uneventful and lite until the ending parts where it started picking up.

Final fantasy 7 - combat could have been more challenging. And some exploration elements haven't aged well. 'open world' could have been more dense and eventfull. Some party members felt unnecessary to the story. They should have been more fleshed out imo.

Xcom enemy unknown - Could have used more variety in your unit types to open up more tactical options. Repetitive music. Also could have used some kind of boss enemy types.

Divinity OS2 - The third location felt too... uninteresting. It was a full combat area, without the social aspect of previous areas, and that felt jarring, reducing gameplay options and going into full on combat. One of the final bosses, is waay too hard. The other final boss route is easy.

 

[darth.shrimp]

Going to add a few to my previous ones:

Xenogears never getting a remake is a crime.
The Xenoblade games have terrible translation/localisation. Especially 2.

 

[Loke]

Half-Life - Game starts to loose steam pretty rapidly in the Lambda Core chapter and beyond.
Duke Nukem 3D - Episode 2 is mostly pretty boring and tedious.
Unreal 1 - Too many bullet sponge enemies.

 

[GMCamaro]

Final Fantasy 8

Nobody likes hot dogs THAT much.

 

[Efren is G.O.A.T.]

Final Fantasy IX: Combat is too slow

Elden Ring: Too many reused bosses and some caves/catacombs are too similar

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory: Hacking from a distance

Zelda Breath of the Wild: Lack of dungeons

Resident Evil 4 Original: Drops can disappear

Resident Evil 4 Remake: I thought shotgun shells drops were too scarce

Return to Monkey Island: Too easy

 

[hemo memo]

The voice acting in FFX is ATROCIOUS. It’s not even so bad it’s good. It’s so bad it’s just that. Bad. They should've changed the voice acting in the remaster. Tidus voice acting is impressive how bad he misses the mark from tone to reaction to delivery to speed. Just absolutely awful. Auron is the only acceptable one.

 

[kicker]

Thought of some

titanfall 2, portal, outer wilds, far:lone sails

Portal 1/2 - Made by valve so will probably never get a sequel. Turret combat was too fiddly and solution too simple to feel like we were actually circumventing a security system

Outer wilds - Can only access the log with all your unlocked clues from inside the ship, I think

FAR: Lone Sails - Got stuck in a warehouse section because the lighting made me keep missing the exit. So weird lighting sometimes? Also, jumping into the ship was too imprecise a lot of the time

 

[Fredrik]

Elden Ring - As talked about elsewhere, the camera is the most difficult boss.

Metroid Dread - There is too much hand-holding with scanner area size and map icons, way too easy to 100%.

Turrican, Amiga - Shooting on the joystick button, cool. Throwing grenades and rolling on the keyboard, eh what?
Many games had keyboard + joystick controls but doing it in an action game isn’t optimal.

The Elder Scrolls Oblivion and Skyrim - Melee combat is terrible.

Super Metroid - The only bad thing is that it’s too perfect. It’s almost 30 years since it released, could I please get to put some other game as my #1 for once?

 

[The_Mike]

World of Warcraft doesn’t really know how to end.

Well, it's a mmorpg so it's not supposed to end.

 

[k_trout]

system shock 2 ost can be very annoying

 

[Ogbert]

Well, it's a mmorpg so it's not supposed to end.

 

[j.k.2021]

Halo Infinite multiplayer has one of the best fps gameplay but it lacked content at launch.

 

[kicker]

Bump because I'm about to finish Hyper Light Drifter and while it's not my favourite of its genre, it's definitely up there.
Criticism is: don't think enough effort was put into organically suggesting things to the player through item placement and level design.
A lot of items important to progression are placed behind pathways that are hidden the same way a regular tree sprite looks. So to find everything you need you have to walk into every edge that seems like it might be open even when 80% of the time they aren't.
It's like if dark souls kept critical upgrade equipment behind illusory walls or something.
And the gane offers no in-game text or instructions (which I've enjoyed so far) but they really should have put more effort into playtesting optimal ways to visually suggest things to players using colour, geometry and so on. They should have tried to 'naturally catch the eye'

 

[Chronicle]

Video games just can't nail the eyes or mouth. Graphics are good but it's just those twonlottlw things.

 

[kyussman]

Death Stranding......a character explains in great detail what I need to do next.....I then embark on my mission,same character calls me immediately and tells me again.....as I approach my objective character call me again to remind me why I'm there......hey,if you don't trust me why not come and carry all this shit yourself,lol.(I love Death Stranding so much though).

 

[rofif]

Death Stranding......a character explains in great detail what I need to do next.....I then embark on my mission,same character calls me immediately and tells me again.....as I approach my objective character call me again to remind me why I'm there......hey,if you don't trust me why not come and carry all this shit yourself,lol.(I love Death Stranding so much though).

Exactly. I love Death Stranding. It's one of my favs. And I absolutely love 10 hours of cutscenes.
But I cannot stand the walkie takie interruptions constantly. let me fucking walk in peace on my own.

Another one for Deaths stranding - I wish there was a mode with no enemies. So I can just focus on exploring, hiking and making my own way. The constant BT warnings get tiresome.

 

[The artful mincer]

I like this thread! Right time to roast Dark souls but alot of this could apply to other souls games and elden ring etc.

1.Boss runs from bonfires are completely pointless. Largely gone from elden ring occasionally this absolute stinker raises its filthy head.

2. Not enough weapon upgrade materials to encourage changing your weapon experimenting etc. Better in elden ring but not where it needs to be.

3. Finite consumables are largely pointless in these games. In a game where you may be trying a boss for hours what's the point of using a one off elemental buff? At its worse in demon souls and Bloodborne when health refills are consumables but still terrible for all other items in all the games. Needs reworking entirely.

4. Complete lack of information during combat. No idea which attacks can be parried or jumped over no stun/posture meter. The player/ community is expected to find all this out by themselves complete Bullshit. Fromsoft really do take there community for granted sometimes. ( Too bad that the community is too happy to bend over and take it.) Nioh helps the player, God of war helps the player , even sekiro helps the player. Why not souls? Easily at it worst in elden ring where the combat is most complex at the very least it needs a stun meter.

5. Terrible UI and dated controls. Niohs are just way better and retain all the challenge of souls game. Just copy take cues from them.

Definitely more but this is the most important stuff.

 

[SmokedMeat]

God of War 2018:
- Crap Camera up your ass hampers the combat
- Too much time spent opening chests
- Lack of big spectacle boss fights the series was known for

The Last of Us
- Listening ability hurts the tension when I can tell where enemies are, from behind walls

 

[SeraphJan]

Spider Man 2018
- The bag packs, photo shots, and the Harry station side quest need to be less tedious and more rewarding
- The stealth mechanic needs improvement, its over simplified

 

[GeekyDad]

OoT - the stealth gameplay toward the end is pretty silly and bad. Even the N64 version probably coulda been better executed.
FFT - oof, that framerate. It's my personal "game of all time," I'd say, but the framerate is why I don't replay it as often as Tactics Ogre (which the PSP version is simply sublime).

 

[RaduN]

Devil may cry 5: character named V exists in the game

I love the series, played 3 ateast 20 times and I love 5, but i can not for the life of me, replay it. I attempted to do it twice and both times i gave up at V. Fuck that character.


MGS (all) - the pacing.

 

[ns6]

Final Fantasy X: Maxing the sphere grid for your party requires way too much grinding
Metal Gear Solid 3: Original controls are a little wonky
World of Warcraft Classic: They don't keep joyous journeys (questing exp buff) up all the time. Should be the standard, makes leveling alts so much more approachable.

 

[Shifty1897]

FFT - oof, that framerate. It's my personal "game of all time," I'd say, but the framerate is why I don't replay it as often as Tactics Ogre (which the PSP version is simply sublime).

100%, FFT's frame rate hurts, especially during spells and summons. Be on the lookout for a remaster announcement (that should fix the frame rate) this summer though!

 

[F0rneus]

Super Metroid - Why can't Metroid crawl?

 

[-Zelda-]

I love final fantasy 13 (PS5 trilogy when?) but I HATE how leveling up is chapter locked. Just let let me level up the way I want. Would make the game easier if it let me grind. in Lightning returns, I do not like the time limit restriction hanging over my head.
Turtle Rock Dungeon in A Link to the Past annoys me so much.

 

[Topher]

StarCraft

It ripped off Warhammer 40k.........but I'm totally fine with that.

 

[MagnesD3]

Banjo Kazooie didn't finish Stop and Swap.
Bioshock has a weak ending.
Mass Effect the Grenades are terrible, the mako gets stuck too often and its Weapon/upgrade menu is imo a bit weak.
Twilight Princess the Intro Tutorial village is a bit slow.
Super Mario 64's camera has alot of problems.
Demon Souls material drops are too rare and magic is poorly balanced.
Elden Ring has too many Ulcerated Tree Spirits.
Halo 1 has a couple levels that don't asset reuse very well and it's Multiplayer is pretty unbalanced.
Metal Gear Solid 1 it can be tough to aim sometimes due to the top down.
Spyro the Dragon is a little too easy.
Crash Bandicoot Warped has some weak gimmick levels.

I could go on for awhile.

 

[Jibran#one]

Rdr2 clunky controls

 

[GeekyDad]

100%, FFT's frame rate hurts, especially during spells and summons. Be on the lookout for a remaster announcement (that should fix the frame rate) this summer though!

Please don't toy with my emotions.

 

[Edmund]

Street Fighter 5 - Shit Netcode
Tekken 7 - Shit Netcode.
Soulcalibur 6 - Shit Netcode.

TLOU 2 - Just a tiny bit too long.

 

[feynoob]

Skyrim= shit combat
Breath of wild = shit weapons. Breaking too easy.
The witcher 3 = combat is messy.
Spiderman = boring combat bosses. Too predictable and loses charm easily.

 

[kvltus lvlzvs]

The souls games post ds1 ignored one of the most unique things about the gameplay which was the metroidvania-esque interconnected world. Ds1 had a mediocre if not lazy final third.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Fortnite:

- Never should have built around SBMM.
- Too many traversal items in the game.

Still the GOAT.

 

[DryvBy]

GTA V took out too much of the side content and makes content in GTA IV look better. Being able to go bowling or going to stand up shows was amazing. Stuff from San Andreas missing that would benefit GTA V as a criminal life sim is dumb.

 

[Arachnid]

RE4make was a genuine step down for all the villains character wise. Mendez wasn't as imposing, Salazar didn't have the same banter/bond villain like relationship with Leon, Saddler just felt like a cookie cutter cult leader/fanatic vs the quotable meme lord he used to be, and Krausers voice was so bad that it made it actively hard to take him seriously (also, him being all in on the cult vs being a double agent felt like it made him kind of weaker overall). Also, no laser sight option on all weapons was dumb.

OG RE4s island section was a step down. No need to expand here since it's been beat to death.

Metal Gear Solid 4 would be the best in the series gameplay wise if the last three acts (out of 5) didn't downgrade the stealth so badly. The first two acts were stealth bliss through flat out battlefields with fantastic and intricate level design (seriously, the best stealth action in the series including MGSV). Act 3 threw that away for the stupid tailing through the city section, act 4 was all shitty robots, and 5 was OK but too short for the stealth gameplay (just one or two rooms of stealthing through outerhaven).

MGSV core stealth mechanics were extremely dumbed down from 4. I guess that made it more accessible to new players though, so some might consider this a positive. Also, the lack of boss fights really hurt this game. The few we had we shadows of past game boss fights, with the exception of the sniper battle with Quiet. Regening health like COD was also dumb and made it so there was really no punishment for getting caught.

Genuinely don't know how I'd improve on Silent Hill 2 or Bloodborne lmao

 

[Umbasaborne]

Not every loyalty mission in mass effect 2 is great. Looking at you jacob, and you tali, where i had to exhaust the dialogue of all like 7 people in that court room to get the best ending to it

 

[TheInfamousKira]

Final Fantasy VII: Remake - I get that Midgar is tight and story focused, but having the game's real estate be so limited (without even accounting for the areas you get locked out of at basically every turn) harms the experience. If you want to deign to something absurd like explore or train up your characters, you basically have to pick between three different flavors of long ass hallway to go back and forth between.

The Last of Us, Part II- I hate golfing. That aside, narrative pacing is either painfully slow or just fucking bizarre. Today's mainstream culture, I'm sure there are at least a couple dozen people who got confused being taken back in time so much and so randomly. But even further beyond that, the game builds to a logical climax, only to have that narrative catharsis withheld and have the pacing, stakes, and setting reset Halfway through. Equivalent to going 90 and hitting the e brake. I'm not even criticizing the choices made with the story so much as I am the method that the story is told. Nothing big on gameplay, but with an IP as hopelessly intertwined with it's story as it is, I think it's valid.

Metal Gear Solid V - Two memorable Boss fights. In a Kojima game. Especially one that feels as good to play as MGSV. It's a tragedy. I don't even care about the cut content. I mean, it blows that the game that was ACTUALLY Kojima's last Metal Gear 4reelzsrsly wasn't completed, but I can live with it. The bosses, though? NOPE.

Kingdom Hearts 2 - Fantastic music. Beautiful game. A fucking powerhouse on the PS2. Final mix updates turned it into a crackhead action RPG title. 2 was even at the precipice of being juuuusssttt convoluted enough to seem smart to normies. It was a deft ratio they struck. Too bad all the actual levels were just long hallways with absolutely no verticality or even basic environmental puzzles. The original Kingdom Hearts was an awesome, responsive 3D platformer.


Said absolutely no one ever.

So why is the level design in the second game make it seem like a true statement?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Axelay

- Slowdown and flickering

- There's many weapons to pick up over the levels, but IMO the best weapons are the starting ones you get especially missiles and the bullets you should forward and can shoot behind you. Some of the weapon pick ups seem useless

 

[NahaNago]

It's been to long since I've played my supposedly favortie games of all time so i'll just go with some more recent games that I liked and wish I liked.

The Order 1886 I would say it was just too short and it needed better enemy variety especially with those werewolf fights. The game though is beautiful and I loved the world. It could have had more weapons that kicked a punch in wowness.

Infamous second son I really enjoyed playing. My biggest gripe with the game is that the world seemed lifeless. I would have liked to have seen more folks going about their days.

Horizon Zero Dawn my main issue with the game is mostly just the main character. She is just boring. The world and visuals were amazing but I honestly just didn't care about her.

FF7R I honestly have only played like half the game and FF15 i only played like half the game. For FF7R they needed to do better designing the world. The most interesting area I visited was Aerith's home and I would have liked to have had more heartfelt moments their. For ff15 the world honestly felt empty. I would have liked to have had more interesting interactions with the people living in the open area while I was driving/traveling. Don't make everything about killing and show me the wonders of that world.

My most favorite games are ff7-9, rhapsody, mega man legends, ocarina of time, tony hawk, goemon n64, devil may cry series, xenosaga series, and onimusha. Mostly games from the ps1 and ps2 era. Chrono trigger and tales of vesperia get an honorable mention.

 

[64bitmodels]

Super Mario World: the third half of the game gets really hard for a mario title but i definitely perfer a challenge to sheer boredom

Contra Hard Corps: While the one shot 1 death thing works for previous contras, it's worse in hard corps since it's so fucking batshit insane in comparison. They really should have kept the 3 hit point system from Japan in the US release of the game.

Sega Rally 2: they never ported it to any platform besides Dreamcast and PC, which is a sin since those 2 ports are complete ass. I still want a remake/remaster with better visuals, online play, and more tracks. Also, the timer from the third stage on gets really strict, which i get because it's arcade... but still

Pizza Tower: Level design is great, but I feel like it could have been less blocky. There's no real incentive to get P ranks besides bragging rights which sucks.

Elden Ring: Bloodhound fang with a couple enhancements can carry you throughout the entire game which is just the teensiest bit ridiculous. Also the open world feels a bit aimless and you can't really go places without consulting a guide. Dark Souls 1 & 3 in comparison were relatively simple and straightforward

Kingdom Hearts 2: why did the fuck the level design

Kingdom Hearts 3: why did they fuck flowmotion

Cave Story (again): They should have done better to indicate that you can get better weapons than the machinegun if you kept the Polar Star... i only heard about the Spur and Snake from guides online.

GTA4: The game itself i can hardly find any flaws but the PC port is TERRIBLE.

Far Cry 2: First person driving is just.... I don't like it. It's better in sims but in FC2 it just feels weird and unnatural.

Batman Arkham Asylum: The movement feels a bit clunky on ground and the over the shoulder camera is unnecessary, i installed a mod that centers the camera so the game feels better to play, but still.

 

[K2D]

Easy:
Binding of isaac crashes with OP builds

I tore my hair out getting the challange thropy, and I'm currently tearing my hair out unlocking ??? in AB+

 

[K2D]

Bloodborne:

- Chromatic aberations can ruin the incredible scenery

Bloodborne - Frame rate, frame pacing, overly aggressive chromatic aberration, etc.

It would've been funny as hell if they apparently removed chromatic aberration, but then it gradually creeps back into the experience as you gain insight..!

 

[poppabk]

System Shock 2 - The graphics are shit

Low res textures, low polygon count models, crappy lighting.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Half-Life 2 was a great game but even back then, those low poly wall and poster textures were unacceptable. Its like they were using 320*280 jpg on a 1080P image. I remember thinking Max Payne 1 has sharper and more detailed walls and floors.

 

[azertydu91]

I tore my hair out getting the challange thropy, and I'm currently tearing my hair out unlocking ??? in AB+

Iirc that is quite easy compared to og the lost for example, I think it is something like killing mom's heart 5 times or something like that.But if you found this hard, you're not ready for the hush , mega Satan or delirium, not even talking about repentance.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Planescape Torment - playing anything else than Wisdom/Intelligence build deprives you of 90% of experience, all the most shocking and revelatory quest solutions are unavailable to you.