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[Ranger X]

I'm turned off very fast by poor controls or delay in controls. I almost got rid of Psychonauts because of the delay in the attacks and jump. But the rest of the game is so great that i forgave the controls this time.

Another thing that turns me off ALOT is when i don't dig the art and themes of a game.
For instance, pretty much each time i see this hip-hop skin stamped on a game, i can't stand it. There's only in GTASA that it doesn't bother me, i actually love it there.

 

[aoi tsuki]

The whole Oddworld and PsychoNauts look. Dark muddy green, strange and semi-disgusting art design, overall "cabbage patch dolls" was cool when I was 12 years old video games.

i'll give you Oddworld, but disagree completely on Psychonauts. But it really comes down to a matter of personal tastes, as i'm sure there's some who love the art in Oddworld.

 

[Soul4ger]

When things are supposed to be funny, you can see a person went out of their way to make a snide remark of sarcastic quip, but it falls flat on its face. Rayman 3 completely tried to go "sarcastic and edgy," and ended up being retardedly stupid. The developers completely changed the tone of the series.

 

[Kai Dracon]

Stuff that turns me off immediately?

- Bad loading issues. Visible loading time for menu screens that are continually accessed are a big no-no. Bad developers. Let's not even get started on Fable.

- Serious framerate issues / poor optimization. If it slows down or becomes framey at understandible times, even if those come frequently (ZoE2), it doesn't bother me. It fits with the feel of the intensity. But when the framerate sits and jumps around and stutters whether the game is (relatively) idle or not... really kills the feeling for me.

- Games with 'start up treadmill' mechanics. Y'know, where a lot of time is wasted getting to 'the fun part'. GT4 is a good example of this for me. Just takes too long to begin making -interesting- progress in the game.

- I suppose really bad art and more importantly, bad character design.

- Sketchy, crude fleshing out of the game mechanics, especially physics, no matter how good the game concept is. Example: I've played no end of racing-esque action games, say, car combat titles, that have very interesting design, levels, and features, and are theoretically fun. Except your vehicle has lazy, sketchy physics that don't excite the driving part of the equation.

 

[samusx]

For me it is the game or computer controled characters cheating. It is so frustrating, if I am playing and doing well enough, and then all of the sudden you get to a level with a bad guy or racer or something that just cheats to win. And it is even worse, when they not only cheat, but the CPU character does stuff that is not even possible for you to do in the game. Damn that pisses me off.

 

[dark10x]

dark10x:-
Poor, unstable framerates
Lengthy loadtimes and poor choice of load points (anything that damages the presentation)
Bad animation
Awful voice acting

Exactly the reasons that make Deus Ex: Invisible War such a tragedy.

Yep, that's part of what ruined DXIW for me. Of course, there is more to it than that. The maps were much smaller and more linear than the original, the game was dumbed down, the story was nowhere near as interesting etc etc etc

The whole Oddworld and PsychoNauts look. Dark muddy green, strange and semi-disgusting art design, overall "cabbage patch dolls" was cool when I was 12 years old video games.

What about Stranger's Wrath? That is quite a beautiful game and features a large variety of lovely, well designed areas. They manage to integrate that industrial look into the world once again, but avoid a lot of their previous pitfalls.

The jungle was especially nifty looking, with levels of vegitation exceeding even that of Far Cry (though in a smaller area, obviously) and some beautiful color usage.

 

[Pimpbaa]

-Tom Clancy in the title
-Effeminate male lead characters
-Realistic war/military themes
-Story driven games with heavy use of cutscenes
-Most sports games

 

[LakeEarth]

Crappy stealth sections in games that shouldn't have any. I'm not a big fan of stealth games, but I can appriciate how well Splinter Cell and MGS are made. But when an action game decides to throw in a half assed stealth section in the game just to piss you off, I just can't stand it.

 

[Ranger X]

Crappy stealth sections in games that shouldn't have any. I'm not a big fan of stealth games, but I can appriciate how well Splinter Cell and MGS are made. But when an action game decides to throw in a half assed stealth section in the game just to piss you off, I just can't stand it.

Oh shit, you mean you don't like videogames anymore? :lol

 

[Jeff-DSA]

Pop in
F-bombs
Nudity
Sound skips
Ridiculously long cutscenes
Bad controls (by far the worst)

 

[pancakesandsex]

Violent just to be violent (see Manhunt).

I second that

I'd also like to add :
"bad localization job" see atelier iris's sloppy localization. or Castle shikigami 2 (which is so bad its actually funny, and its only 12$)

 

[TheDiave]

I'd have to say that unresponsive controls and major graphical glitches are my two biggest deal-breakers. While long load times might be offensive, it depends on their frequency. If it's like one big load time before a stage, I can deal if the game is something I really want to play.

 

[LakeEarth]

Oh shit, you mean you don't like videogames anymore? :lol

As long as they're brief it's ok. Such as a few of the GTA:SA missions, or that part you avoid guards in Zelda:OoT, if its a brief 5 minute thing its ok... but entire drawn out stages of that crap, such as the Wind Waker section or (puts on flame suit) at the end of Metroid Zero Mission, I just don't like it. I just push myself to get through it and I probably won't play it again.

 

[MrPing1000]

badly designed interface. I'm looking at you battlefield 2.

Cutscences u cannot skip EVEN ON THE SECOND RUN THROUGH ARGHHHH

 

[olimario]

Long Load Times (Psp titles)
Poor Framerate
Poor controls (ps2 platformers... ugh)

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

Backtracking
Repetetiveness
Teen Angst
Lack of Effort put into the gameplay (When you finish a game and you can think of a billion ways it could've been better, that's not good)
Unskippable cut scenes after they've been seen once
Glitchy and buggy games, especially on Live.
Bad controls, music
Slow racing games. I'm racing here! Why is it going so slow?!

 

[Duck of Death]

Poor level design
Poor camera
Poor game balance
BAD ART

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

Factors that turn me off from trying a game:

Cinemas. Long or short, I hate 'em all.

Lack of color. Attention developers: Color doesn't make you gay.

First person. I like to see the character I'm controlling.

Urban culture influence. Not into that.

"Extreme" shit. Surfing, skating, rollerblades, whatever.

Generic anime art. Not against anime art, just that generic, assembly-line crap.

Angsty shit. I'll never know if prince of persia 2 is any good because of this crap.

 

[akascream]

I like a good framerate, and an advanced game engine, but it won't stop me from playing outright. Really bad art will though.

Oh, and extremely stylized characters are starting to get to me. I dunno how to explain it.

 

[Ranger X]

As long as they're brief it's ok. Such as a few of the GTA:SA missions, or that part you avoid guards in Zelda:OoT, if its a brief 5 minute thing its ok... but entire drawn out stages of that crap, such as the Wind Waker section or (puts on flame suit) at the end of Metroid Zero Mission, I just don't like it. I just push myself to get through it and I probably won't play it again.

Yeah i know what you mean. I'm also quite turned off by cheesy stealth parts. Stuff becomes "a la mode" and game devellopers feel obliged to include it. It's a bad idea more often than not.

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

Arty farty crap

 

[dark10x]

Poor controls (ps2 platformers... ugh)

Ha ha, what does that have to do with PS2? Very few companies know how to design really solid controls for their platformers. It has nothing to do with the actual hardware. Games like Mario Sunshine control beautifully as a result of the developers know-how.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Bad level/world design is the thing that gets to me the most aside from poor controls. It's hard to become immersed in the world of a game when the developers clearly didn't create an inspired locale for you to play in. Castlevania: Lament of Innocence is a notable offender.

 

[HokieJoe]

Weird ass camera angles and crappy control schemes. Ninja Gaiden's camera angle(s) took some getting used to, but the game is just so damn good I had to.

 

[akascream]

Oh another thing. I hate it when they just won't let you play. I don't care about your cutscenes, I don't care about your story, and honestly, I want to figure out how to play (thats half the fun) so you can shove your tutorial level. Nothing will turn me off of a game faster than a poor introduction, it should be the most interesting part of a game.

 

[Mallrat83]

How about I just focus on a controller? To be more specific, the Dual Shock 2. Why oh why does Sony insist on placing the two analogue joysticks parallel to each other on the controller? That's such an awkward setup. If they would only switch the places of the control pad and left analog stick, It'd be a fantastic controller.

 

[dark10x]

Oh another thing. I hate it when they just won't let you play. I don't care about your cutscenes, I don't care about your story, and honestly, I want to figure out how to play (thats half the fun) so you can shove your tutorial level. Nothing will turn me off of a game faster than a poor introduction, it should be the most interesting part of a game.

I partially agree. Tutorial levels drive me insane and need to be removed from games or become completely optional. The exceptions to this are few and far between, but the two Halo games handle it in a way that I can enjoy. When I started Halo 2, I KNEW how to play Halo...but it was presented in a way that fairly enjoyable and fit into the game. Going to some stand alone training arena with some dude barking orders from a window above you has become very tiresome.

On the otherhand, GOOD cutscenes are much appreciated by myself. If a game is to be cinematic, they should let the player know right away while kicking everything off with a bang. I get the feeling you don't care for MGS like scenes, though, and that is something I really enjoy in some games. If you just want to skip all of those scenes in a game like that, I'd say you have no business playing the game.

Bad level/world design is the thing that gets to me the most aside from poor controls. It's hard to become immersed in the world of a game when the developers clearly didn't create an inspired locale for you to play in. Castlevania: Lament of Innocence is a notable offender.

Oh yes, that is a HUGE piece right there. An inspired, large world can add so much to a game. One of the reasons Skies of Arcadia became an RPG favorite of mine is the fantastic world they built. I want to feel a sense of wonder as I move through the world.

What draws me to a game immediately would be a beautiful and interesting world combined with a remarkable soundtrack.

 

[Fatghost]

I really hate having to unlock shit in a game.

 

[Reilly]

greatest hits labels

It's like our minds are linked...

 

[akascream]

I partially agree. Tutorial levels drive me insane and need to be removed from games or become completely optional. The exceptions to this are few and far between, but the two Halo games handle it in a way that I can enjoy. When I started Halo 2, I KNEW how to play Halo...but it was presented in a way that fairly enjoyable and fit into the game. Going to some stand alone training arena with some dude barking orders from a window above you has become very tiresome.

Halo 1/2 were fine in this regard.

On the otherhand, GOOD cutscenes are much appreciated by myself. If a game is to be cinematic, they should let the player know right away while kicking everything off with a bang. I get the feeling you don't care for MGS like scenes, though, and that is something I really enjoy in some games. If you just want to skip all of those scenes in a game like that, I'd say you have no business playing the game.

Well, that is probably why I typically don't enjoy MGS games. And I don't necessarily have a problem with cutscenes (so long as they aren't over the top), as much as I hate anything that is a deterant from gameplay when I first put the disk in. Even Mario Sunshine was annoying to me, and that beginning cutscene doesn't last long at all.

Hell, even that text dialog with the camera cloud in Mario64 is annoying heh.

 

[dark10x]

Even Mario Sunshine was annoying to me, and that beginning cutscene doesn't last long at all.

It isn't so much about length as it is quality. The intro to MS was just boring and I agree that it got in the way. Plenty of other games have this issue as well. The worst being those that give you some random bullshit intro video-clip composed of poorly directed, captured in-game visuals stored with really poor compression. Those never interest me and general present me from getting excited for the upcoming game.

 

[Guy LeDouche]

I get turned off of a game by overly obsessive internet posters. Katamari, Beyond Good & Evil, Psychonauts, etc.

 

[akascream]

I get turned off of a game by overly obsessive internet posters. Katamari, Beyond Good & Evil, Psychonauts, etc.

Haha, gaf has done that to me before. I never touched KOHAN, but I still want to vomit whenever I think about that game.

 

[dark10x]

I get turned off of a game by overly obsessive internet posters. Katamari, Beyond Good & Evil, Psychonauts, etc.

That's one of the stupidest things I've seen here...

If you really avoid playing great games simply due to the amount of attention they've received, you know you are in way too deep here on the GAF...

 

[Guy LeDouche]

That's one of the stupidest things I've seen here...

If you really avoid playing great games simply due to the amount of attention they've received, you know you are in way too deep here on the GAF...

It's not that I purposely avoid them, its just GAF, for example, just seems to go totally nuts for X game for a couple weeks before and a couple weeks after launch. For a month, its constant "OMG PSYCHONAUTS WHY ARE YOU NOT BUYING PSYCHONAUTS TIM SHAFFER PSYCHONAUTS I CAN DIE NOW THAT I HAVE PLAYED PSYCHONAUTS BUY PSYCHONAUTS HAVE YOU BOUGHT PSYCHONAUTS YET I BOUGHT 8 COPIES 2 FROM EACH REGION AND 2 TO KEEP FOREVER SEALED BECAUSE ITS PSYCHONAUTS I ALSO BOUGHT 3 COPIES OF THE SOUNDTRACK FROM EBAY ONE WAS IN JAPANESE SO THAT MEANS I'M BETTER THAN YOU WHY HAVE YOU NAUT BAUT PSYCHONAUTS????"

Its really annoying. I tried PSYCHONAUTS when my friend got it and it was fun, but my socks were never rocked. Katamari was fun and had fantastic music and graphics (especially with some herb), but horribly repetitive until it ended after 7 hours. I bought BG&E for $10 during one of the CC deals. I played it for 5 minutes until that fucking french pig with the "YADE! COME OVER HERE, YADE! YADE YADE YADE" annoyed the shit out of me, so I put it back in the box and never played it again.

There are sooooo many great games out that I feel its no big deal if I "miss out" on some weird-ass niche game that is the current fanboy flavor-of-the-month.

 

[Gek54]

Framerate
Control
Physics
No TFF(for racing games)
Structure

 

[ronito]

Trial and error gameplay : Splinter Cell is very much hated.
Random Encounters in RPGs: I've seriously gotten to a point that if an RPG has random encounters it has to be freaking fantastic for me to even touch it.
Games that are naughty just to be naughty: GTA, The Bully, Manhunt I'm looking at you.

 

[Gorgie]

I can't stand generic licensed ripoffs, like that Digimon Smash Bros ripoff. More to the point, I'm not enjoying games that have low ambitions. Take Tony Hawk, where 2 was great, 3 more goodness, and then, the series just hit autopilot. And while the controls are good, physics are ridiculous, and voice acting is some of the worst I've ever heard.

 

[FirstInHell]

Dual screens.
Touch Screens.

How original!

I am going with the anime looking characters on the boxart. Huge "STAY AWAY" sign for me.

 

[sasimirobot]

Let me guess, your another one of those people who saw a few bad screenshots and automatically labeled the style as crap. Psychonauts looks NOTHING like Oddworld. Not to mention the fact that every level in the game has its own unique style.

I HAVE the game and play it all the time. Im not saying it is a BAD game, but luckily I respect the views of the GA forums enough to not turn off the game after the first level because of how crappy it looked (go back and play the first missions inside the military dudes mind and see how dark murky/crappy it looks, even though the later levels improve alot).

I am now at the inside the fish level and had a great time, but this game was this <--->
close to being thrown on my "played for 20 minutes" stack just because of the look.

 

[dark10x]

I played it for 5 minutes until that fucking french pig with the "YADE! COME OVER HERE, YADE! YADE YADE YADE" annoyed the shit out of me, so I put it back in the box and never played it again.

Now THAT'S a shame...

Pey'j is one of the best characters to grace a videogame in the last 5 years. Not only did you not give him a chance at all, you even got him confused with the annoying (and barely present) Segundo (the PDA guy). Pey'j, the pig, sounds nothing like you are suggesting. I can't believe you'd just shut it off after 5 minutes...

 

[Sinatar]

Time limits
Stealth segments in non stealth games

Oh right and don't want to forget T I M E L I M I T S!!!!!!

 

[shpankey]

Only having Inverted camera or controls tops my list (I'm lookin at you Japanese games) and is an absolute deal breaker.

No 480p will usually get me to not look it's way, but can be overcame, maybe, just barely, if it's super duper good. Hell, I'm lying... I aint playing it if it's not in 480p cause it looks like shit on my TV>

Other annoyances (not not necessarily deal breakers like Inverted controls or camera)...

Time limits
Lack of saves.
Shitty sound effects and or music (mostly with racing games ala the shit sound in GT4).
Load times (PS2 cough)
Studdery framerate.
Poor graphics.

 

[Ironclad]

Bad dialogue
Poor controls
Bad camera
Drawn-out overly long cutscenes, especially when they're not necessary.

 

[dark10x]

No 480p will usually get me to not look it's way, but can be overcame, maybe, just barely, if it's super duper good. Hell, I'm lying... I aint playing it if it's not in 480p cause it looks like shit on my TV

I used to feel that same way with my first HDTV, but the Sony I own now does an incredible job with scaling. There are times when 480i games look better than certain 480p games. Shockingly great job. Oddly enough, the games that benefit the most are those that use field rendering on PS2. They are very crisp and clean now...

 

[MC Safety]

Nothing automatically ruins a game for me, but I genuinely dislike escort missions such as the ones in Silent Hill 4 and State of Emergency. If I have to shepherd someone from A to B, please make sure the person under my care is not dumb enough to run directly into gunfire or decide that hey! since she has a purse she might as well take on five zombies at once.