Biggest bullshit in a video game

[The Last Stand]

Treyarch fixed some of the insanity in Black Ops 1 but the hardest level is the tunnel sequence and one other part of a level as well iirc.

Oh, I remember that tunnel sequence. There was two I recall. One in Vietnam, another in a rocket corridor. CoD loves those long, winding hallways. Not as much grenade spam.

I have heard COD4 is worse but COD MW2 Veteran mode was a breeze compared to WaW.

MW2, arguably, is the easiest CoD to beat on Veteran. Enemies don't infinitely spawn, checkpoints are plentiful, grenades aren't rampant. The hardest levels would have to be in Brazil and the sub base.

 

[I got rabies]

Not allowing players to remap buttons to whatever the fuck they want should be a crime. It's Current Year, software doesn't have to be hardwired to hardware like that. Doing so is a choice.

Well it's not exactly "current year" because it came out in 2004, but there were still games at the time that allowed remapping buttons. I am playing on emulator so I can actually remap the button to the unused L2/L3 and at least prevent the muscle memory issue, but this doesn't change the fact that 1) they removed a quick button for checking your map when it was really useful, and 2) emulation was not intended, I can solve the problem myself but the devs still did it and expected everyone to play that way.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Drakengard 3 and its true ending very definitely final boss you get on the 3rd (I think?) playthrough is actually just trying to fuck with you.

Its a hack n slash game, but the final challenge is... the most absurd bullshit rhythym game ever devised. Basically these rings travel out from these moving statue bitches with sound queues and you have to hit those a few seconds later when they reach you. The camera is panning all over the fucking place to really throw you off and at certain points the rings are completely offscreen just to fuck with you some more. There is zero margin for error, you need to hit every ring. As a final fuck you, the screen fades out, leading you to think youre totally done for several seconds, then sounds off a final ring to hit totally blind.

In this case it's at least semi-justifiable in continuing what happened in Drakengard 1, but it belongs to a general bullshit in games which is:
Don't make gameplay changes that require you to be proficent in music. Like the aftermentioned rhytm game which is seemingly geared for people who know how to play music.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

In Onimusha 1 and 2, the R3 button open your map. L2 and L3 buttons do nothing.

In Onimusha 3 if you want to read your map, you need to open your menu, scroll down to map, then select the map you want. We know you want to see the one you're currently in, but you still need to select it. If you don't have it, we won't even show you the room you're currently in (as opposed to the previous games).

Also now R3 is used for transforming. Not only is this stupid because L2 and L3 still do jackshit and could have been used instead, but it's fucking retarded because muscle memory is going to make you waste your transformation when you want to open your map. Seriously how do you mess this up for fuck sake?

My goto thought was that they were mapping keys around the original Xbox controller that didn't have shoulder buttons(only triggers), but my memory was incorrect and the games weren't actually multiplat so it really is fucking strange.

 

[moocow]

Fun fact: Archive.org is exempt from DMCA takedowns. Nintendo can nuke as many rom sites as they want, but they'll always be available there.

Sure, until some shithead like Chuck Wendig works out how to threaten them into taking it all down.

I mentioned this in the what are you playing thread but it was just so god awful i had to bring it up here; I'm trying out the avenger's game FREE thanks to gamepass, and almost as soon i started the game there was this "arachnophobia sensitivity warning on the startup screen, how sad is it that I couldn't tell if a "sensitivity warning" on the startup screen is meant to be a joke or if the devs at square were serious about it? Like they legit think people playing video games are so overly sensitive they have to be given "trigger warnings" as if this was fucking twitter? (or berkley college)

Satisfactory (fantastic game btw, highly recommended) has a dedicated Arachnophobia mode. There is significant debate among the community as to whether it's actually helpful or just more terrifying:

That's not doctored footage. The game really does this if you tell it you're afraid of spiders. Helpful or not, it's fucking hilarious.

 

[Korpon]

World at War on Veteran difficulty. Apparently, the Japanese and Nazis have heat seeking vision and infinite grenades.

Don't even get me started on Heart of the Reich.

Big open area, limited cover, swarm of enemies, scarce checkpoints, and the grenades...

Who programmed that difficulty?

Where boys became men. I have to give Treyarch credit, that level on Veteran really did feel like you were in WW2, constantly anxious and shit scared, desperately fighting against the enemy. As awful as it was, once you get into the Reichstag it isn't so bad and you feel satisfied as fuck moving onto the last American/Japanese level (which wasn't so bad either since you get to Kobe mortar shells at the nips and just have to hold out in the final part then you're done).

 

[Sincere Sinner]

So, the E ending from the first Drakengard, only worse?
Sounds about right.

Yes. Its an order of magnitude more difficult than the Drakengard 1 version. A few things I forgot to mention.

-The entire sequence is about six minutes long and must be perfect, so failures can be very punishing.
-The final blind note takes significantly longer than the delay between hitting any other note, basically guaranteeing a first time failure even if you kept with the tempo established previously.
-The final note takes place during two lines of dialogue, which is very distracting.
-The sound queue of the rings being fired is such that in the penultimate section two rings being fired off back to back sounds VERY similar to a single one.

 

[Urbanmech]

Sure, until some shithead like Chuck Wendig works out how to threaten them into taking it all down.


Satisfactory (fantastic game btw, highly recommended) has a dedicated Arachnophobia mode. There is significant debate among the community as to whether it's actually helpful or just more terrifying:

That's not doctored footage. The game really does this if you tell it you're afraid of spiders. Helpful or not, it's fucking hilarious.

I think its helpful those spider things are hard to spot in the caves and that mode makes it easier to hear and spot them.

 

[Gar For Archer]

Playing through Dark Souls for the first time and encountered the most fucking frustrating interaction:

The lock-on key and the camera reset key are permanently bound together. Fucking why?

These are not the same function. They are not even vaguely related functions. In fact, when I’m trying to lock onto something behind me while running away, that is precisely when I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT WANT the camera to do a sudden 180. There is literally another stick button that isn’t bound to anything and could easily be used as a camera reset! Why the fuck isn’t it given it’s own goddamn keybind?

 

[Overcast]

Drakengard 3 and its true ending very definitely final boss you get on the 3rd (I think?) playthrough is actually just trying to fuck with you.

Its a hack n slash game, but the final challenge is... the most absurd bullshit rhythym game ever devised. Basically these rings travel out from these moving statue bitches with sound queues and you have to hit those a few seconds later when they reach you. The camera is panning all over the fucking place to really throw you off and at certain points the rings are completely offscreen just to fuck with you some more. There is zero margin for error, you need to hit every ring. As a final fuck you, the screen fades out, leading you to think youre totally done for several seconds, then sounds off a final ring to hit totally blind.

That boss fight will always hold a special place in my heart for catching me off guard, my friend laughing his ass off over my reaction to it and for how absolutely beautiful the music is. It's impossible for me to hate it.

Here's to you Yoko Taro, you fucking troll.

 

[Book Thief]

Playing through Dark Souls for the first time and encountered the most fucking frustrating interaction:

The lock-on key and the camera reset key are permanently bound together. Fucking why?

These are not the same function. They are not even vaguely related functions. In fact, when I’m trying to lock onto something behind me while running away, that is precisely when I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT WANT the camera to do a sudden 180. There is literally another stick button that isn’t bound to anything and could easily be used as a camera reset! Why the fuck isn’t it given it’s own goddamn keybind?

If I were to guess as to why: blame Ocarina of Time, because "lock-on" and "face camera forward" are the same buttons there as well. The difference there, of course, is that in Ocarina of Time you had a visual cue telling you were within lock-on range (i.e. Navi floating towards the enemy in question). I can't recall Dark Souls doing the same.

Frankly, that's not the only thing that's shitty about Dark Souls' interface. I recently watch a TIHYDP of Phil playing through the first game for the first time, and it reminded me of just how garbage the UI for that game was. It's a confusing labyrinth of menus and status screens that explains nothing about how to navigate them. Just trying to equip an item can be confusing for a newcomer. Throw on the fact that the start menu is tucked away in the corner while the game is still unpaused and your player can still be controlled with the analog sticks, but not the face buttons or triggers, and you can very easily run into dangerous situations without being able to react to them.

 

[byuu]

Limited saves in the original AvP FPS. The game gives you zero hints on when a good time to use a save is, the levels vary wildly in length, and there's plenty of insta-death. I'd rather have save points.

 

[The Last Stand]

The fact that Battlefield 2042 released in its current state with EA/DICE blaming everybody but themselves for the negative reception. AND charging $70 for a multiplayer only title with no voice chat or scoreboard.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Here's a doozy from Elden Ring: armor in shops will not indicate the stat changes compared to what you are wearing. I don't know why.

 

[moocow]

Here's a doozy from Elden Ring: armor in shops will not indicate the stat changes compared to what you are wearing. I don't know why.

Must be part of that "le epic difficulty" people celebrate the series for.

 

[BrunoMattei]

Limited saves in the original AvP FPS. The game gives you zero hints on when a good time to use a save is, the levels vary wildly in length, and there's plenty of insta-death. I'd rather have save points.

It was worse in the original release where you were limited to one save.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Since I bitched around enough on the Elden Ring thread, here is a classic bullshit on a console controller - Mapping the use key to other bullshit that you DON'T want happening, like having double pressing triangle making gestures, which is especially fun when you mash the button next to a bonfire while being chased by enemies.
Or having L1 + triangle make you switch to left hand (which is likely a shield). You regularly press L1 during combat to block, and triangle opens the shortcut menu. Suddenly at the heat of battle you two hand a shield.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

Sure, until some shithead like Chuck Wendig works out how to threaten them into taking it all down.


Satisfactory (fantastic game btw, highly recommended) has a dedicated Arachnophobia mode. There is significant debate among the community as to whether it's actually helpful or just more terrifying:

That's not doctored footage. The game really does this if you tell it you're afraid of spiders. Helpful or not, it's fucking hilarious.

LOL. That reminds me of the old 'no spiders' mod for System Shock 2. It basically shrinks them down to tiny size, turns them invisible, paralyzes them, sets their attack power to 0, sets their perception to 0, sets their HP to 0, then kills them.

In defense, the SS2 spiders were amazingly creepy.

 

[Slimy Time]

Here's a doozy from Elden Ring: armor in shops will not indicate the stat changes compared to what you are wearing. I don't know why.

Real kings don't wear armour.

For me, anything in Elden Ring that is a hitstun that you can't speed up your getup animation, but are still vulnerable to being hit. Particularly if you get knocked off your horse. What ends up being a minor error in spacing or timing ends up killing you because you are Ina vulnerable state where you can't do anything. This is different from something like the gravity bind spell the walking hands do to you, since that's the idea.

 

[moocow]

LOL. That reminds me of the old 'no spiders' mod for System Shock 2. It basically shrinks them down to tiny size, turns them invisible, paralyzes them, sets their attack power to 0, sets their perception to 0, sets their HP to 0, then kills them.

God damn that is some hardcore spider hate right there

Then again, there's no kill quite like overkill.