10 Things Video Games Really Need To Stop Doing
AHEM Inflating world's for artificial added length...Even so why are the coolest moves and boss kills ALWAYS in cutscenes??
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00:00While video games have evolved mechanically and visually in a ton of wonderful ways,
00:04they're capable of being as flawed as any medium.
00:07For every revolutionary feature we can't believe nobody thought of earlier,
00:11and genre blend that changes the definition of what games can be,
00:15there are those little painful things we just kinda wish games would stop doing.
00:19We're gonna be getting very granular here,
00:22but as much as we celebrate the vast majority of our favourite games
00:25for everything they got right,
00:26this is our little safe space to point the finger
00:29at some video game cliches and pitfalls that kinda suck.
00:33I'm Jess from WhatCulture and here are 10 things video games really need to stop doing.
00:38Number 10. Not letting you play the bit that looks really fun to play.
00:43Now we don't like to establish too many must-haves for all video games,
00:46as they're all fascinating and unique creatures in their own right.
00:50That said, if a game is gonna have a character do something incredibly cool,
00:54you better bloody let us do it,
00:55and not just sit back limply holding the controller,
00:58thinking about how awesome it would have been to actually play that bit.
01:01The largest offender in this particular category
01:04are games that don't let you land the final blow on that big boss
01:08that you've been sweating it out battling for the last hour or so.
01:12Instead, they let you get all the way to the end,
01:14and then quietly let you know you can take a back seat
01:17while they enter into a cutscene
01:18where your character does something super cool,
01:20finishing off the encounter with an epic blow
01:23that you didn't even get to initiate.
01:25It's the equivalent of the video game taking credit for all your hard work
01:28while you sit back and go,
01:30okay, yay me.
01:32We're simply no longer having it.
01:34Number nine. Invisible walls.
01:37This is one of the features on this list
01:38that's gonna come off as an unfortunate reality
01:41for any devs trying to make open world games,
01:44but that doesn't stop it from being immersion breaking and frustrating.
01:48There's nothing quite so unfitting with your sprawling gorgeous fantasy world
01:52than bumping up against an invisible wall.
01:55While to be fair, this one isn't so prevalent in games these days,
01:58it hasn't entirely gone away.
02:00This goes double for games that show you something exciting off in the distance,
02:04but it turns out you can't actually get there
02:06and it doesn't exist in the game.
02:08Morrowind was game changing for being set on an island
02:11and letting you swim off indefinitely in any direction
02:14by spawning repeating water tiles,
02:16if for some reason you wanted to do that.
02:18Meanwhile, playing an exploration epic like Fallout 3
02:21and hitting a certain point
02:23and then being told we cannot proceed any further for reasons,
02:26it was a little frustrating.
02:29Number eight. Doors that aren't actually doors.
02:32Last time I did a list in the same vein as this one,
02:35I said that if I was a politician,
02:37I'd run on the platform that crap ladders,
02:39which your character can't grip onto properly in video games,
02:42need to end.
02:43For this list, I'll add let doors be doors
02:46and not just scenery that doesn't go anywhere.
02:49It's pretty standard to accept that a door
02:50is a fairly interesting thing in a video game.
02:53Usually home to a quest chest or mysterious interior,
02:56there's always something to entice us.
02:59Except for when a door is not a door,
03:01it's just a fancy piece of wall.
03:03Wandering all the way over to a curious looking door
03:06just to find it's not interactable
03:08makes us second guess all doors.
03:10While it often requires a Herculean effort
03:12from a hundred strong developer team
03:14to ensure every door of every domicile
03:17is part of the level design and actually goes somewhere,
03:20it does make a difference to the gameplay experience.
03:23It's tricky to find an RPG or open world game
03:26that doesn't have at least a few doors
03:28that are just there for aesthetics,
03:30but when you can, you'll really notice it.
03:32Number seven, mandatory long tutorial sections.
03:36I'm not here to gatekeep
03:37and I know some people who pick up a video game
03:40might be doing it for the first time
03:42and do need to be versed on the basics,
03:44but I think it's about time that tutorials,
03:46which make us press W to move forward,
03:48at least become optional.
03:50Spending full minutes learning how to walk and pull out a gun
03:53when the buttons are the same in almost every video game
03:56could at least be streamlined
03:58to allow for the majority of gamers
03:59who just want to get cracking.
04:01There's nothing terribly wrong
04:03with these mind numbingly detailed tutorials,
04:05so long as it lets the rest of us skip through them
04:07without missing anything important.
04:10While games like Black and White 2,
04:11Nier Automata,
04:12Pokemon Sun and Moon,
04:14and more recently Deathloop
04:15have infamously painful tutorials,
04:18at least the latter lets you turn off tutorial messages
04:21if you dig into the menu settings.
04:23Bless Far Cry Blood Dragon
04:24for including its tutorial
04:26called Military Program for Idiots,
04:28which includes gems like
04:30press X to demonstrate your ability to read.
04:33Of course, not every game can turn its tutorial into a joke,
04:36so for that,
04:37we'll tip our hats to games like Half-Life and Deus Ex
04:40that house their tutorials
04:41in training ground areas or menus,
04:43where you can get caught up in the basics
04:45if you need them,
04:46but they exist separately from the main game.
04:48All of that being said,
04:50if it's not the tutorial to driver,
04:52at least we know it can always get worse.
04:55Number six,
04:56characters in cutscenes
04:57having different skill sets than in gameplay.
05:00This one sort of exists in counter to our earlier entry
05:03about not getting to actually play
05:04the cool bits in cutscenes,
05:06but they revolve around the same issue,
05:08which is,
05:09sometimes the character we're playing
05:10doesn't match up with the character in cutscenes,
05:13whether it's their personality,
05:14equipment,
05:15or skill set,
05:16there are a few occasions
05:17where the ludonarrative dissonance
05:18hits a little too hard.
05:20If you're not familiar with that one,
05:21it's basically when the story and gameplay mechanics
05:24don't line up with each other.
05:26For instance,
05:27Red Dead Redemption 2,
05:28fantastic as it is,
05:30falls into this trap,
05:31as the whole story revolves around the Vandalin gang
05:34repeatedly putting themselves in harm's way
05:36to scrounge together enough money
05:38to hightail it off to Tahiti,
05:40which is fine,
05:41except if you've been busy off earning money as Arthur,
05:44you've got plenty of cash to throw everybody's way
05:46and solve any problem that comes up,
05:48but the game needs to ignore that
05:50so the story makes sense.
05:51Other prime examples of characters
05:54acting curiously differently in cutscenes
05:56include Cloud getting cornered by Shinra soldiers
05:59in Final Fantasy VII,
06:00even though he's blasted through the dudes
06:02without breaking a sweat for the last hour,
06:04and infamously hated Mass Effect 3 baddie Kai Leng
06:07donning unparalleled plot armor,
06:09despite Shepard taking down entire Reapers by this point.
06:13Then there's watching your level-capped beastly hero
06:15get sucker punched
06:16just so it can initiate the villain's last stand.
06:20Number five,
06:21binary morality system.
06:23Morality systems are exciting in role-playing games
06:26because they let you choose
06:27how you want to engage with the NPCs around you
06:29and the narrative as a whole.
06:31While that's all well and good,
06:32there's a difference between creating
06:34a choice-based morality system that's nuanced
06:37and one that's incredibly binary.
06:39Usually, it's the latter.
06:41Take Nights of the Old Republic,
06:42where you're either the ultimate light side saviour
06:45and boy scout,
06:46giving all your money away to the poor
06:47and saving the universe,
06:49or you're a murdery, pure evil Sith Lord
06:51right up there with a cartoon villain.
06:53A lot of these games boil down to
06:55being everybody's errand boy
06:57or killing anybody that looks at you sideways,
06:59and then they slap a morality system label on it
07:02and call it a day.
07:04Sure, it's still nice to have a choice,
07:05but if it's like Mass Effect,
07:06where you're either sucking up to everybody
07:08or smashing that renegade action
07:10to punch NPCs in the face,
07:12it's a little basic.
07:13These morality systems often mean
07:15it boils down to being way too nice to everyone
07:18or way too mean,
07:19because games like KOTOR punish you
07:21for not devoting yourself fully
07:22to the light side or dark side lifestyle.
07:26Number four,
07:273D platformers not indicating where you'll land.
07:30This is an entry that doesn't need
07:32a lot of explanation.
07:33While things are getting better,
07:34especially in the case of studios
07:36who've been around the block
07:37when it comes to creating
07:38stellar platforming experiences,
07:40there are still platformers
07:41that are nigh on unplayable
07:43because you just can't be precisely sure
07:46about where it is your little guy's gonna land.
07:49This is one of those things
07:50that makes it pretty hard
07:51to go back and play older platformers,
07:53and in 2022, if it's a new game,
07:56it's pretty completely unforgivable.
07:58Sonic Unleashed is a great example
08:00of a game that fumbles with this mechanic,
08:02as in its night stages,
08:03the werehog doesn't have a shadow on the ground,
08:06making the platforming wildly frustrating.
08:09As game engines have evolved,
08:10this has become way less of a problem,
08:12but enough of us were burned
08:14by early 3D platformers
08:16that I think we can safely say
08:17we never want to see video games
08:19doing this ever again.
08:22Number three,
08:22scripted fail states.
08:24There's something that feels
08:25particularly unfair about
08:27pulling off a tricky boss encounter
08:29or a series of quick time events
08:30only to arrive at a scripted fail state.
08:33So tumbling down a waterfall in Tomb Raider,
08:36the remake at one moment is an insta death,
08:38but if you do it four quick time events
08:40later when you're supposed to,
08:42voila, you're at the next chapter.
08:44Heavy Rain, Until Dawn and Uncharted
08:46are also classic offenders
08:48of this particular frustration,
08:50where you're left wondering
08:51why you bothered to avoid
08:52certain peril dozens of times
08:54only to fall victim to scripted peril
08:56mere moments later.
08:58Outside of quick time
08:59and platforming heavy sequences,
09:01the same thing can happen in boss fights
09:03that you aren't ever supposed to win.
09:05When you're absolutely trouncing a boss
09:07and the game interjects with a cutscene
09:09showing that you lost,
09:10it feels pretty unfair.
09:12A perfect example of this
09:14is the sci-fi butthead
09:15we've already mentioned
09:16once on this list,
09:17Mass Effect's Kai Leng.
09:19It doesn't matter how easily you beat him up,
09:21the following cutscene has you lose
09:23because of reasons.
09:26Number two,
09:26respawning you without all the stuff
09:28you just used in the last attempt.
09:31If you're failing at a game,
09:32usually you'd expect more handholding,
09:34not less.
09:36Not so for games that will let you
09:38fail at an attempt once
09:39and then keep all the resources
09:40that you used in that attempt.
09:43Destiny 2 is a great example of games
09:45that screw you over in this particular regard.
09:47Die during a boss fight
09:49and sure, you'll respawn,
09:50but you'll do so without the ammo
09:52you used in the last fight.
09:54If you're thinking somebody
09:55who couldn't pull it off the first time
09:56is probably not going to be able
09:58to do it with even less resources
10:00at their disposal,
10:01you'd be right.
10:03If the boss is going to come back
10:04swinging at full health,
10:05it feels like the least a game can do
10:07is let you have another shot at it
10:08with the arsenal you came in with
10:10at the start.
10:11On top of this,
10:11punishments for dying in general
10:13are pretty crappy.
10:14Whether it's dead islands
10:15sapping 10% of your money
10:17or Borderlands 2
10:18slowly sapping your ammo and money.
10:20While some people are gluttons
10:22for punishment with this kind of mechanic,
10:24plenty more of us
10:25could happily do without it.
10:27Number one,
10:28my superhuman protagonist
10:29can't do stuff I can do.
10:31I'm putting this one at number one
10:33not because it's the most irritating thing
10:35video games do
10:36or because it spoils video games
10:38that include it,
10:38but because it's my favourite tiny annoyance,
10:41it's pretty entertaining
10:42and it comes up a lot.
10:44Of course,
10:44video games have to put limits
10:46on what our protagonists can do.
10:47Otherwise,
10:48we just breeze our way through games.
10:50But when our incredible
10:51Witcher mutant hero
10:53or souls hero
10:54can't step over a three-foot fence,
10:56it's a little hard not to notice.
10:59It's instances like this
11:00that make games like Breath of the Wild
11:01and Assassin's Creed Odyssey
11:03stand out as refreshingly different,
11:05as everything is sensibly surmountable.
11:07Commander Shepard
11:08and Geralt's inability
11:09to step over rubble
11:10or climb ledges,
11:11or in Geralt's case,
11:12get himself out of water
11:14and onto a shore without a ladder
11:16or a very generous ramp to help him
11:18is pretty annoying.
11:19Add to that
11:20things like Minecraft Steve's
11:21inability to climb two blocks
11:23without a ladder,
11:24The Last of Us' packed stairwells
11:25blocking whole floors,
11:27and instances in games
11:28like Silent Hill or Resident Evil
11:30where a glass window
11:31or wooden door blocks your path,
11:33even though your backpack
11:34is chock full of firepower
11:36that could take care of it.
11:37I don't expect video game characters
11:39to be able to do everything,
11:41but if it's something
11:41an unfit gamer like me could do,
11:44it might be something
11:44we should revisit.
11:46That's the end of our list,
11:47but as always,
11:48do let me know what you think
11:50down in that comment section,
11:51and if you can think of any things
11:52that you'd really like video games
11:54to stop doing.
11:56As always,
11:56I've been Jess from WhatCulture.
11:58Thank you so much
11:58for hanging out with me.
12:00If you like,
12:00you can come say hi to me
12:01on my Twitter account,
12:02where I'm at JessMcDonald,
12:04but make sure you stay tuned to us here
12:06for plenty more gaming goodness.