Things in RPGs that annoy you.

[ericv00]

"A 'hero' is 'born/destined' or 'chosen by light' to destroy a 'villain' trying to take over the world."

If done right I can roll with it. Most of the time it is eyerolling though. I want to be engrossed in a normal character's struggle and not have the "plot armor" that he/she will predictably succeed.

If the story is bad cliche, I find that the problem is usually that the character traits of the hero are not properly earned. The hero is just simply the best at everything they try to do, and all the good guys just happen to want to help, and all the bad guys just happen to be bad, and every convenience that has to fall into place for the hero to progress just does. Or a very one-dimensional 'flaw' is introduced and THAT isn't properly earned. Or the villain became a villain because of one singular experience that they took badly. Writing is king.

Realistic people are complex with a wavy moral landscape. A realistic hero is going to have to crack a few eggs to make that 'save-the-world' omelet. A realistic villain is going to be looking for their best life. They might have a disregard for the welfare of others, but they are also not going to want to create a situation where most of the world is looking to murder them in their sleep. I can know the hero is the hero and will overcome and be engaged because I don't know what the struggles will be and what moral choices the hero will have to make.

 

[Arctica]

In fact is there an RPG out there where the main character dies and a supporting character takes over?

Depends on whether you care if this happens at the beginning, midway or at the very end of the story.

Saga Frontier 2 does so in unique way because the "main" character dies, and so does the support character(well more like disappears) and the final support character ties everything up.

In the case of

Spoiler

Crisis Core

- that happens at the very end which sets in motion the events of

Spoiler

The original Final Fantasy 7

 

[Milennin]

Ah, I just remembered another thing that bothers me, and actually does so more than crafting systems do. Not being able to see the enemy's HP might be amongst my biggest annoyances in RPG's, and I'll never understand why developers would actively choose to hide it from the player, and why RPG Maker continues to refuse to offer a way to display it without the use of plugins. There are literally no pros to hiding the enemy HP from the player, and endless amounts of pros for displaying it. By hiding it, your game is objectively worse off for it, you cannot change my mind on this one.

 

[KenKrath]

Thank you Aerosys, Arctica, & ericv00 for your insights and the mention of those games. It looks like a new and better thread was created here. I'll continue the discussion over there because I feel like I'm getting away from what the OP was asking. (Apologies to the OP for that).

 

[Benny Jackdaw]

The cliché story aggravates me to no end.

"A 'hero' is 'born/destined' or 'chosen by light' to destroy a 'villain' trying to take over the world."

If done right I can roll with it. Most of the time it is eyerolling though. I want to be engrossed in a normal character's struggle and not have the "plot armor" that he/she will predictably succeed.

In fact is there an RPG out there where the main character dies and a supporting character takes over?

Bonus points if one of or THEE main antagonists is a dragon.

 

[Benny Jackdaw]

One thing I totally forgot about which seems to be a very common cliche in RPGs: Ice Puzzles. You stopped on an ice tile, and then you don't stop until you hit the wall and you have to step on the right squares in order to solve the puzzle. It's in just about every RPG I've played and they're tedious IMO.

 

[Arrowgantt]

Currently stuck in the Bevelle Cloister of Trials in Final Fantasy X HD. After two hours of trial and error I finally found the destruction sphere. I’m too tired to care where it goes or what’s behind whatever it blows up.

 

[Synrec]

> RNG Battles. I hate them. Badly. Really badly. It's to the point where I will cheat engine the game and max level the characters just to bypass all the rng battles/bosses quick enough and read the story and be done with it.

> Named references to mainstream or other games. Worse if the game illegally uses sprites in there.

> Clash of clans game mechanics.

> Infinite void worlds. Big map, nothing there.

> RNG Battles. The grass had NOTHING THERE am I in some matrix world where creatures crawl out the glitch to attack?

> Inifnite repeat tile worlds. Those just look terrible.

> Death metal concert volume music.

> Forced story. This is any story which has been just forced in there with no build up. An annoyance if the gameplay is good tbh.

> RNG Battles. These need to die.

 

[Skymin]

Teleporting puzzles like the Saffron Gym in the original R/B/Y & G/S/C games; this is particularly getting actually worse in more modern games due to increased loading times each time you fade in and out every 5 secs. Extra bad if the map/dungeon is huge.

Petrifying somehow is a slang term for death in too many RPGs for some reason. You'd think it would just be a worse form of paralysis (similar to being frozen), but nope, if your whole party gets stoned, game over.

Fleeing success rate is based on your level/speed compared to your enemy. I used to think having even a 50% success rate would be fine enough (still better than most retro games), but honestly, I'd rather just have it as 100% for normal encounters. If random encounters are in a game and someone wants to just flee from everything, then the scripted battles/ boss will remind them why you shouldn't do that. Likewise, mimics will deter people from just dodging all encounters expecting to grab all the loot scout-free.

I'm fine with random encounters with retro games as long as it's reasonable (PSP/ 3DS era RPG games for example), but please no random encounters for 3D games as it looks really awkward (Tales of Hearts R.)

 

[gstv87]

the globetrotting quest.
take item, go across the map to another NPC, talk to them, they send you across the other way back to the NPC right next to the first NPC that gave you the quest, then make all the way back in reverse, back to the first guy.

 

[Seacliff]

I can't help but think if a game featured every "Quality of Life" feature JRPG players claim they want, it would be a boring slog.

If I could save anywhere, and get to safety from anywhere, then there's no sense of danger or uncertainty. There is virtually no difference between a dungeon and the areas between them. Boss Battles can be absolute sponges or cakewalks when designed for a party to face them at peak condition. Encounters become repetitive and basic if status effects and other modifier don't come into play.

I personally never found touch encounters to be a satisfying replacement to random encounters. Don't get me wrong, I hate random encounters as much as the next guy, but there have been games that greatly reduced the frustration they bring. Something as simple as an encounter gauge that gives the player an idea how many more steps it takes until the next battle still keeps the intent of traditional combat intact while greatly reducing the 'random' value everyone hates about them.



But to contribute to the thread more directly, the thing that annoys me the most in JRPGs is when it's clear the person writing it consumed little media outside of other JRPGs and Anime/Manga. The issue isn't clichés, it's how they are executed and portrayed. Tropes aren't used to contribute to a theme, they are used because that's what recent shonen used just to progress the plot.

It pays to broaden your horizons. Most critically acclaimed JRPGs take from a lot more than just anime. FF7 was inspired by several western movies from Metropolis to Jaws. Panzer Dragoon Saga's cutscene direction was heavily inspired by theater plays. Nier Automata links many of it's boss battles to various philosophers. Broadening the media you consume also broadens your writing toolbox.

 

[Iron_Brew]

This is probably incredibly niche, but the thing I hate most in RPGs is the inclusion of a minimap. I don't want to learn the layout of where the developer has said I can/should go, I want to explore the game and let my imagination run wild with what exists in this world. I always find my eyes flashing up to, or worse gravitating towards the minimap, so if there's an option I always turn it off. If there isn't an option, that's my immersion gone immediately.

 

[HexMozart88]

It's usually a waste in most games. I was told to include a minimap in AD and I'm just like, um, no. That completely defeats the purpose of the game.

 

[Nereid]

So far all I have is a basic map on someone's wall with a "here is where we are"... but eh, it can be useful, e.g. in FFX.

 

[The Stranger]

Weren't most of the areas extremely linear in FFX? I remember only a handful of places that sorta justified the use of a minimap. FF13 was just corridor after corridor, but for whatever reason had a minimap as well. xD

 

[Seacliff]

This is probably incredibly niche, but the thing I hate most in RPGs is the inclusion of a minimap. I don't want to learn the layout of where the developer has said I can/should go, I want to explore the game and let my imagination run wild with what exists in this world. I always find my eyes flashing up to, or worse gravitating towards the minimap, so if there's an option I always turn it off. If there isn't an option, that's my immersion gone immediately.

I've found Minimaps to be extremely useful in 3D Action RPGs with no battle sequences. In games like Kingdom Hearts 3, the Trails of Mana Remake, or Xenoblade 2, there are instances where I get disoriented in combat and the location I'm in is too bland or generic to know which way I came from. Obviously the problem really stems from level design, but it does it's job as a band-aid to overcome that problem.

For games where battles take in separate sequences, it's defiantly not needed. It's downright redundant and a waste of space in a 2D game.

 

[gabrieldiastche]

Things without "logic" like the Zodiac Spear in Final Fantasy XII when you don't have to get some chests to get the spear. THIS DOESN'T MAKE IT SENSE AT ALL and I hate this kind of thing!

 

[VegaKotes]

If there's anything that can get my blood boiling it's a "But Thou Must."
I don't actually care if my decision doesn't really affect the story. If I can go left or right and wind up in the middle either way fine, cool. At least I got to make a decision...

But when your freaking bubblegum princess character goes "Will you save us brave hero?"
>Yes
>No
and I hit no and she responds with:
"Oh Tee Hee Vega. Silly hero. What a fun joke. Will you save us?"
>Yes
>No

....like at that point don't make it a choice Just have my character say yes.
Now if on the other hand I hit no she leaves and then because of circumstances I'm forced to help her and she acknowledges I'm a bit of an ******* then awesome! Maybe I don't get a branching story but I got to roleplay and it got acknowledged by the game. That's fun. I like that.

 

[Frostorm]

@VegaKotes That reminds me of Suikoden lol. There were definitely a couple of those false narrative choices in there.

 

[VegaKotes]

@VegaKotes That reminds me of Suikoden lol. There were definitely a couple of those false narrative choices in there.

I think a lot of old JRPGs were real bad about this. Although I do have fond memories of Custom Robo for the gamecube that had a But Thou Must that if you hit no enough times (something like 30) with various dialogues through each Yes No you'd eventually get a nonstandard gameover and one of the characters would 4th wall yell at you for not coming along.