Most pointlessly frustrating gaming moments

[Jobobonobo]

I would nominate those bloody barrels from the Last Guardian. Whenever there is a section when I have to grab a barrel and throw it from one side of a ledge to another, I audibly groan. The camera usually freaks out when you try to look at where you want to throw the barrel and even when the camera is stable you cannot have complete control of where to aim your throw. It seems that if you do not throw the barrel at the exact location the game wants you to throw it, the barrel bumps off the ledge and falls to the ground. It does not matter how close or far you are if the game does not want the barrel to be there, then it will damn well make sure you throw it in its designated place only. Naturally what that place is, the game will not tell you so you could send minutes futilely throwing this stupid barrel to different ledges to see where it lands and then you can continue on your merry way. I am currently at another section with horrible barrels and I actually do not want to play the game at all when they come up. Who in the hell thought these sections were (a) fun and (b) playable in the state they are in? This game has been in development for nearly a decade, couldn't they at least have added a bit more polish to some of the weaker moments in the game? It is a real pity because I do enjoy the game a lot whenever I don't have to do these tedious barrel puzzles

[Bluebird55]

I feel your pain Jobo, I really do, I felt the exact same way when Fable 2 came out, I played The Lost Chapters (TLC) before 2 came out and I was really excited, man when Molyneux was at the conference explaining how you could have a wife/husband, kids, a house and a freaking dog, I was on the verge of exploding, but when I played it? I felt so crushed, they lost their motivation when they made it, if you have played TLC you would get my meaning, it was later then I discovered that Lionhead Studios had been bought out by Microsoft. Microsoft. It forced me to accept that game developers can be total tuglords by selling out. I waited well over a year for that bloody game. I missed cutting people's heads off and kicking them.

Another pointlessly frustrating moment on video games for me was on Majora's Mask with the final battle itself, you work your butt off to get the Fierce Deity mask and the final boss is made of paper. Mind you, it is quite a Creepypastaesque boss .

[Flabyo]

Tuglord is quite a creative insult, not one I've had directed at me before

[ratsoalbion]

Ha! Well to be fair to Bluebird I think with that comment he was referring more to the senior money-men and executives who saw the deal go through, rather than the hapless coders such as yourself!

However, it's hardly as though MS has never overseen a good game anyway - and for a lot of folk (myself included), Fable II was a more enjoyable game than the first.

I shall however refer to you as The Tuglord from now on.

[Flabyo]

I don't think anyone made much money out of the 'sell out' anyway, the studio was on the brink of death and would've closed if they hadn't bought us up (Both Black and White 2 and The Movies were long dev cycle PC exclusive titles at a point where the market shifted away from the PC quite sharply, I don't think they made a great deal of profit, if they even broke even)

Whatever money Peter did make off it he's long since put into 22 cans.

[Michiel K]

That's a strangely visual sentence, putting money into twenty two cans.

[Bluebird55]

Tuglord is quite a creative insult, not one I've had directed at me before

I am so sorry, I had no idea! I hope you understand, that was not aimed at you at all, it was aimed at Microsoftandsloppy, they didn't do any favours by continuing with the franchise, I heard the latest fable was a complete sham, but but BUT I really like how they...sort of..redeemed themselves by remastering TLC, but then that redemption came tumbling down because they forgot that TLC was also released on the PC..boo..

Well, Fable II was a great game ratso, don't get me wrong, it's just it was more "fluidy" with the camera angles I suppose, glad they kept the feature of getting the villagers drunk haha

Well, it is a shame how things turn out for video game developers, I am and forever will be sad about the fate of Acclaim, I loved Revolt, that was such an amazingly fun game, with the awesome "heya hadara heyara hadara" song that played in the background, that game takes me back .

[Flabyo]

Trust me, I don't take it personally. I've been doing this long enough to know you can't please everyone no matter what you do. For what it's worth I agree, there's plenty of things that we changed for fable 2 that I wouldn't have changed myself, but hey, that's game development.

It's mainly the 'sell out' thing I bristled at, because that wasn't the situation at all, but I can understand that not being common knowledge. It gets a mention in the really long 'death of lionhead' piece that Eurogamer ran though.

Also, I prefer fable 3 anyway

[Bluebird55]

Trust me, I don't take it personally. I've been doing this long enough to know you can't please everyone no matter what you do. For what it's worth I agree, there's plenty of things that we changed for fable 2 that I wouldn't have changed myself, but hey, that's game development.

It's mainly the 'sell out' thing I bristled at, because that wasn't the situation at all, but I can understand that not being common knowledge. It gets a mention in the really long 'death of lionhead' piece that Eurogamer ran though.

Also, I prefer fable 3 anyway

Well, I guess it's the same with any trade really, it's a shame, but that's the way it goes, I feel your pain somewhat. No, sell out was the wrong terminology, Lionhead were on the brink, like Rare, but they should have looked elsewhere; EA is a damn fine example, for starters (despite what people say, Mass Effect Andromeda is just as fantastic as the previous trilogy and it's not often that the 4th installment pulls off - Halo is a good example). Really? Well, I can sort of understand, I still don't like the bit at the end where you learn that the money you had made an impact on the end result - doesn't go down well with those who spend hours getting to that stage and not being told.

[Joshihatsumitsu]

Always better to be a tuglord than a tugcommoner, as my mother always told me...

Speaking of tuglords (let's see how this segue goes...), I've been playing a little game recently from the tuglords of Konami. And that game is Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, a Gameboy Color release that I'm playing through on my GBA.

And the frustrating moments in this otherwise good game revolve around some questionable checkpointing. Without spoiling the story fro anyone who cares to play, some of these checkpoints occur prior to a long cutscene followed by a boss fight. So later on in the game, when you're trying to suss out your strategy through trail and error, every time you die you have to go through the same goddamn cutscene that can be speed-up, but never skipped.

It's a good game, but for a portable title those checkpoints take up valuable battery life.

[Bluebird55]

Always better to be a tuglord than a tugcommoner, as my mother always told me...

Speaking of tuglords (let's see how this segue goes...), I've been playing a little game recently from the tuglords of Konami. And that game is Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, a Gameboy Color release that I'm playing through on my GBA.

And the frustrating moments in this otherwise good game revolve around some questionable checkpointing. Without spoiling the story fro anyone who cares to play, some of these checkpoints occur prior to a long cutscene followed by a boss fight. So later on in the game, when you're trying to suss out your strategy through trail and error, every time you die you have to go through the same goddamn cutscene that can be speed-up, but never skipped.

It's a good game, but for a portable title those checkpoints take up valuable battery life.

Haha, top banter Oh dear, that's awful, so from what I have learned from this forum it's a little bit like Kingdom Hearts with the final boss? Yikes, awful.

I would say that another pointlessly frustrating moment (running out of moments here guys!!) is Spore, the Grox.

Yep, going to leave it there. Grox killed Spore. Almost literally.

Thanks, Maxis, please do go ahead and chunder out another long game, which consists of gameplay like the Sims/Simcity.

[skidoosh]

Funnily enough I hit one the other night. There's a rhythm action section in God of War 3. I can't do rhythm action because I have NO rhythm. Excluding that, bloody good game.

And while we're on the subject. Every boss in Dark Souls 3 with more than one health bar excluding the twins and the abyss watchers. Demanding perfection for 15-20 mins or being made to start over isn't fun. Not even close.

[Joshihatsumitsu]

I would say that another pointlessly frustrating moment (running out of moments here guys!!)...

I would agree with that. Considering that MG:GB was released back in 2000, and most of the frustrating moments (definitely not all) have been addressed in more recent titles to some degree over the years.

But then I do have a big backlog of games to play yet, so maybe I'm being optimistic?

[KSubzero1000]

And while we're on the subject. Every boss in Dark Souls 3 with more than one health bar excluding the twins and the abyss watchers. Demanding perfection for 15-20 mins or being made to start over isn't fun. Not even close.

Shouldn't boss fights be the player's ultimate tests of skill and endurance, though? What would you suggest instead?

[Flabyo]

I think you can do the skill part without the endurance part.

Mid era Zelda games tend to do:
1) Work out what you need to do to open the weak point. Hit it.
2) Repeat that
3) Do it one more time, but we've done something to make it harder to do this time.

They mix it up a little more in the newer games, but the 'rule of three' tends to apply to most of what they do.

The final boss in the single player mode of Splatoon should be required reading for game designers, it goes through multiple phases, each of which test a tactic, skill or weapon combo you've been taught during the single player mode.

A boss where I've worked out what to do, but must then repeat that for 20 minutes to beat it is not to me good game design. But then I'm very much in the 'not really liking Dark Souls at all' camp so...

[James]

The final boss in the single player mode of Splatoon should be required reading for game designers, it goes through multiple phases, each of which test a tactic, skill or weapon combo you've been taught during the single player mode.

A boss where I've worked out what to do, but must then repeat that for 20 minutes to beat it is not to me good game design. But then I'm very much in the 'not really liking Dark Souls at all' camp so...

I think it can be, if the fight continues to show you something new over its length, or ask something new of you. Though I take the point that once you've demonstrated an ability to cope in Phase I, being required to replay that every time you attempt Phase II can be frustrating.

To be honest, I don't recall ever knowing that Splatoon had a single player aspect, or boss battles. Do we know if Splatoon 2 comes with a similar single-player campaign? Ooh, it does! Suddenly, my interest has peaked somewhat.

[Flabyo]

If you're never planning to play the single player of the first game, have a watch. It's pretty spoiler though, so only if you think you'll never go play it...



As you can see, it's as much about using all the games traversal techniques as it is the gunplay. It's basically a final exam before you hit multiplayer, if you've not played through it you'll be missing all sorts of tricks you can do and be at quite the disadvantage.

[James]

Sadly, I don't have a Wii U anymore. So, I suppose the question is, should I watch it before or after playing the S2 story?
Usually I'd prefer to go into a sequel fully up-to-speed, and whilst I'm sure S2's campaign won't be a re-tread, Nintendo might feel the need to introduce some mechanics in a similar way, for any dummies who missed out on S1.

[ratsoalbion]

Sadly, I don't have a Wii U anymore.

You made Iwata cry.

[James]

I'm sure Mr Iwata, sat in the big video game in the sky, is more than happy at all the joy my Nintendo Switch is providing me.