Do games piss you off more and more?

[fuzzybabybunny]

Not that this is justification for pirating, but it seems that I have more and more moments of regret and buyer's remorse when I buy games. I'm just not happy with their quality, by and large.

Most recent for me:

Hitman: Absolution

The save system totally ruins it for me because it relies on checkpoints. I can no longer save whenever I want, and considering Hitman has always been a game of perfection and quietly studying and waiting for the perfect moment, the fact that you have to repeat all of the waiting and the timing over and over because you had to reload at a certain checkpoint make it frustratingly bad. Basically it is incentive for me to just go in guns blazing and kill everything standing in the way.

And the fact that I paid money for this really makes me angry. I'm not playing money just so I can be frustrated to the point of wanting to smash my computer against a wall due to dumb game mechanics. And these games CERTAINLY aren't cheap.

Sure, there are demos and reviews (sometimes conflicting), but come on... do I have to do all this research beforehand for every single game I want to play from now on just to try and not get burned?

And of course there's the Call of Duty : Modern Warfare series, which are basically all cinematic, highly scripted shooting galleries with zero replay value.

I'm basically finding that more often than not I come away from games feeling utterly screwed out of my money. The last time I looked back at a game and actually felt satisfied were probably the older Assassin's Creed games, Borderlands 2, and Mass Effect, simply due to the amazing story and the characters.

 

[cbrunny]

Hitman: Absolution was one of the least engaging games I have played in recent memory. It lasted under 45 minutes. I think you're justified to be upset about that one. Thankfully it was free with my 7970.

 

[JeffMD]

So many games are check point driven these days, I don't let it get to me. I always end up abusing on demand saves as a way to fix even the most minor mistakes.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Those checkpoint driven games are coming due to console ports. It's an artificial way to lengthen gameplay.

Sounds like its a good thing I passed on Hitman.

I had a similar feeling when I purchased Trials Evolutoin (see rant in the Steam sale thread). By itself it's a good game, but throw everything into it that is basically what gaming is becoming these days and it just tarnishes the experience.

That being said, there are still plenty of new games I really enjoy, they just don't tend to be AAA titles...in fact the only AAA title I think I've really enjoyed as of late was Bioshock Infinite.

 

[imaheadcase]

I bought Skyrim legendary edition on sale on steam. Its one of those games I always wanted to try out, but never really liked that type of game.

I would say the game is PERFECT on how they made it. Its one of the very few games that i'm engaged in, and excited about playing. I literally spent 6 hours in the game without realizing it, that's a sign of a good game. lol I'm glad I held out for this game in the long run.

I hate games that feel forced, like you have to do something exactly or the game won't continue.

I think one of the problems people encounter is they fell obliged to buy every game that seems exciting, they should just buy a game that is exciting to you.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Yeah Checkpoint saves was all started with Halo on the original Xbox. I can't remember any game before that that saved at checkpoints and had no way to manually save.

To me you should be able to stop progress and save your state right there. Luckily the new consoles will do this. You can save your state and load it up again just the way it was at a later time. Maybe this will translate over to the PC with newer titles.

 

[Arglebargle]

The number of new PC games I buy at release has dropped to near 0. Checking out extended reviews allows me to pinpoint the things that would really irritate me (checkpoint saving, bad console UI or port, too much QTE nonsense, etc), and avoid them. The price point where I'm willing to put up with that is pretty dang low. Some I wouldn't play for free.

However, the new generation of consoles will probably cause some of those restrictions to go away in the next year or two.

 

[rgallant]

I hope the new pc ports will come with a new life.
as it stands now very few hold my interest.
-but the dev's now have to code for 5 markets instead of 3 so I'm not holding my breath .
-very few or non really stand up to stalker going into the red forest where the hairs on my neck would stand up when a red forest mission came up.
-go though the gates all hyped , then glad to leave alive. ghost dogs[and the invisible things] and low ammo count ,makes a good game.

 

[greenhawk]

The number of new PC games I buy at release has dropped to near 0.

+1

I find myself either looking at indie games ($10 and even if only a single afternoon playing has me feeling better than paying more and raging at the game's design). or I find something else to do. It is sad to be pretty much walking away from gaming most of the time, but it is better to read a book than get hot under the colar at a console port.

I do find myself playing games like dota2 and similar where it is just play with a moderate setup time. I use to love long strategy games like civ and moo, but I just do not have the attention span anymore to sit down and play a day long game (setup time before doing anything is the killer).

Same reason I find games like battlefield crap generally (ie: without friends) as you spend soooo much time getting from a to b to die, then possibly have a respawn timer).

But getting back to the topic, Farcry 2 was the start of the end of buying games before release. I felt soo ripped off at that one, espically as I was hanging out for it and loved the first one.

Side issue is that I use to pirate when in uni, but since then have become too bad at waiting for a pirated copy that works, then having to just wait and wait and put up with crap releases (I know, you get what you pay for). It is soo much easier just to click install on steam or insert a disk, espically if the game is an older one. DRM can still suck, but I find the games with really bad DRM, suck even more when pirated due to crappy fixes to get them working.

That might sound a bit like the fox and the grapes but after going through the phase of installing old games to play again, and loosing interest once I find the disks to install and / or finish installing it. I am just not getting the joy from gaming as I use to. It is a bit sad in a way, but nothing I can do but find a new hobbie (or a old one) to do instead.

 

[cmdrdredd]

So this has turned into a whiner thread. It had some.merit with legit complaints now its just another "I hate modern gaming" fest

 

[Dankk]

So this has turned into a whiner thread. It had some.merit with legit complaints now its just another "I hate modern gaming" fest

It's our regularly-scheduled Modern Video Games Suck™ whine thread, brought to you weekly by the Anandtech PC Gaming® forum

 

[KaOTiK]

It's our regularly-scheduled Modern Video Games Suck™ whine thread, brought to you weekly by the Anandtech PC Gaming® forum

Please stay tuned for our next thread "PC Gaming is Dying".

 

[Scooby Doo]

Ugh I HATE HATE checkpoints. It was bad enough back in the 80's-90's we don't need to bring that back! Heck consoles have enough power/storage to quicksave ugh.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Yeah Checkpoint saves was all started with Halo on the original Xbox. I can't remember any game before that that saved at checkpoints and had no way to manually save.

To me you should be able to stop progress and save your state right there. Luckily the new consoles will do this. You can save your state and load it up again just the way it was at a later time. Maybe this will translate over to the PC with newer titles.

Checkpoint saves have been one of my pet peeves for a long time, especially since I started PC gaming quite a few years ago when most PC games had a save anytime system. That is one of the things I really like about Skyrim. You can save and try something different or outlandish or just goof around a while, and then go back and load the save that you want.

On the other hand, I think there are enough reviews and forums these days that one pretty much can find out what a game is like before purchasing it, and I basically assume any game I get will have a checkpoint save system unless I can find information otherwise. I really find dissatisfaction with a game insufficient reason to pirate first to try it out or to expect to be able to return it. The only game that I have felt justified getting a return on would perhaps be Mass Effect 3, because the ending was so unlike what the developers hand been promising that it was almost false advertising.

 

[ImpulsE69]

So this has turned into a whiner thread. It had some.merit with legit complaints now its just another "I hate modern gaming" fest

Well to be fair, how can it not be? Modern gaming is the problem.

You take 2 different platforms with specific tastes and styles and then say, well we'll just make this one lowest common denominator version and put it on the PC without changing it where much of what was on the console version doesn't translate well to what PC users are used to.

It just feels cheap.

I complain less because I'm not paying $50 for a game any more. I would really be upset if I was playing these on consoles and paying top dollar for them. The recent "sales" on console games has come about only because of the recent next gen announcement and the backlash that came with it over prices and Steam sale comparisons.

90% of the next gen titles are console ports. There is a small % of that where devs actually make the PC version better. There's an even smaller percentage that are PC driven. What is left is indie games, and while there are many great indie games, most are retro and not bleeding edge (and many/most of those are still released on console first).

 

[BladeVenom]

That being said, there are still plenty of new games I really enjoy, they just don't tend to be AAA titles...in fact the only AAA title I think I've really enjoyed as of late was Bioshock Infinite.

I agree. And with more and more PC games being funded by Kickstarter, I imagine I'll be buying less AAA console ports, and more games actually made for the PC in the near future. Like Shadowrun Returns which comes out on the 25th.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Checkpoint saves have been one of my pet peeves for a long time, especially since I started PC gaming quite a few years ago when most PC games had a save anytime system. That is one of the things I really like about Skyrim. You can save and try something different or outlandish or just goof around a while, and then go back and load the save that you want.

On the other hand, I think there are enough reviews and forums these days that one pretty much can find out what a game is like before purchasing it, and I basically assume any game I get will have a checkpoint save system unless I can find information otherwise. I really find dissatisfaction with a game insufficient reason to pirate first to try it out or to expect to be able to return it. The only game that I have felt justified getting a return on would perhaps be Mass Effect 3, because the ending was so unlike what the developers hand been promising that it was almost false advertising.

I do agree here. I don't find any excuse acceptable for condoning piracy. You can find out everything about the game online these days. There is a plethora of information available about everything. You should never make a bad decision regarding game purchase these days. If you don't like it or don't want to buy it, don't buy it.

 

[runzwithsizorz]

I'm basically finding that more often than not I come away from games feeling utterly screwed out of my money. The last time I looked back at a game and actually felt satisfied were probably the older Assassin's Creed games, Borderlands 2, and Mass Effect, simply due to the amazing story and the characters.

I do not buy games when they first come out...don't care how "new and great" they are, so I save a ton of money. This also allows me to see what other players think as well as waiting for patches to correct annoying game glitches. I also have no problem buying older games (especially with the mods out there to improve graphics). I play all genres...started out with mostly adventure (i.e. Myst, Longest Journey, Deus Ex) then FPS (Painkiller, STALKER series, Far Cry 1). Mass Effect got me into RPG's, so I decided to give the Witcher series a try, and love those games. Waiting for Witcher 3, I decided to give Oblivian a try (with a few mods), and discovered the infinite replayability of that game. Bought Morrowind and will mod with the new 3.1 overhaul. I did buy Metro 2033, haven't played it
yet, though. Might buy Bioshock Infinite, but will wait for the price to come down.
The only game (so far) I plan to buy new is Witcher 3. The only game developer I found to really support their customers is CD Projekt Red, so I do not have any problems in supporting their games at full price. Anyway, this is my solution. Of course, it all depends on the type of game you prefer. Me, I like most game genres, but the game has to be exceptional, regardless of genre.

Wife of Runz

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I felt the same way, I adopted a no buy unless there is some kind of demo or its under $20. I have been burned far too many times.
I do make rare exceptions, I did buy BF3 for $40 or $50 and I did buy AOC with my buddies for around $50.

 

[IGemini]

The angle developers are taking to make gaming mainstream via consoles is sabotaging their appeal overall.

For me, I just don't care for multiplayer anymore because matchmaking has taken the bulk of the community concept out of the equation. The last three online games I've played for a significant time were CS 1.6, EVE, and Minecraft. With Minecraft we run our own server, have guidelines for conduct and whitelist control on who can play. CS 1.6 I found a fun public server that had a format but would occasionally have times to switch up the settings and eventually had voting rights. EVE allows for a geographic/astronomical connection with people (depending on how you see it ) especially if one joins a corp.

I've always connected with people at a slower rate, it's my nature. Matchmaking shuffles you with random players each session and it's just too short a time to get anywhere...not to mention all the random kids who think they're tough $*** just because they had a lucky kill. I don't play games to listen to that garbage.

 

[Midwayman]

I was kinda annoyed I bought this game too. Disappointment all the way around. At least I didn't pay full price.

 

[sweenish]

Yeah Checkpoint saves was all started with Halo on the original Xbox. I can't remember any game before that that saved at checkpoints and had no way to manually save.

To me you should be able to stop progress and save your state right there. Luckily the new consoles will do this. You can save your state and load it up again just the way it was at a later time. Maybe this will translate over to the PC with newer titles.

Checkpoint saves have existed long before that. But I'm lumping checkpoints and hard save locations in the same group. The way you describe the checkpoint system, you're probably right.

Resident Evil had the typewriters. Super Mario World used the special buildings and switches as save points. Most all JRPG's only let you save at certain places that aren't in the world map.

 

[KeithTalent]

This is why I just wait for sales on all games now. By then not only will I get a better price, but any major bugs should have been worked out.

I know that is not really helping the PC Gaming industry as they probably need that launch day price to make a better profit and, in turn, make more and hopefully better PC games, but I just can't bring myself to pay full price.

KT

 

[z1ggy]

Last two games I paid full price for were the two games that pissed me off the most. Hitman and Borderlands.

The checkpoint save thing is one reason why I generally opt to play FPS multiplayers or f2p games like dota or Lol.

 

[EDUSAN]

i used to play a game so much... over and over again, a game would last me months!

now i play them, finish them, and move on with the next game on the backlog

when i played HITMAN 2 (to me the best one out there), i played it on the difficulty in which it let you save twice per level. I had to do the waiting if i screwed up. i had the desire to do so. Now on the new hitman if i try a part 3 or 4 times and they find me (cause i try to be stealth), i just alt-f4 the game

games are crappier? yes
are we less tolerant? yes... i guess its becaus im a grown up now, i dont want to waste time on the same place in a game.. YES iknow it doesnt make sense cause im still wasting time if i continue playing and i dont get stuck, but ... i still feel like that

and prices of game have been going up non stop. and the amount of time you spend on them is like 1/5 of the cost.

i payed 5 bucks for FTL and played it 35 hours. I payed 35 bucks for MW3 and played it 5hs.