Little things that annoy the hell out of you

[ryu]

If your website isn't business related and it's an english site you probably don't have much to fear.

I'm just assuming france has similar bukllshit nonsense laws like germany.

It's business and only in french for now. ><

Shit, I feel for you.

[Durandal]

In Rainbow Six: Siege you have reinforcements to prevent certain walls from being broken by regular breach charges, but only Thermite can breach them with his special charges. So then you pick Bandit in order to electrocute the reinforcements so he can't place a charge in the first place, but then an enemy Sledge decides to throw frags at the wall so my generators electrifying the reinforcements get destroyed THROUGH the wall (then what's the fucking point of Thatcher's EMP nades?), just so everyone can come waltzing in through the garage door while Capitao is spamming smoke and fire everywhere and preventing me from finding a decent spot.
SHIT.

[atheistgod1999]

Every single fucking new game being a sequel. It's like, if I want to play a new release, I have to play all the previous installments first (unless it's like Final Fantasy or Far Cry). And I thought it was popular opinion that Watch Dogs sucked, so why the fuck is there a sequel to that???

[tomwhite2004]

And I thought it was popular opinion that Watch Dogs sucked, so why the fuck is there a sequel to that???

Dunno about the popular opinion bit but it sold 10 million copies so hardly surprising that its getting another shot. Its not my sort of game but its pretty clear it was a huge success for them.

But really why should a bad game not get a sequel, the creative process doesnt always produce a diamond on the first attempt.

And no, you dont need to play previous installments to everything, because hey maybe the first couple of games were shit according to popular opinion?

[rapoon]

Shadow Warrior 2 not saving Nvidia multi-res shading, forcing me to manually reactivate it every time I play.

That setting is a godsend, by the way. Makes night and day differences in framerates with all the particle effects this game throws around.

What about the ridiculous FoV the weapon models have. I think the default is something like 50; they take up half the goddamn screen. just make a weapon FoV slider so I don't have to enter the console every time (editing the cfg file never seems to work appropriately).

I have to crank the multi-res shading to aggressive on my 970 for the same reason as you. Great game though, but rough around the edges.

[Durandal]

Something I've noticed during my bi-annual Marathon marathon which also seems to plague Doom is doors and how they work. Namely, these doors are the sci-fi ones which slide upwards if you interact with them. But because of how the AI works in Marathon and Doom, the enemy will always see you first (namely your feet) and start attacking before you can even see the enemy as the door is still obstructing your view. This would have not been a problem if you had some wiggle room around the door, but because of the many direct straight-hallway-to-door elements in levels of both Doom and Marathon this seems like a design oversight to me.

[Stormwatch]

One about grammar: the "singular they" truly turns my stomach.

The "generic he" is preferable in essentially every situation.

[trap15]

That's rather an odd and peculiar thing to hate.

[Sumez]

It sort of bothers me, too. Is it correct grammar? It always seemed to me like something people would resort to in lack of a better singular genderless word in English.

[trap15]

Essentially yes, but it's even used when gender is known or whatever. It just depends. That said, using they as a genderless singular still makes you use they like a plural. It's gross and weird, but that's English.

As for a thing that annoys the hell out of me... What the fuck is with the system iOS10 uses for returning to the alphabet keyboard from the symbols keyboard??? Sometimes it returns automatically from a punctuation + space, sometimes not. Sometimes it returns instantly after a ' but sometimes not. Just in writing this paragraph it's switched behaviors at least 3 times. If it'd just stick to one fucking rule I could get used to it at least, but it's a massive downgrade from iOS9 where everything on the keyboard Just Worked. Fuckers.

[Mischief Maker]

Games that list lower-than-developer-intended difficulty as "Normal."

[atheistgod1999]

Games that list lower-than-developer-intended difficulty as "Normal."

Difficulty settings in general. Just have the hardest difficulty, for fuck's sake!

[iconoclast]

Most games are badly balanced crap on higher difficulty levels. I don't trust more than a handful of developers to actually spend time reworking the enemy placements, AI, patterns, etc. instead of calling some lazy stat adjustments a new difficulty.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Yeah that's not even a new thing either. As an example I tried playing MechCommander 2 on the harder settings and you basically spend your time exploiting the AI to win, which isn't really a challenge but a chore. If you don't do it, it's borderline impossible. On the hardest setting a couple of infantry units tear through your 50 tonne war machines in seconds, while proving impossible to kill with heavy lasers and missiles.

Higher difficulties are often tedious or just downright unwinnable, but most of the time they're just "enemies take more damage and dish more damage" which always degenerates into a boring hide and seek with bullet sponges. One up from normal is usually a decent challenge without removing the fun from a game though, I suspect that's the complaint here - but it does mean the next one up needs to be thought out too, and it almost never is.

I played a fair amount of Uncharted 4 on a mate's PS4 on the hardest difficulty and it was actually pretty well balanced and fun. That's basically the only example I can think of since the mid-90s though.

[WelshMegalodon]

Seems arcade-gear.com has bit the bullet. You will be missed...

[Durandal]

The Pfhorums and Simplici7y have been down for pfhour days straight right when I wanted to download the Unlimited Active AI Plugin and Kill Them All. The Marathon community is so dead that not even the webmasters seem to care anymore

[Skykid]

Seems arcade-gear.com has bit the bullet. You will be missed...

I'm sorry to hear this.

[BIL]

I noticed the site wasn't loading a few weeks ago, hoped it might've been a temporary thing. Long been one of my favourite places to browse. Can't believe it'll soon have been five years since I first ordered from them... a big chunk of my SFC+MD collection is from there, could always trust them to get stuff in top condition.

I bought a few things from their ebay store Gamedigga a few months back, including some very nice boxed FC games. Great guys to deal with as always.

[Skykid]

He's an old friend of mine. I'll send an email and try to find out what's happened/happening.

[Blinge]

So has anyone been following the UK's horrific new "Investigatory Powers" law / snoopers charter?

[MintyTheCat]

So has anyone been following the UK's horrific new "Investigatory Powers" law / snoopers charter?

Well, they want to ban Face-Sitting for a start as a 'dangerous' activity

[Blinge]

female ejaculation is obscene and unconventional, yet busting a nut all over a chick's face is A-ok!

who the fuck decides this stuff, Theresa May? smh.

[atheistgod1999]

female ejaculation is obscene and unconventional, yet busting a nut all over a chick's face is A-ok!

Didn't they ban it from their porn 2 or so years ago?

[null1024]

So has anyone been following the UK's horrific new "Investigatory Powers" law / snoopers charter?

what in the hell is going on over there

[Squire Grooktook]

Games that list lower-than-developer-intended difficulty as "Normal."

I talked to Mike Zaimont, who programmed/directed Skullgirls and worked at Pandemic for many years. And there's a reason for this. A reason that made me lose some faith in humanity, but still.

Basically, what was learned by many developers from focus tests / play tests/ expos / various other opportunities to get pre-release feedback for their games, is that bad players will always default to picking the hardest difficulty without ever questioning their choice, and then say the games difficulty is too hard and bullshit because they can't beat it. On the mode they selected themselves.

It makes no sense. But it's a real thing, and it's why developers are generally fucking terrified of leaving their difficulty selections up to the player. It's for this reason that they frequently make hard a post-game unlockable, or mislabel the difficulties intentionally.

Games that list lower-than-developer-intended difficulty as "Normal."

Difficulty settings in general. Just have the hardest difficulty, for fuck's sake!

Naw, no way. Everybody should be able to play and find something that feels challenging for them. Base skill levels are highly variable, and just because someone is born sucky and/or doesn't have the time to get better, doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to enjoy the game.

And what if "hard" for you is easy for me? What if I want something harder than hard after I beat hard? Naw, no thanks. Give me options if possible.

[Skykid]

female ejaculation is obscene and unconventional, yet busting a nut all over a chick's face is A-ok!

who the fuck decides this stuff, Theresa May? smh.

Can I get a link to this stuff for the lulz? (The Investigatory Powers thing, not the female ejaculation and nut busting. I already got that one.)

[MintyTheCat]

So has anyone been following the UK's horrific new "Investigatory Powers" law / snoopers charter?

what in the hell is going on over there

Precisely a giant step backwards.
The UK has always been weird over porn and to be honest the matter of commerce and sex. Now, sure, in Germany we have sex films and you can buy sex legally. It may not be the cup of tea of every one but it makes things a darn site safer for the workers.

The UK, on the other hand claims that legalising sex for sale would lead to "an influx of sex tourists" I very much doubt that.

You cannot to this day buy uncut porn in the UK legally.

The break down usually:

USA: uncut porn and uncut horror films.
Germany: cut to hell horror films but uncut porn.
UK: cut porn and cut horror films.

So the UK really gives you the worst of both worlds. I nearly always have to buy my horror films from the US.

The UK is decades behind on its censorship laws.

It feels like things are in a way becoming painfully conservative once again.

[Blinge]

Can I get a link to this stuff for the lulz? (The Investigatory Powers thing, not the female ejaculation and nut busting. I already got that one.)

Oh yeah Sky that's right, need to differentiate.
There's actually two laws attempting to get passed.

The one that's pretty much there is the Investigatory Powers Bill (not the porn one)

here's a link from the Daily Heil so right wing pricks don't accuse me of bias. -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... l-facebook

Also this covers some of the build up:
http://theconversation.com/how-the-uk-p ... 1479915872

[BIL]

I've heard about the face-sitting ban, lmao. To think this country produced Monty Python!

Basically, what was learned by many developers from focus tests / play tests/ expos / various other opportunities to get pre-release feedback for their games, is that bad players will always default to picking the hardest difficulty without ever questioning their choice, and then say the games difficulty is too hard and bullshit because they can't beat it. On the mode they selected themselves.

I've seen this first-hand.

My attitude to Hard/Very Hard/XTREEM etc difficulties is: some bullshit is allowable, if it's roughly of the variety a Normal veteran would be able to anticipate. Doing a first-time run on anything above default is chancing your arm imo. Fuckin scrubs need to grow up a bit. Everybody takes a beating at some point.

Fuck the "boost enemy HP and/or lower player HP, job done" approach. Even in otherwise good games that bugs me. Nothing pleases me more than innately easier games with really well-done "extreme" modes. See the hyperaggressive rush of Super Star Soldier's hidden "Sugeeze" difficulty.

[Mischief Maker]

Basically, what was learned by many developers from focus tests / play tests/ expos / various other opportunities to get pre-release feedback for their games, is that bad players will always default to picking the hardest difficulty without ever questioning their choice, and then say the games difficulty is too hard and bullshit because they can't beat it. On the mode they selected themselves.

That's one of the things I like about Brigador. The cheapest-to-unlock vehicles are the gigantic ultra mechs that allow you to pretty much godzilla your way across the map provided you don't do anything too stupid. Meanwhile the really expensive ones (with accompanying score multipliers) are the comparatively dinkier speeder bikes and power armors that require way more skill to survive in.

It helps to herd the player toward their appropriate skill level.