Game design choices that completely ruin the game?

[Lord Mushroom]

I have a board game where you can get a mystery card which says you lose. Not even a chance of recovering. We simply remove that card before playing.

[Lord Mushroom]

I hate time limits. It is stressful. I will complete the level in my own time, thank you very much.

[Lord Mushroom]

Escort missions, is that when you have to give somebody a blowjob or something?

Edited January 25, 2022 by Lord Mushroom

[jhd]

On 1/25/2022 at 9:41 AM, Lord Mushroom said:

I hate time limits. It is stressful. I will complete the level in my own time, thank you very much.

 

This 100% I like to take my time with games and, as much as possible, explore the game world. Time limits actively discourage this.  

[Keatah]

I totally dislike games that kick you when you're down and put you behind the eight-ball. Think Kaboom! You miss a bomb, you lose a bucket - making it all that much harder to stay in the game.

[Leonard Smith]

23 minutes ago, Keatah said:

I totally dislike games that kick you when you're down and put you behind the eight-ball. Think Kaboom! You miss a bomb, you lose a bucket - making it all that much harder to stay in the game.

Yeah.  That also applies to many shooters from the 8 and 16 bit era.
You painstakingly build up your space ship with power ups only to lose a life on the final stage and suddenly you're back to a stock unpowered ship.  Think Gradius and Raiden.

[Leonard Smith]

Here's another one I've been seeing a lot of lately.  Particularly with the game Xeno Crisis.  When a game starts out with fun mechanics and degrades into a game of high difficulty and unnecessary changes to its style.

Xeno Crisis game starts out great.  Fun mechanics and good balance of enemies and difficulty.  A total blast to play.

Enemies spawn out of doors and spawn in a few areas, most can be dispatched with a bullet or two.  Occasionally you get a bullet spewing plant pod-like enemy, but they are kept to a minimum.  That being said, Levels 1 and 2 are a blast to play... a run and gun shooter similar to Robotron and Smash TV. 

 

Then, starting on level 3, those pod enemies become the bulk enemy set and they completely disrupt the flow and fun of the game.  They spawn wherever they want, take a ton of bullets to kill, spit those acid puddle projectiles, and just drag down the flow of the game.  Some rooms you think you've mercifully slogged through, only to see more and more of these things spawn after a brief break.

It just goes downhill from there.  Level 4 has enemies that die in a puddle of poison, so that again makes a game that starts out as a fun run and gun, into a game of cautious maneuvering, enemies who take too many bullets to kill, and unfair deaths.  Each room takes ages to clear and highly repetitive.

Had the game stayed more like levels 1 and 2, this would be an all-time classic right up there with the likes of Smash TV. But no. The developers had to get cute and change things up too much.  The modern day equivalent of an ice level in the old 8 and 16 bit games.  Prove me wrong!

 

[Steven Pendleton]

13 hours ago, Leonard Smith said:

The modern day equivalent of an ice level in the old 8 and 16 bit games.  Prove me wrong!

Okay. Ice Cap Zone.