Things you're tired of seeing in a game?

[Jonboy80]

Ahegao

Jesus, the slack-tongue thing needs to friggin' go. Especially when it starts creeping into non-anime stuff.

 

[Robwood]

Games using Japanese words when we already have English words to replace them with--that's just lazy translation.

 

[frag/ment]

It's been mentioned a few times already, but I'd have to go with:

1. Bad grinding. The grind can be good. Grind can make sense, given certain contexts. Most of the time; however, the grind is unbearable. There's no reason anyone should have to repeat the same conversation with the same text twenty-two times so that they raise their relationship level from 10 to 22, and, miraculously, suddenly get on the slip-n-slide-ride. It's even worse when the Dev takes it personally when people cheat to avoid these shenanigans and implement "anti-cheat" measures in their wank game.

2. Recycled plots. We've seen it and been there a million times. You're at a college, you're a dick, you're out for revenge, you got a crazy powerup and now suddenly everyone wants to ride the balogne pony. There's nothing inherently wrong with these popular plot points, but more often than not people do the bare minimum in terms of innovation when they do use them. I've had plenty of instances where I download a game and fifteen minutes in I swear I've played it before, but it just happens to run the exact same plot of something I played in the past on the exact same engine.

3. No proofreaders. I'm mostly kidding, I respect anyone who's creating a game and translating from their mother tongue to English. Even as a native speaker, I know it isn't easy, and trying to get a proofreader to stick around unpaid or for very little is difficult, but it's rough finding a game I think I could really enjoy if it wasn't for the fact my brain keeps picking apart every single mistake to the point I can't focus on anything but the glaring engrish. This makes me tired in the sense that it's just unfortunate when I run into it.

4. The illusion of choice. There are so many Ren'py games that advertise them as a story where you hold the reigns, then you end up being cornholed into relationships with characters you're not interested in or decisions you'd never logically make in a million years, and I get it, you can't please everyone. But there's frequently been instances where there's simply no choice in the first place, you just get two choices that lead to the same outcome.

 

[Professor Historian]

I'm a bit tired of college settings and college-type MCs. I understand why they are used so much, but still I think there is a bit of saturation right now on that level.

 

[Network 34 Games]

Sports in games.

I'm not playing this game to watch your fantasy basketball game. If I want that I'll go to ESPN or something.

Seriously most of these in-game games don't actually develop plot in any meaningful way that you couldn't do in a much more interesting setting.

 

[Jonboy80]

Sports in games.

I'm not playing this game to watch your fantasy basketball game. If I want that I'll go to ESPN or something.

Seriously most of these in-game games don't actually develop plot in any meaningful way that you couldn't do in a much more interesting setting.

It seems like every title these days has some form of "Never Have I Ever", Spin-The-Bottle or Kings Card/Cup as well. Not entirely sure why, either.

 

[MrSancini]

It's been mentioned a few times already, but I'd have to go with:

1. Bad grinding. The grind can be good. Grind can make sense, given certain contexts. Most of the time; however, the grind is unbearable. There's no reason anyone should have to repeat the same conversation with the same text twenty-two times so that they raise their relationship level from 10 to 22, and, miraculously, suddenly get on the slip-n-slide-ride. It's even worse when the Dev takes it personally when people cheat to avoid these shenanigans and implement "anti-cheat" measures in their wank game.

2. Recycled plots. We've seen it and been there a million times. You're at a college, you're a dick, you're out for revenge, you got a crazy powerup and now suddenly everyone wants to ride the balogne pony. There's nothing inherently wrong with these popular plot points, but more often than not people do the bare minimum in terms of innovation when they do use them. I've had plenty of instances where I download a game and fifteen minutes in I swear I've played it before, but it just happens to run the exact same plot of something I played in the past on the exact same engine.

3. No proofreaders. I'm mostly kidding, I respect anyone who's creating a game and translating from their mother tongue to English. Even as a native speaker, I know it isn't easy, and trying to get a proofreader to stick around unpaid or for very little is difficult, but it's rough finding a game I think I could really enjoy if it wasn't for the fact my brain keeps picking apart every single mistake to the point I can't focus on anything but the glaring engrish. This makes me tired in the sense that it's just unfortunate when I run into it.

4. The illusion of choice. There are so many Ren'py games that advertise them as a story where you hold the reigns, then you end up being cornholed into relationships with characters you're not interested in or decisions you'd never logically make in a million years, and I get it, you can't please everyone. But there's frequently been instances where there's simply no choice in the first place, you just get two choices that lead to the same outcome.

#1 Same, that's why I avoid sandbox games like a vampire around garlic.

#2 More than once I got a sense of deja vu, I don't mind the repetition, but most of the time, I don't see the author making his own twist on the theme. Gotta use a real example in another field (because I'm a writer when I'm not bored): I, as reader, saw a lot of books (or tentative books since it's wattpad I'm talking about) which are basically, the innocent girl being seduced by the professor. So, when I wrote my first book back in 2017, I thought... Why not do the opposite? And so I did. And also made my own twists to this overused formula.

#3 Proofread is important, and even if you can't provide that, believe or not, Google Translate helps a LOT, because sometimes you just don't know how that sentence in spanish/portuguese/russian/etc translates to english. Of course, if you put your entire script through Google Translate, it will sound as cohesive as a Donald Trump speech in Esperanto, but it helps when you're in doubt about the sentence.

#4 This subject is a real thin Ice, because from a programmer perspective, making EVERY CHOICE in a 10+ hour AVN matter it's a nightmare-ish possibility, in the other hand, having hollow choices with zero impact from a player's perspective is also ASS. I like when the choices shape your MC and leads to the content, and some choices for just different dialogue are also fun. It's hard to achieve, but when we had something like this (with meaningful and useless choices in the game, well balanced - I would say 70/30), it's a real treat.

Sports in games.

I'm not playing this game to watch your fantasy basketball game. If I want that I'll go to ESPN or something.

Seriously most of these in-game games don't actually develop plot in any meaningful way that you couldn't do in a much more interesting setting.

That could be any useless subplot may I add, not only sports. That's more a sign of bad writing than the sports's fault, at least IMO.

 

[FallGuyMcFly]

Female protag.s in corruption games that are dumber than a box of rocks or are more innocent and naive than a woman that was home schooled in a off the grid household.

 

[JoleenStar]

"Abandoned."

 

[Taboo-Sho]

Oh yeah another 2 I forgot about.

Female protag games with only dudes or just goblins/Orcs for just generic AF straight vanilla. We've been there we've done that TIME AND TIME AGAIN, there are so many now there is little that that makes them different form each other.

Games with urination meters, FUCK OFF RIGHT AWAY WITH THAT! Thats just an annoy AF stat to take care of.

 

[SoulsSurvivor]

3. No proofreaders. I'm mostly kidding, I respect anyone who's creating a game and translating from their mother tongue to English. Even as a native speaker, I know it isn't easy, and trying to get a proofreader to stick around unpaid or for very little is difficult, but it's rough finding a game I think I could really enjoy if it wasn't for the fact my brain keeps picking apart every single mistake to the point I can't focus on anything but the glaring engrish. This makes me tired in the sense that it's just unfortunate when I run into it.

My opinion on this makes me sound like an asshole I know but here it is; if you can't hold a mild conversation in a language and you can't be bothered to use the hundreds of translation apps or learn basic things like the difference between he and she then you shouldn't release your game in that language.

 

[desmosome]

Monotonous, bland, and unnecessarily long introductory exposition dumps at the start, especially when told from a first person narrator (the MC).

For example...


I grew up in a nice family. My dad died when I was young.

This is my mom. She is the most amazing mom. She is beautiful and kind. I hope she doesn't date some asshole.

This is my older sister. She is mean to me. But we used to be so close when younger. I hope we can be close again.

This is my younger sister. She is innocent and pure. She loves me. I sometimes help her with homework.

This is my aunt. She is very sexual. I feel like she is trying to seduce me sometimes.

This is my childhood friend. I always had a crush on her but didn't have the courage to ask her out.

These are my twin cousins. They are probably lesbians.

This is my bully. He always beats me up.

One day, a meteor came crashing down. And a china virus caused a pandemic. Everyone started turning into zombies. The government couldn't do anything. But there was a league of caped monkeys that saved the world. Unfortunately, they became deranged with power. They ruled with an iron fist. Despite being further up on the evolutionary ladder, humanity was reduced to slaves. However, all hope was not lost. My father, who I thought was dead actually was working as a top secret scientist. He came up with a virus that would fast track the evolutionary process on non-homo primates. This turned the caped monkeys into humans. However, there was a flaw in the process! Homosexual non-homo primates were immune to the virus. This meant the world was now ruled by gay monkeys. My father was captured by the gay monkeys and confined in a secret underground facility. This is where my story starts. I cannot rely on my mom to do everything for our family anymore. I need to become the mAn Of dA HoUSe! Thankfully, my father sent me an encrypted transmission containing an app that creates hypnotic waves before he was captured. I will totally use this to turn the tables on the monkeys and not use it on my family.

*Game starts*

'Oh, someone is in the bathroom...'

 

[Network 34 Games]

My opinion on this makes me sound like an asshole I know but here it is; if you can't hold a mild conversation in a language and you can't be bothered to use the hundreds of translation apps or learn basic things like the difference between he and she then you shouldn't release your game in that language.

Gotta agree 110% with this one. These days there is simply no excuse for it. there are as you say 100's and 100's of translator apps out there and there is even a specific category in these very forums to hire a translator (meaning someone who can speak and write English) for people NOT to make use of those is either arrogance or a simple case of not caring about their game or audience.

 

[patriarchy1]

Honestly? I'm okay with most of it. I come with the expectations that the writing is going to be trash anyway, if million dollar writers these days can't come up with anything decent, I'm not going to expect anything good from people e-begging for their porn fiction. In fact, if anything, I would like fewer attempts at story telling in general in these. Go doom 2016 if you have to, angry man on mars getting his dick wet, plot done.

 

[Baka_Energy_studios]

One day, a meteor came crashing down. And a china virus caused a pandemic. Everyone started turning into zombies. The government couldn't do anything. But there was a league of caped monkeys that saved the world. Unfortunately, they became deranged with power. They ruled with an iron fist. Despite being further up on the evolutionary ladder, humanity was reduced to slaves. However, all hope was not lost. My father, who I thought was dead actually was working as a top secret scientist. He came up with a virus that would fast track the evolutionary process on non-homo primates. This turned the caped monkeys into humans. However, there was a flaw in the process! Homosexual non-homo primates were immune to the virus. This meant the world was now ruled by gay monkeys. My father was captured by the gay monkeys and confined in a secret underground facility. This is where my story starts. I cannot rely on my mom to do everything for our family anymore. I need to become the mAn Of dA HoUSe! Thankfully, my father sent me an encrypted transmission containing an app that creates hypnotic waves before he was captured. I will totally use this to turn the tables on the monkeys and not use it on my family.

I like that part

 

[Trickstar]

I hate the fucking obligatory shower/changing scenes in the beginning of 90% of the games here where the protag happens to walk by a not fully closed door to watch a bitch shower/change.

 

[JoleenStar]

The MC could be 23 and the Mom is always going to be 6'5' and the son will be 5'7''. 99.99% of moms are 5'6'' or shorter IRL.

More short moms pls.

 

[Jonboy80]

The MC could be 23 and the Mom is always going to be 6'5' and the son will be 5'7''. 99.99% of moms are 5'6'' or shorter IRL.

More short moms pls.

Be nice if they actually looked old enough to be a mom too. Things like being a little more filled out such as wider hips, age spots/moles, darker nipples/areola, more visible veins in their breasts and hands, some age related wrinkles, etc. Too many moms in VNs look too pristine.

 

[Orlox]

It seems like every title these days has some form of "Never Have I Ever", Spin-The-Bottle or Kings Card/Cup as well. Not entirely sure why, either.

It's just a lazy and uncreative way to introduce sexy situations just like yoga, massages, photoshoots, shopping for clothes, streaming, and all the other clichés that keep coming back.

 

[MrSancini]

It's just a lazy and uncreative way to introduce sexy situations just like yoga, massages, photoshoots, shopping for clothes, streaming, and all the other clichés that keep coming back.

honestly from this list, the only I'm kinda not tired to see is photoshoots. But that's just more of a personal taste.