I have been writing a lot about me and my gaming. Ever since I got the PS5, my love for gaming rekindled and I’ve been diving into games again, old and new. The new games have more and more accessible options and I love those! They make me able to play more of the games, if not all, without any help. 😊 But the older games, especially those on Playstation 3 and older, they have some irks. But also modern games sometimes have their issues. I wanted to write a bit about my pet peeves and see if it’s just me or if other people experience some of the same.
This post is personal, it’s about me and how I experience my gaming. It’s nothing against any game! Most games with pet peeves I still am able to enjoy! And some remain my favorites, despite the peeves… This is about me and my struggles. About how I would think some games could be even more accessible. For me, at least… I struggle with bad hands and a slow response time to things happening on screens. More about that here: Gaming struggles.
Automatic saving
OK, here I go. I’ve been going back to Playstation 3 games again. On original hardware. I love the games of Overlord and I have two for the PS3.
Overlord, both games, feature auto save. There is no manual save option. The auto saves are not often used. It’s happened several times, in both games, that I had done a quest, started a new one and died. And the game took me back to before the finished quest! You’d think there would be an automatic save when you finish a quest? If I have a manual save option I often abuse it every few minutes as I don’t want to lose any of my progress. So losing whole quests due to auto save not saving after finishing them: very BIG peeve for me!
Puzzles in games
Many games have puzzles and they can be quite fun! But when you’re playing a relaxed point and click game and it throws a hard-as-something puzzle at you, it can suck away all the enjoyment for the game. I had it happen in two games that the puzzles weren’t skippable and some even have trophies attached for finishing them. These games also need several plays to get all the trophies. The puzzles are randomized (the worst kind as a visual guide is of no use!) and they made me want to rage quit so badly! I just don’t see the logic. Where some can complete these puzzles within minutes, it takes me many tries and offer me tons of frustrations. One game I managed to finish, the other still isn’t at 100% due to the damn puzzle 😔.
The annoying puzzle in the Agatha Christie ABC Murders game on PS4.
The puzzle in Enigmatis has an unique addon to it making it even more difficult for me. It was a hell! It’s from Enigmatis the Ghosts of Maple Creek on PS4.
QTE bits
QTE stands for “Quick Timed Events”, and the name says it all. If your response time is just a little off, these bits in games can make you stuck till you find a way for someone to help you… 😊
Modern games are coming up with accessibility options for QTE’s. I guess I wasn’t the only one struggling and they realized the events make their games less playable for a group of people who’d otherwise fork over their money to enjoy the games 😉. I know accessibility is also part of marketing these days, but if it helps me (and many others) enjoy games… Heck I’m all for it!
One game that adapted their QTE’s rather well was Man of Medan. The button got changed to the X only and you’ll get a warning when it comes up. I love that!
(Mini) Maps
The last one I can think of now is maps. I love when they include one. But some are so hard to use… The font have any zoom options, they show loads of information you can’t filter, you can’t see different levels, you can’t clearly see where you are… I always use my maps or I’d be so lost in games. So when a map is unusable by me, it makes it harder to enjoy the game. Last game that I struggled with the map was on PS5 with Concrete Genie. I’d been running around for a while and then I had to restart the game and then… The thing I was looking for finally showed up on the map. It’s hard to see because the have a small map for a whole area. I’d love to be able to zoom in to get a little more details.
A picture of my TV with the map opened. I was streaming the game so could not make a screenshot, unfortunately.
What are your biggest pet peeves?
When it comes to trophy hunting, I always hate when you need to do online bits for it but with older games, the servers are taken offline. Meaning you can never get all the trophies 😔. I think this is mostly for PlayStation as Xbox has more backward compabilities and I guess they have more servers still online for their older games… Not sure though, as I don’t have an Xbox.
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Cynni's Blog 
I remember a long time ago, the very first Alien Vs Predator was released on the PC. It only saved between levels so you really had to become a master of each level to progress through the game. The gaming community turned what I thought was a bit nasty and the developers had to issue a patch that allowed you to save anywhere. I feel this made the game much easier but it was a shame seeing then bow to the public.
Speaking of maps, I traded in my copy of Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit for the Switch. In game there’s a map which shows you the racing shortcuts but on the Switch lite screen, I felt it was a bit too small and not so easy to read.
I’m sure I could think of some more. 😁
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Ow I understand the game needing some harder bits in it to be challenging.
But when I complete a quest, I’d like that saved 😇. I did the work needed and I should not have to do it over if I die later in that level. At least that’s how I would prefer it. I don’t need saves during the quests (except for huge ones that take a lot of time), but when it’s done and you get a cut scene, it “should” save after that IMHO. But older games had less save bits so I guess I’m spoiled by newer ones.
Yeah a decent map can make a large difference in the way a game can be played. If the map is easier to use, I find it more enjoyable then when I need to figure it out the hard way, often needing Google or YouTube to help me (these days).
As said these were my personal pet peeves and I’m sure the things that I fuzz about could be a-ok for someone else. 😊
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