Haha, I fully agree with you! It makes me lose interest quickly.
It’s a shame because ultimately I do think it is a very good visual storytelling tool. I think the first time I encountered it was in Son of Satan(?) and I was impressed how much that animation could convey (specifically, the character was falling down, so the words were set up vertically, very nice touch).
I think a good compromise would be to keep the animation, but allow it to skip with a click. Then you would still know what feeling was supposed to be conveyed without having to wait for it to load.
I do this once in a while, just tor dramatic emphasis. And yes, some Japanese-made visual novels employ this technique, too, considering they occupy fewer characters in the text box.
Misclicking on important choice and no second confirmation. Sure, I understand rollback isn’t there, and I agree on minor choices it’ll be too hard to implement. but if some game lets me just pick a HUGE plot choice without second confirmation it can break the whole game for me.
Muddy checks. English is not my native language. Usually I can guess which choice checks which stat. But quite often games like to use weird stats and weird way of wording… and even weirder reasoning to level up stats I didn’t expect to get… and it all comes up to me clicking the choice I think checks my best stats and failing. I love games that give the option to show which stats get checked and I hate ones that don’t.
No romance = no friendship. Some games have this weird thing where if you romance one character you can’t befriend other possible RO. Like, either they’re a prominent plot character or they just disappear altogether. This is strange decision and I always hate it - similar to having to spend all choices on RO to ‘max up’ the affection otherwise later check fucks me over.
Hence why I prefer ‘show stats’ options. More often than not, my mind is not on the same page as the authors was for stat/choice mixes. Especially when cross nationality.
Run across same nationality problems as well. Think was this but its that.
Another reason I liked DA2 conversation wheel. It was obvious this is hate, this is joke, this is a question or it was accept.
Right? Even worse when you have to choose between spending time with the RO or doing something else that would raise your stats. I mean, I want to romance the characters but I also want to be competent at doing my job lol
I also love the friendship paths (and sometimes go through some games without romancing anyone) so I’m always a bit sad when the only way to get to know the characters better is by romancing them.
I very much adore games where, alongside romance, there’s an option or few to get brotherly\sisterly bond or platonic comradery (like being a teacher, student, or trusted right hand for your boss).
Oh man so right. I like playing witty and charismatic characters and here and there I find myself picking RO options for character I didn’t intend to. Always such a strange feeling to reject them when they assume I’m coming onto them.
I am very sarcastic type of person so I totally get the pain. Like, I would totally reply to “I like you.” with “And I hate your guts” but very few games manage to add bite-y dark humor responces
“Chef, I am saying this with genuine affection but if you don’t get that ******* ************* meat prepped right ************* now.” ()
still plating intensely “Meet me behind the dumpster on your smoke break.” ()
“If knife safety were not paramount in my kitchen, I would threaten to stab you to death if you do not finish that meat.”
“Work on the meat, Chef!” Is not even dismissal of the confession to me, it’s just kitchen panic lol I love it
(None of this is unsolicited advice so much as me cackling while imagining my coworkers or myself in this situation and our brains being like “thats fine but the plate though” and then four hours later being like “so you wanna get a beer after close but like with romantic intent or smth?”)
There is one… creature… that started bothering me recently: the unavoidable childhood/best friend character. “Unavoidable” because you can’t choose to not be friends with them, and they all tend to have samey personalities to boot. But what if I want to RP and asocial jerk? A loner? Just someone who wouldn’t be friends with a person like this? Please give me an option to be at least ambivalent to them
I have the opposite issue where instead of being allowed to be friend with the character the game literally introduced as my friend, I’m endlessly asked ‘You sure you don’t hate them yet?’ every 2 pages.
Same for basically any parents or parental figures.
Now that you mention it, I have a small issue with “choices” that check the intention of the character. These choices don’t change the action or outcome but allow the player to imbue the action with meaning. The story “forces” you to do something but gives you a chance to define the “why.” My problem isn’t with this concept itself but with how frequently the story asks about my character’s motivation for every other choice. These are clearly meant to be filler choices to break the prose and shorten the distances between choices, so the player feels like they are interacting with the story. However, this trick gets old fast.
For example, I was recently playing Stars Arisen (not throwing shade, it’s an enjoyable read, but I had this minor gripe and it’s the freshest example in my mind), and there are constant choices to pick whose side I’m on and why, it didn’t change the story, I was still doing the same mission, it only changed the reasoning. I was like, “I think we already established that, and there hasn’t been any major development to change my mind, so can we move on from this?”
Same. Though it’s kinda funny (in a way) when the MC is constantly worried about their well-being or instantly happy whenever they’re near, and as the player I just wish I could stay away from them for the rest of the game lol
On the opposite side, there are the characters that seem to hate the MC solely because they exist. Like, I love a good rivalry, but I also need a good reason as to why the character hates the MC so much in the first place (or why they hate each other in the cases where the animosity isn’t one-sided)
I don’t personally mind the character not having a good reason, as long as the MC can be frustrated about the lack of one (or just go “okay whatever” and try to ignore them).
Definitely my favorite response when that’s the case. I think I mostly need one because while I like this dynamic, I wouldn’t be particularly interested in a route like this if all the hate (one-sided or otherwise) is because of something very small.
but very few games manage to add bite-y dark humor responces
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