Things that you will NEVER include in your game, or hope to never see in another's.

[Kain Nobel]

Inproperly Placed Checkpoints: These are something that piss me off the most. Since I'm playing the Megaman Anniversary Collection right now, I'll use that as an example; when you have to hop over a bunch of oddly patterned bricks, just to hop over another section of oddly patterned bricks, just to hop over yet ANOTHER section of oddly patterned bricks... to get to the point where you have MORE ODDLY PATTERNED BRICKS OVER A HOLE TRAP... and the last part is the most frustrating... I don't want to fall in the hole and die, just to go over the first 3 sets again before I can tackle the 4th set that gets me the worst.

Things You Absolutely Can't Dodge: More of a minor irration than anything, but paired with the fact that you're getting your ass half-handed to you from a single hit, with many more assaults coming your way, this is when it becomes bothersome. I can't count how many times I've come across a boss that, no matter what he's going to hit you at least once, but completely trolls you with these overly whimsical projectiles that never fail to hit and reduce your life by halves and thirds. The challenge is already there, as it is nearly impossible to dodge these attacks, but its overkill to make each hit so dramatic.

Just let it end already: I guess this is more of a nitpick I have with followers of certain movie and game franchises, than an actual game itself. What happens is... the end of things will come, and leave you with a bunch of unanswered questions and cliffhangers. Furthermore, people will dwell on these things, and then demand another re-hash of said adventure, instead of letting the characters retire and the story to be put to rest.

When it doesn't end: Another nitpick I have; when a company realises that the fans just won't let it die! While I'm happy that there really isn't a Chrono Trigger 2 (unless you count Chrono Cross), I get tired of the revisits to the world of Final Fantasy VII; suddenly, in the past you have another bad guy besides that Sephiroth dude, and in the future, you've got 3 Seph-wannabes running around doing... whatever it is they do. Why? Just let it die already, everybody lives happily ever after.

Boring story scenes: Its almost inevitable with RPGs... keyword 'almost'. While at one point or another, you're going to have to let the character know whats going on, and why, but sometimes the explainations can be too much to stomach. A good remedy to this would be a journal/log system of some sorts where, if the player really persists to know wtf is going on, they can open a log book and read in greater detail than what the dialog covers. For instance, instead of having NPC 8 tell you everything you need to know about [insert subject here], he can give you a pamplet that you can read later on your own liesure, only if you feel the need.

HYDUKEN/KAMIKAMIHA!!!!!: Alright so... you've got a pretty wealthy cast of characters who all have their dynamic signature abilities exclusive to them, then you have the main character who everybody else tries to be like; suddenly, everybody looks like the main protagonist and sports all the same moves, such as their Hyduken/Kamikamiha! So... what makes the main character special anymore? Nothing really... perhaps their legacy is something to be spoken about, and perhaps they're so perfectly balanced that maybe you don't want to choose anybody else but, other than that, there isn't much to make them feel unique anymore :/

[Guest]

I agree with everything you said totally kain. One of my pet peeves is that boss that you have to be level 99 and have every single materia for to even stand a chance against. Not only that but you have to cast Auto-Regen, Auto Life, Auto- Dispel, Autobots, all before trying to attack in that order or you won't even be able to fight the monster because All of their attacks give you instant death with limit break damages. I love rpgs but I also have to work and tend to a family so I don't have 13 hours a day to dedicate to one game to level everyone up to the millionth power. The challenge is cool but it kinda sucks that I can't get the ultimate weapon and ever see what it does because i refuse to cheat and it takes forever otherwise.

[Wyatt]

I like adding pop culture references but would never, ever, add anything Final Fantasy related or any hints at FF memes... they're just so damn overdone nowadays!

[ALUCARDfromHELLSING]

+ No random encounters as well. I don't mind them in J-RPGs but I do not wanna add them. So all enemies are visible on map in my game.

+ Useless skills.

+ VERY easy game. Or if it's UNREAL hard from the beginning.

+ Very rare save points. They are not making game harder but make them more annoying IMO, when you need to go (stop playing) and there is not a single save point anywhere near. That ain't cool at all.

Main character death = game over. Playing the Persona series, it really grates my nerves to be met with the game over sign whenever some enemies decide to have fun and gang up on the MC... Particularly when instant death spells are fairly common.

Same here. I was always like "No, damn! Please no don't die... no... Ok, I'm gonna beat you later..." lol

The young hero: I have no complaint with the 16 to 18 year old male hero as it helps the target audience (usually that age and gender) relate to the main character. What I hate is that never do the characters escape with trauma, the fact that when they've never wielded a sword before in their life they can suddenly swing it like a master swordsman or the fact that they never seem to have any self doubt what so ever. Seriously I'm 20 and I still sit in my chair for an hour thinking that there's a good chance I will never get anywhere in life. Some people hate Tidus as a main character in FFX because of his likelihood to fret of minor things and cry at the concept of Yuna dying. Honestly he was the most believable main character I've played in a long time.

QFT
I don't get all hate for Tidus as well. And it's not 'cause Final Fantasy X is my favorite game/rpg and I'm so biased about it. I think he is one of the BEST and Alive main-chars in RPGs. It's like Shion from Xenosaga. People call her slow and stupid but damn she acts like Real person not like a robot, like Tidus she has emotions and etc.

[Hyetal]

Throw my hat into the "young hero" circle. Eighteen I'll let slide, sixteen is a maybe, but when the whole cast is like twelve years old, then it's just ridiculous. Kids are idiots; I know, I used to be one. To hear any kind of poignant or meaningful dialogue coming out of a nine-year-old just seems to false and forced... -_-;

Anyway, I can't think of anything else. Whenever I look at this thread I get my head cluttered with everyone else's thoughts and can't think up anything on my own. *^-^*

Edit

Oh wait, I did think of something. Missable items.

I hate when I get far into a game and, perhaps, open a FAQ to figure out how to beat this really hard boss. Oh, he's easy if you use the Fire Sword? Well, I didn't get the Fire Sword, since it only has a 5% chance of dropping from this one rare boss.

So in my game, there will be no unique items that can be missed.

And the related mate is the rare drops from unique monsters. If you put a super-strong sword on a one-time-only boss with a slim drop rate, guess what? Everyone's going to keep resetting and fighting him again and again until they get that sword. And that's not fun to me.

If you know the way to get an item, that will be the only thing you need in my game. You won't be foiled by a small drop chance. The Super Demon Lord will always have the Ice Shield. And the Super Demon Lord will always appear under certain, non-random conditions. The challenge is figuring them out.

[Shiroiyuki]

Annoying voices. I just HATE IT when I get involved in a game and suddenly a new character comes on screen whose voice is AGONY.

Fran from FFXII almost killed me. Sounded like a frog choking on a wad of phlegm, caught underwater in a tube sock. She would have been such a cool character if she didn't sound like my 85 year old neighbor after the emphysema and Parkinson’s kicked in. Hated that chick. Skipped almost every cut scene halfway into her speeches just. Because. I. HATED. HER. VOICE. Hell, for half the game I refused to use her Quickenings simply on the grounds of self-preservation. I'd innocently be sitting there, watching my little on-screen minions wallop the enemy, when a random 'TREMBLE' or ‘IT ENDS NOW’ would crop up and make me gag. Gah!

So if you add a vocal clip, please do me a favor....BETA TEST IT with a large group of people FIRST. If 90% of your survey group doesn't try hanging themselves with their belt, go ahead and add it.


HORRIBLE MUSIC. Ever get to a spot in a game when the BGM suddenly switches to some random ear-grating little terror of a tune that makes you hurt for no apparent reason? And you sit there and think, 'Gosh, this is horrible...better find a way off of this map and QUICK'....

Until you've heard the EXACT SAME LOOPING MUSIC FOR TWO HOURS because you CAN'T ESCAPE? Seriously? Or the menu -- which you have to visit at least once and a while -- has its own music which is utterly unstoppable and annoying. I don't want to be stuck listening to a mishmash of twanging forks, mewing cats, and goat bleats rejected by kindergarten music class. Get some real music and make sure to select songs that FIT WITH YOUR THEME.

Pro tip: it totally DOES show if you put no effort into music selection.

Music sets the atmosphere of your game. Yes, I can simply turn off the audio on my computer and flip on my favorite CD, but where is the point in that? You've just decreased the replay value of your game by 40%, buddy.

[Hyetal]

I hate weak, pointless monsters. When the party size is 4 and you never fight more than 3 monsters at once, and they're one-shottable even by the healer... that's not a fight, that's filler.

The lion's share of what a player does in most RPGs is fighting, so for most fighting to be lame, simplistic busy work is just... so completely pointless! >_<

On a related note, I hate the highly unbalanced stats. When you start the game and you have 700 HP, and you're doing 200 damage to guys with 50 HP who can hit you for 10... eh.

[Hyetal]

Oh, and this exchange...

A: "Thank you for saving me... but I don't even know your name!"

B: "I am Abraham Lincoln."

A: "Well then, thank you, Mr. Lincoln!"

B: "Please, call me Abraham. Now, farewell, Miss...?"

A: "Oh, my name is Megan Fox."

B: "Please take care, Miss Fox."

A: "Gosh, you can call me Megan!"

NO.

I'm reminded of an SNL skit where Tom Hanks joins Steve Martin in the Four-time Hosts' Club.

Tom Hanks: "Wow! It's nice to meet you, Mr. Martin!"

Steve Martin: "Ha ha! Come on, now. You can just call me Mr. Steve Martin."

My characters will introduce themselves with what they want to be known as. And, I've got characters who will just call one another whatever they feel like.

"Well, let me be frank—"

"Anything you say, Frankie-boy."

[XP Kobold]

And the related mate is the rare drops from unique monsters. If you put a super-strong sword on a one-time-only boss with a slim drop rate, guess what? Everyone's going to keep resetting and fighting him again and again until they get that sword. And that's not fun to me.

If you know the way to get an item, that will be the only thing you need in my game. You won't be foiled by a small drop chance. The Super Demon Lord will always have the Ice Shield. And the Super Demon Lord will always appear under certain, non-random conditions. The challenge is figuring them out.

The most dreaded of them all Randomly Drops. Basically Final Fantasy 4, Earthbound, and other RPG's are notorious for this.

Basically if your going to be making something like there. There's better be a passive skill that increases the rare item drop rate. or the ability to just steal the rare item. Final Fantasy X and X-2 Solved that problem with Master Thief.

[Regimos]

I agree with many here. Rather than echoing what's been said, I'll go ahead and post a few on my list.

Insanely Big Numbers
Right, a couple hundred or even thousand points of damage are tolerable, but when numbers start reaching into the millions? Sure, large numbers do help the feeling that you and your enemies are growing more and more powerful, but what happened to simplicity here? All this can be accomplished by starting in the ones and tens. I just find it irksome to keep track of things when each regular punch in the game deals 3000 damage.

Messy HUDs/Menus/battle layout
Now, don't get me wrong, the XAS ABS is an amazing script... but, just take a look at this screenshot below and tell me what you notice about it.

Image1

Yeah, you're probably thinking, what the hell is going on.
Sure, fanciness is great, but there's always a limit. Imagine yourself playing this game, and trying to keep track of every single thing: your HP, your SP, your EXP, your status, your weapon, shield, items (and quantities), spells (and MP costs), your dash bar, your overdrive bar, your weapon level AND your enemy's HP, all the while slashing away in the middle of a fog of numbers. It doesn't help that the HUD is distributed across 3 corners of the screen either, forcing you to dart your eyes around the entire place.

Now compare to this:

Image2

Your health in hearts, your sword, and your shield. All you need is there, clean and simple. There are no numbers floating all over the places, no visual fog effects clogging up the battlefield. This is the kind of feeling you want for your HUDs.