Custom Story pet peeves

[Starmada]

We all know about the overuse of jump scares and such, but what other things just really bother you when you see them in custom stories and mods?

One really big one that I can't stand is when you light a candle or a torch, the area surrounding it doesn't light up AT ALL. I can light a single dinky candle in my home in pitch blackness, and it lights up an entire room, maybe not super bright, but it still produces an effect. I have a hard time accepting the "unnatural darkness" thing too, because even in the main game with that reason in effect, a light source still produced light when lit.

How about the rest of you? What little things really irritate you when you see them in a custom story?

[Romulator]

>walks in room
>room looks well set out
>sees key on desk
>picks up key
>monster spawns and runs to room

I hate cliche encounters and situations which make no sense. How can I throw a chair around a room endlessly, making loud, annoying sounds and nothing occurs? Whereas picking up a key, which makes little to no sound, causes a brute to knock down a door behind me?

[Mudbill]

>you picked up an item
>you use the item immediately
>item is never used again

I much prefer items to at least serve some proper purpose. In rare cases does this setup work for me. For example you pick up a crowbar, then use the crowbar on the closest door, and then the crowbar is removed from your inventory. If there's no real reason to use that item there, why is it there? The door might as well just be unlocked to begin with.

[Sleepbug]

>you picked up an item
>you use the item immediately
>item is never used again

I much prefer items to at least serve some proper purpose. In rare cases does this setup work for me. For example you pick up a crowbar, then use the crowbar on the closest door, and then the crowbar is removed from your inventory. If there's no real reason to use that item there, why is it there? The door might as well just be unlocked to begin with.

I think it's even worse when their excuse is that the item broke. At least let the player use the crowbar several times before it breaks - just because the crowbar is rusty doesn't mean it'll break in two from opening one door!

[AGP]

>you picked up an item
>you use the item immediately
>item is never used again

I much prefer items to at least serve some proper purpose. In rare cases does this setup work for me. For example you pick up a crowbar, then use the crowbar on the closest door, and then the crowbar is removed from your inventory. If there's no real reason to use that item there, why is it there? The door might as well just be unlocked to begin with.

This is something that has always bothered me. >.< It bothered me to the point that in my own mod, I fixed that because it's a crowbar! Those things are heavy and hard to break let alone use once and never use again. DX

[SlackerinDeNile]

- Poor English translations of text and dialogue. Surely it's not hard to come onto the Frictional games forums and find someone who can write and speak well in English to translate your story for you?

- Stories that make absolutely no sense even within the context of their own fantasy realm. If it's a comedy CS then I don't mind, even if the comedy isn't very good but when its trying to be a serious drama or horror CS then this flaw just ruins the atmosphere of the whole thing and makes it pathetic and laughable. For example, Castle of devastating diseases, or whatever it was called.

- Voice acting clearly done in digital voice producing software, either hire a real human being or just have the dialogue entirely in text. This almost completely ruins a CS for me, White Night is actually really good without the atrocious, blander than plastic cheese, digital voice acting.

- I'm not sure whether or not I should put 'the small horse' and other similar, wacky, copyright breaking custom stories on this list. Some of them I actually find quite entertaining in a surreal and childish way, but most of them are just far too deranged and god awful in terms of quality.

- Literally throwing the player around the level or across large rooms for no other reason than a very cheap scare. It's incredibly stupid and irritating, like in cheesy science fiction tv shows when an energy field, weapon or being chucks a character or two across the set for 'action purposes'.

- LOUD NOISES! BANG! "YAAAAAH!" CHEAP JUMPSCARE! What ever happened to careful, subtle build-up of tension and terror?

[DanielRand47]

Poorly written stories that literally make no sense. If it kind of makes sense then I'm okay with it, because at least effort was put forth. Another thing is poorly placed items. A fine example is from A Call from Another Dimension, where you had to find a key to exit a room. Problem was that the key was located on the top of a tall shelf with a faint blue light that you could not see. How is anyone supposed to know that. I would mention lighting, but I'm not so great at that myself. On a developer level, it is code written horizontal and not vertical. It is impossible to read horizontal code.

[Daktoa]

-Overuse of red lighting
-Constant use of the suitor enemy for "originality"
-Custom stories always taking place in a house instead of a castle or any other set of walls and floors they have
-Brute entering the story too quickly

[Kurton]

"NO jumpscares!!!!! its a very srs story lol"

[Darkfire]

Empty maps.
Disability to use lighting.
Lack of puzzles different than opening doors with keys.
When developer doesn't develop for an unknowing player to play (unexplained plot or senseless puzzles)

PS. I'm glad to see that you guys like when items are used multiple times ;P