The Ultimate Turnoff - What You Don't Want to See in a Hack

[Masterge77]

the ultamite turn off for me is when you only get a crappy starter, and you don't get to choose it, or if there isa wide verity (3-4 is all i like), and i also hate it when they base their maps off beauy, not playability. the last thing i hate is when you don't find out what evnt you are supose to do, like find the evil team's hq, or go to the lab and talk to the proffesor, when no one, or nothing tells you to do it.

Agreed, and they are hard to navigate, and most of them are DPPt/HGSS tiles inserted into a FireRed hack, and a lot of the time, Kyledoves tiles, which to me, seem kinda pale looking in pallete

Something that I would abosuletly HATE in a hack is for it to contain offensive and/or immature features; racism and sexual themes for example. I like pokemon when it's pure.

South Park and Family guy anyone? Those are the causes of crude hacks, those two shows (mainly the first one I mentioned), In fact, there have been at least a dozen South Park based hacks of SEVERAL commonly hacked games, including Pokemon, Mario, Zelda, and Sonic, the most dreaded being the god forbidded South Park Hoenn stories by Furanki. and South Park Zelda, I hate that show, and how so many people think it's funny, it burns my butt to see people obbsessed with the show and writing stories, comics, and even hacking, with offensive themes from the dreaded SP

Not meaning to be flammitory, but I HATE South Park, HATE IT!!!!!!!!

Now back on topic, it ticks me off to see when people are immature about their hacks and make it totally immature and crappy, with poorly done graphics, and badly drawn fakemon, Quartz is an example

Then there is the repetitive plots, the professor is always named after a tree, the evil team is always called Team *Insert something obvious to evil plans for world domination here* which always focuses on catching the main legendary to make their goals come true, and the Gym leaders and Elite four and the Champion always being the guy/girl who helped you beat the evil team, like Steven, Cynthia, and EVEN ASH KETCHUM HIMSELF, sheesh, and basically having only a few things to do after the end credits roll

Then comes people having the same sprites or imported sprites from DPPt/HGSS, but recolored and labled "Oh hi, I'm an original character, is'nt my sprite just so original?", It just kills me to see recolors

 

[Steampunk-Ish]

The way I judge hacks is very similar to the way I judge other things, like webcomics.

1) Professionalism. This includes grammar and spelling and errors. Seriously. If you're going to post something online post something you're proud of, a hack so riddled with errors that I can't even play it is useless.

2) Writing. Something I've noticed that's similar between hacks and webcomics are 'Mary Sues'. Webcomics have Mary Sue characters, super powerful. Logic never has any effect on them. Everyone loves them, etc.

Mary Sue Hacks generally involve the super powerful Pokemon. Bored of the starters from the game? GOOD. YOU GET LUGIA AND DEOXYS AND EVERY OTHER SUPER AWESOME POKEMON EVAR.

Also falling under writing is other stuff, like (Obviously) the scripting. Remnants from the game you hacked shouldn't be there. Things should make some amount of sense, and the story should have some shred of originality. At this point, I really don't care about any of the _____ Teams anymore. They can have the Pokeverse, I don't want it anymore. If the Team is bad enough to get taken down by ten year olds constantly I don't have any worries about them killing all humans or Pokemon anyways, it requires someone smart to do that.

Also: I have no problem with swearing as long as they do it well. There's a difference between a swear word that helps establish mood and a swear word just there because there's a ten year old behind the keyboard who thinks it's funny.

3) Artsy stuff. I don't have a huge problem with boring maps or similar-to-the-game-cities, but I do have a problem with bad sprites. I don't mind Fakemon, but only if they're decently made. If you're going to make stuff up and put it in your game you should be able to do it decently. And trainer sprites should be sufficiently different. If you just edit the sprites I shouldn't be able to tell you which bases you used.

4) Authors attitude. To be honest, this is kind of a big thing for me. If the author can't take criticism or if they take themselves too seriously I'm inclined to dislike their work. Even if their work is good I still probably won't be too interested if the author throws a hissy fit whenever someone says anything that isn't blindly positive. The type of person irritates me just as much online as they do in real life.

 

[Chevalier]

For me it's:
Fakemon in general.
Badly done tiles.
Grammar.
Undeveloped storyline.

I don't find immediate remakes a mistake because you can come at a game from so many different points of view.

 

[→goon]

I do not like seeing:

-tile errors
-poor mapping
-boring plot lines
-poor scripting
-original scripts from Fire Red
-tiles and palettes that make my eyes bleed
-unorganized threads
-unappealing screen shots without scripts
-amateurishly sprited fakemon
-unreal starters
-wild legendaries

I can't think of any more at the moment.

 

[~Merilyn]

-Firstly, I absolutly, totally and completly DETEST Fakemon, I will not even touch a game is it has those evil things in it.
-Grammar, spelling, punctuation ect.
-Hacks that start out wonderful and go downhill very fast.
-Lack of effort, There is no excuse for lack of trying. This includes hacks who's creator quits after the first Beta.
-Hacks that aren't serious ex: Legendary starter, Wild Aggron before the second city, swearing ect.
-Plain and Thoughtless maps.
-The same beginning, I am sick of Prof. Oaks ugly face staring at me and explaining about Pokemon!
-Jhoto remakes... Enough is enough
-Hacks that are too easy or to hard... usually the former
Well thats enough for one day...

~ItsaLie

 

[Superkid11]

-Firstly, I absolutly, totally and completly DETEST Fakemon, I will not even touch a game is it has those evil things in it.

I know there are a lot of games with badly drawn or otherwise poorly thought out Fakemon all over the place, but what if there are a few fakemon(like, five or six) that have had a lot of effort put into them and fit the game overall?

Right off the bat I can think of Smogon's Create-A-Pokemon projects. Those are some pretty cool fakemon that had weeks of planning put into them.


I do agree with Johto remakes though. Fortunately HeartGold and SoulSilver should kill that.

 

[Pokepal17]

Yeah. One thing I hate about hacks now is where you can go to every region there is including Rijon, Zehri and other fan made regions. Honestly, we need something fresh. I would recommend a 3 region max limit for hacks or Fire Red (dunno about Ruby).

Also, NO MORE GSC REMAKES EVEN IF YOU KNOW ASM OR HAVE THE BEST SPRITER IN THE WORLD!

We have Shiny Gold to take the place of gba G/S/C remake. And Nintendo have also done HGSS, so I don't see the point of another G/S/C remake, even if it's 100% accurate. How many of us would want to play the same game with improved graphics.

So what I don't want to see in a hack is 5,000,000,000,000,000 regions and no more G/S/C remakes.

 

[~Teh Panda~]

Yeah. One thing I hate about hacks now is where you can go to every region there is including Rijon, Zehri and other fan made regions. Honestly, we need something fresh. I would recommend a 3 region max limit for hacks or Fire Red (dunno about Ruby).

Also, NO MORE GSC REMAKES EVEN IF YOU KNOW ASM OR HAVE THE BEST SPRITER IN THE WORLD!

We have Shiny Gold to take the place of gba G/S/C remake. And Nintendo have also done HGSS, so I don't see the point of another G/S/C remake, even if it's 100% accurate. How many of us would want to play the same game with improved graphics.

So what I don't want to see in a hack is 5,000,000,000,000,000 regions and no more G/S/C remakes.

Naa... Liquid Crystal takes the place...

Anyways I hate bad mapping... That really makes me get turned off.

 

[Pokepal17]

Naa... Liquid Crystal takes the place...

Anyways I hate bad mapping... That really makes me get turned off.

I'm not so much as strict when it comes to mapping , although I don't like empty maps which have like one flower in them and maps which are really unplayable, forcing the player to twist and turn.

 

[Saiba Aisu]

Hm, it seems to me that you guys have some serious issues with Fakemon - why, I don't know, as there are truly some lovely artworks and concepts out there. In fact, an ideal hack of mine would consist of 150 new Fakemon, set in a new region, with new attacks, characters, etc. (Unfortunately, this is nigh-impossible to do...)

I would have to say that big turn-offs for me while playing a game are:
- Poor grammar (especially when translated from Spanish to English or some other similar process; this may be because I speak more than one language fluently and cannot conceive anyone who is different in this respect)
- Boring, dull dialogue (The point of the game is to create interest by presenting the player with an engaging storyline and exciting, three-dimensional characters that affect this storyline)
- Over/underleved Pokemon (It's no fun to try and avoid a Level 20 Dugtrio in Pokemon Never's mine segment, when your own Pokemon are barely Level 16/18.

 

[Ivee]

I've played a few hacks, and came across some things that bug me. Even the highly rated ones may have these turn-offs. But anyway...

-Lack of consistent Check Gender command. I am a girl so I play as one, and I do not like NPC's calling me a young man or a dude or sonny! Strangely, one hack I played, a random NPC thought I was male but later on in an important part I was recognized as female.

-Game breaking trainer battles. I know people beg for beta testers, but shouldn't a lot of the game testing be done by the creator(s)? I feel like I'm playing a King's Quest game, except instead of a new screen bringing instant death, talking to a random NPC causes instant game crash. Do some of your own testing before a beta/alpha release, please, I'm sure many people hate losing their progress suddenly.

-Talking main character. I am so used to the Pokemon series having a silent protagonist, I find it really jarring when the player has dialogue. I don't want to play as a sarcastic little child.

-Wild Pokemon at weird levels. I can't remember what hack this was, but I was in a cave where my team (and the other trainers' teams) were roughly in their late 20's. And suddenly a level 45 Golbat WITH MEAN LOOK appears and kills most of my team. And in one of the Yellow remakes, Viridian forest had a level 20 Pidgeotto. Not cool guys :/.
On the other end of the spectrum, this is more of a minor annoyance and is easier to handle, but it is a pain when the wild Pokemon are about level 4, even several gyms in. It makes them hard to catch since your regular team is so high leveled, even a weak move may knock them out, and it's tough to bring the new Pokemon up to the levels of the other guys since it would take too long to grind them.

And lastly!

-Really common grammar mistakes. Its/it's, there/their/they're, and where/were/we're. The "it's" thing I see the most, this catches even the best hackers. "It's" refers to "it is" while "its" is possessive. So a Pikachu stores electricity in its cheeks, not it's cheeks.

 

[Hinchy]

When I first read the thread, I thought the list was another sticky-topic-type thread of DON'Ts for hacks on this forum, e.g. don't post hacks with any of these of they will be removed. After re-reading it it's not the case, but in case anyone else new like me comes across it, perhaps there should be a little "this is a list of opinions, not a list of rules" thing at the top of it? Just a suggestion.

My ultimate pet peeves have mostly already been mentioned, but a talking main character and overleveled Pokemon are definitely among them. Also, I don't like in hacks where the storyline in the beginning is woefully undeveloped (e.g. how you get your first Pokemon and stuff).

 

[SonicBlazePlatinum]

What of a Rom Hacker makes a Rom Hack for fun? Also, there are freedoms called freedom of the press and freedom of opinion.
Things I like in a hack:
Fakemon (Pokemon Quartz)
A game with a Nintendo feel where you have a rival, gym leaders, elite four, and evil team.
Team Magma/Aqua hack would be interesting.
A rom hack with Hoenn starters.
Pokemon Emerald music in a FR Hack.

I said what I like to see in a hack because that thread disappeared somehow.

 

[Ninja Caterpie]

When I first read the thread, I thought the list was another sticky-topic-type thread of DON'Ts for hacks on this forum, e.g. don't post hacks with any of these of they will be removed. After re-reading it it's not the case, but in case anyone else new like me comes across it, perhaps there should be a little "this is a list of opinions, not a list of rules" thing at the top of it? Just a suggestion.

The thread title has "turnoff" in it. Doesn't that come across as opinion enough?

 

[chrunch]

What really annoys me in hacks is...
-Random starters, example: Murkrow, Horsea, Seedot.
-People who just give up on a hack for some reason...
That's all for now!

 

[cheerioscereal]

Well, I have only played a few hacks, but there are a few things, and things other people have problems with.
-The same starters. (Be creative. Don't give legendaries, not random ones. Be creative.)
-Insanely bad grammar/spelling. (I understand minor mistakes, but PROOFREAD.)
-When the hack seems just exactly the same. (I mean if you keep the FR "Wait, don't go" or the same old R/S/E opening. I understand it's hard, but that's what it costs to make a good hack. It's impossible to make a good hack easily.)
-Sometimes I like some grass after a while. (When I played Toxic Purple, It said to go to the Pokemon tower. I wish I could've gotten him a few levels up, but all of the grass was blocked. I know it's a challenge, but sometimes there needs to be an exception. Not thrashing TP, it's one of my favorite hacks, just saying.)
- "My Kid, Dude, Lady" (Remember in Emerald, Professor Birch calls his son / daughter my kid. DON'T. Either use the gender check thing so they will say it correctly, or just use the same type of dialouge as in Fire Red, where they don't call you dude or lady or something.
-I really am tired of swears and offensive jokes in hacks. I understand it is your choice, but what if a kid my age came across a hack with this line?
Bob: Ever heard of the Mexican who went to Pokemon School? Exactly. It is absolutely uncalled for to say anything that offensive, and you should understand many people of that culture have made many EXCELLENT hacks. If I see something like that in a hack, I go crazy, or just delete it off my computer. RATED E for EVERYONE! I've had enough offensive racist jokes from my father.

Sorry if I seem mean, Trust me, I'm not trying to trash any hacks.

 

[Zeta Sukuna]

Well, this is interesting. What turns me off from ROM Hacks?

-Bad story: (Get pokemon from Prof. (Tree), fight Gyms, beat evil team alone, become champion.) Work on it a little more!

-Bad Graphics: No, I'm not talking about like Pokemon R/B/Y or G/S/C, I'm talking about graphics from people who think they can sprite, but can't and it ends up looking horrible. That is a large turn off.

-Unimaginative Team Goals: Ties in with Bad Story. If your villains want to, say... take over the world with an army of evil pokemon, and everything they do goes up to that point, then you have an 'Unimaginative Team Goal'. Team Enel, from something I'm working on has one of these, but they're not the true villains of the Duology. They're only there to start the corruption of the region.

-Spelling Mistakes: Okay, I know that sometimes one or two of these slip through, but if English is your first language, then there's no excuse for you to make a sentence like this.

"hi, im prof. brtch! I wil giv u a pkmn if u do sumthing 4 me."

-Wild Pokemon Encounters: I do not like them to be at around Level 19, at the Seventh Gym. (Looking at Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal) The pokemon should get stronger as you go along, not stay nearly the same! Unless you provide a lot of EXP, then it's going to be tough to level up, and no matter what, it would be tough to catch new pokemon!

-Evil Team beaten before 8th Gym: Again, something I always hated. Ever since G/S/C, the evil team has always been put down after beating the seventh gym! It also brings in some questions. If the team was such a big threat, and the leader was weaker then the Eighth Gym Leader, then why not send in the Elite 4? Or even the 8th Gym Leader? The teams would be too weak at their fullest, and it's just ridiculious.

-Hacks that contain badly made fakemon: Listen, I know you want to make a pokemon, but if you can't make one that looks good, then don't bother. It can turn people off from hacks, and it turns me off from hacks.

-Cursing as every other word: That doesn't make a hack more 'mature'. It's more like when a kid learns the word and begins to say them a lot because they know it. Some in a hack is acceptable, if used in the right context, but if it is in every sentence, then just rewrite the script.

-Easy to catch legends: I know that this probably hasn't been much of a problem, but if the catch rate is easier then Dialga/Palkia (Both at 30, easiest legends to catch if you go by numbers) Then you have a problem.

-Bad Music/No Music: I don't care if all you have is the original music from the game, but if your music that you inserted is crap, then it wouldn't give the hack a mood. Likewise, if there's no music, then nothing entertains your ears, and it gets dull. People want music to set a specific atmosphere.

-Stupid Crossovers: Pokemon x South Park. Nothing needs to be said.

-Hacks by hackers who want to be popular: I'm a little guilty of this, but I got over it. Most people who try to hack for popularity will either...

A: Give up.
B: Make a horrible product
or
C: Get popular momentarily, but lose it, causing him to give up. A combo of 1 and 2.

It's unfortunate, but it's going to happen.

-Hacks that have legends as starters: That just makes the game too easy. What's the point of playing it if it's that easy?

-People promising a bunch of features they can't do: It just ends up failing. All I can really do with my hack is make a new region and events.

-False Finish: When someone says it's done, and there's a bunch of bugs, like there were no beta testers. I'm not saying it should be completely bug-free, because that is impossible. The official games have bugs, but I'm talking about if you talk to someone, and the game shuts down. That is not cool.

That's my list.

 

[Omega Zero]

I dislike hacks that

1. Have fakemon or fused pokemon i just hate it
2. No new tiles thats pretty boring to me
3. Maps aren't done properly and look poor
4. Movement errors like being able to walk on a solid object
5.When scripts aren't good and are poor
6.When you get crap starters

 

[SonicBlazePlatinum]

You don't need new tilesets or the original 386 Pokemon to make a good ROM Hack. ROM Hacks were intended to be creative. I like Pokemon Quartz and Pokemon Marble's original-mon/fakemon.

 

[Harry Blue5]

I don't really like Fakémon. Actually, I don't like MOST ones. If done well, Fakemon are great and imaginative. But not many tend to do good Fakémon.

Also... fusions for no apparent reason... what?