I don't mind them IF it makes sense that they would have a lot of HP, like say a writhing monstrosity as big as a building, you'd expect it even.

>For me, it's the exact oppsite: if I want to do stealth (I love stealth!), but am forced to go all guns blazing
(like GR:Wildlands does from time to time).

>Also, all of a sudden - limited time only, to achieve some goal.
Especially, when -for the majority of the game- the devs let you play in your own pace, as long as you don't screw things up (again: GR:Wildlands does that in some missions).

But I like and enjoy Wildlands, nonetheless - it just makes me wanna throw something out of the window, from time to time. :)

>In turnbased games - a turn limit.
Let me play in my own pace - I'll definitely find a way to screw missions up, even without limited turns.

>Games, that don't let you progress after a certain point, if you don't fulfill a certain amount of points, etc., thus excluding you from parts of the game, that you also paid for.

The most rage-inducing example I can think of, would be (for me) the Wii game "Boom Blox", by EA.

Yeah - I know, I know...git gud! That really helps.

But honestly: I don't know how often I tried one of the later levels in that game, without making the least necessary amount of points to progress to the next level.

Maybe I'll have to explain: the game lets you win a level in three stages (bronze, silver and gold). The more points, the better.
However - you must reach at least bronze, to progress - no negotiations on this. It's bronze or bust!

In that one level, you'd have to get (I can't remember...let's say...) 2000 points to get bronze, and thus get to the next level.
Never got I more than 1990 points...never - not a single time. Ten fucking points always missing.

For me, it's very seldom, that a game makes me so angry, that I have to go out and take a walk...just to calm down, breath to ten and relax...

But this game managed that rare feat.
I also did invite others to come and try it...to no avail. Nobody made it to the 2000 point mark, most didn't even come close to me.
So, I paid for that game, and I can't play it entirely, just because of some arbitrary number, set by the devs.

If the devs would instead have included the possibility to move on with some punishment (no medal for this level/ malus on the total points, whatever, really) I'd be fine with that...but they didn't.
And that sucks.

Oh yeah - especially in games that are no racing games.
I remember one of the earliest levels in "Vietcong", where you'd had to drive in a limited time to an outpost.

The game as such is a true classic, one of my most beloved shooters - and that's the crux - it's a shooter, not a driving game.
I don't know, how often I had to retry that level, before I finally made it to that outpost. :)

Point'n'Click Adventures

- When I know exactly what to do - but the character doesn't want to do it, because I missed clicking that one spot that triggers the "Aha, I have to do this next!" epiphany with them. I'm looking at you, Cognition.
- Pixel hunting (too many to name...)
- When there are lots of locations open, things to try, people to talk to and the game does not give any hint where the next one thing is that triggers progress. Hey Syberia, sounds familiar?

Shooters
- I second bullet sponges, esp. with human/humanoid enemies who should go down with a head shot
- Jump'n'run sections (Hello Turok!)
- Hose like levels - let me explore just a little!

RPGs
- When all character building and preparation is thrown out of the window, because the boss battle is some stupid game of skill completely ignoring everything you've invested in before. Yes, I'm looking at you, Two Worlds 2!
- Fancy sounding skills that are then not (or only once or twice) usable in the game.

Games with stealth elements
- Things that block you sight - but not that of the enemies. Far Cry, do you hear me?

Open world games
- Let me make my own map markers with note! Hell, Ultima Underworld could do this, why not Witcher 3 (or the TES games...)
- To much handholding - let me find my own way, please.

Fetch quests in RPGs. Especially when you're near/at the level cap.

Reminds me...

RPGs: Level caps, if you reach them rather early with a lot of game left.

Anything timed

Oh yeah, or when you already clicked on every available hotspot, collecting all available items, but somehow, you can't progress.
And you wonder and you try the most silly combinations of things, because "something's gotta work, nah?"
And then - after endless minutes (maybe hours) of frustration, you are so desperate, that you click on long emptied hotspots again - and all of a sudden, a prior completely looted trashcan contains an item, with which you finally can progress the story.
But in no way is there any explanation, how it comes, that that new item appeared into that place.

I hate that kind of shit.

Edit: oh and bulletsponges, of course.
And/or bosses, that are per the game's story, just average human beings, but in a fight develop superhuman strenghts.
(Alpha Protocol, anyone? - that Russian flummy?)

Platforming sections, like the the dream sequences in max payne(which btw are a great anti-drug campaign), in games that don't have controls designed for it like third person and first person shooters

I find it annoying when this happens in RPGs.

One think I've encountered is situations where, in order to progress, you need to talk to everyone in town, and the town has at least one person who is easy to miss or forget about (like a prisoner in the town's jail).

This is the sort of thing that would make me not classify a game as an RPG in the first place, and is therefore undesirable if I am looking for an RPG.

Actually, regarding TES games:

In Arena, and Daggerfall (IIRC) you actually can make map markers with your own notes. The catch is that they only appear on the local map (no world map appearances), and in Arena the map will get cleared if you visit enough areas to fill the game's memory area designated for map storage. (Also, the clear is not done in a good way; the map removed is the one least recently created, not the one you least recently visited.)

Oblivion allows you to set (but not label) one map marker; the marker appears in blue and will appear on the compuass as well.

Does this bother you in other games? For example, does this bother you in a game like Ys (where you reach max level halfway through the game, but which I don't classify as an RPG), Castlevania 1 (where you can easily get two whip power-ups in the first level of the game, and then can't level it up for the rest (unless you die and are sent back to level 1), or Cave Story (where leveling up a weapon to level 3 is fairly quick, but you lose XP and can level down when you get hit)?

Totally agree. I enjoyed watching a letsplay of gta IV and V, but when I played IV, I found I was stuck having to drive 10 minutes to a location, then do the shooting. One death or mission failure, I have to go through the monotony of driving a long distance just to get another shot. Under these circumstances, a skyrim or fallout 4 f5 quick save would save me that boring hassle of driving to the start of the mission.

Would love to try hardcore but repeatedly travelling the same roads in fallout IV and skyrim would bore me.

Having a character's powers be taken away at the beginning for whatever reason.

I know it would be hard to make a game with a character that already has a full arsenal, especially for games like Metroid, but It just happens so often.

Honestly though, I don't know what other choice there would be. I don't want to play a game where i start off as power level 70 and end at like 75.

Two common jrpg features: stealing from enemies (why not just loot when dead? It's not like steeling from enemies in Fallout, where if you steal their gun they can't shoot you with it any more) and the fact that characters are over the hill at 20: if you haven't saved (or threatened) the world at least twice by the time you're 14, you're an abysmal failure.

I totally get that. What about hybrid systems where you can call or transfer reinforcements?
Well, for the former, can you consider what there would be to loot after bisecting a goblin with a claymore, or hitting them with a holy light.

As for the latter, I feel that's mostly an Asian sort of philosophy; that you're supposed to have your life figured out by 20 and if you haven't gotten into any role, well you're as bad as a Christmas cake in May.

I do honestly get that; but I feel even more offensive is having your equipment arbitrarily restricted because daddy didn't say so.

Not being able to fire a gun in a nuclear disposal facility? Makes sense. Not being able to equip a fireproof suit in a room on fire? Asinine.
Well, I suppose the root blame goes back to Half-Life for that. We still haven't mastered ladders for some reason.
Okay, I understand, but could you get me this important plot item and then lose it several times?

Often those types of levels do include reinforcements at some point, so I think it's pretty part and parcel to the type level. Strategy games where you can transfer in reinforcements as you like? Like the Earth series perhaps. Yeah I've had fun with a few games like that, but I never really got into one.
But it's not a general pet peeve applicable to the whole genre though. I think it just depends on the particular game and the particular level. That is, I don't need base building or reinforcements to be present in an rts level or anything like that. It's just that sometimes it works, and sometimes if fails miserably, and I think that with base building rts games it's very easy to quickly hash together a non-base building level that is just painful to complete. Age of Empires1&2, C&C1, KKND1&2 all come to mind.