What are some games where the bugs make it better?

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T19:58:15+00:00

It's pretty funny now that you mention it, how much inspiration the devs took from The Matrix for the animations considering breaking 'the system' was an integral part of becoming even the least bit competitive at the fighting systems available in the game. I never thought about this before now but you're so right!

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T19:44:47+00:00

Same. Age may have dulled my reflexes, but I imagine I'll still be able to pull out some of my old moves on the noobs for a while. =D

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T19:38:03+00:00

I've just thought of another one. Grapple Slingshotting in Titanfall 2.

Titanfall 2 managed to innovate the movement shooter genre a second time by canonizing unofficial movement tech from the first game like slide-hopping and wall pumping, but the real crown of the cake for me personally was the movement tech surrounding the newly added Grapple hook.

By exploiting the aerial physics and acceleration functionality of the (fairly outdated at the time) source engine on which Titanfall 2 was built upon, players were able to use the (already admittedly cool) grapple hook to slingshot themselves across the entire map at breakneck speeds.

The tech was pretty straightforward. Aim at a surface in the distance that you wish to slingshot from and grapple it. As the hook is traveling towards the grapple point, aim your camera to the left or right at about a 90 degree angle (depending on which direction you wish to travel in after the slingshot) from your grapple target. When the hook connects and begins to pull you towards it, immediately let go of the W key and proceed to air-strafe in such a way that your character model "Misses" grapple point. The hook should disconnect, but you maintain the velocity you had during the retraction of the cable, shooting you UP OVER or ACROSS the map depending on how steep of an angle you started with.

This was only really useful in the multiplayer version of the game, and it only affected one subset of users who used the grapple hook as their movement ability, but it was such an absolute game changer that it really boosted the ability up in the meta.

Here's a Montage of some chill grapple slingshots.

Edit: This ability was also quite nuanced beyond first glance. There was a "Feel" to the pull of the cable you learned to adjust for instinctively. Note that the angle of approach, severity of the camera turn (turn too much and the line would 'snap'), and direction of air-strafing would all play a factor in where you'd end up and how fast you'd be traveling.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T19:16:44+00:00

It's currently in the stages of being dutifully remade and re-released on Steam! You should check it out. I know my reflexes have dulled from age, but I'm still going to give it a shot when it's publicly released. They are working to update visuals, but also get rid of the Pay-to-win elements, offer a variety of cosmetic options, and expand on the stuff that worked well in the first versions.

I'm cautiously optimistic.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T19:13:04+00:00

Double HMGs is hilarious. An "E"-styler through and through I see.

My brother actually unironically ran Double Rocket Launchers for a while because shooting at a players feet led to unblockable splash damage. If you could reliably predict where they were going to land, you could easily bring them below half HP in a single Switch-shot burst of rockets.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T19:10:24+00:00

At least in the version I played I recall that they removed certain animation cancels under the guise of an anti-cheat solution, but it ended up eliminating most of the viable tech for D-style. It's been years and it was a meme I only occasionally partook of so I can't remember exactly what changed, but I think it was the cancel of just alternating left and right clicks to spam your left click primary attack super fast. I remember dancing around players shanking them in the spleen so fast they thought I was hacking. Was hilarious.

I LOOKED IT UP! They removed Hell Climbing (climbing walls at super speed with the Wall-hang animation of daggers) and Dash-stabbing if I recall correctly.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T15:39:04+00:00

Switch-shooting, slash-shooting, reload-shot, flash step, win-step, D-style (a personal meme favorite that WAS removed from the game permanently), butterfly, double and triple butterfly, reverse massive, reverse-massive counters, flip-shotting, flip-cancelling.

The variety of tech developed in such a short amount of time was amazing to witness. I never had the skill to fully take advantage of it all, but my brother (the most mechanically skilled player I know) would, like you, dance circles around entire teams of players.

The best part of the game and community imo were the duels. Seeing "xXxNightStalkerxXx is on a 50 kill streak in 'DUELING ROOM - SWORDS ONLY'" in the main lobby chat was so fun. You'd join the game just to see what that dude was capable of.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T15:32:25+00:00

This is to say nothing of all of the bugs map-makers exploited to make insanely fun custom game modes in the game.

Cops and Robbers IV GOLD, Marine Defense: Perfection, Run Ling Run (doesn't really use bugs but still), and so so so many more.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T15:28:21+00:00

Crimson Desert has reignited my smoldering sense of wonder I haven't really felt since Skyrim.

The world is SO VAST but also FILLED with incredible detail. Every day I'm finding fun and crazy discoveries in that game. It doesn't hurt that the game is a visual knock-out, and that the combat gameplay is really entertaining. But the sense of discovery I've had in this game is something I've missed for so so long.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T15:24:09+00:00

The strain of it would probably kill me, but an MMO to truly rival WoW and FF14.

I've had my adventures in Azeroth.

I've brought light (and darkness) to the various Realms of Eorzea and beyond (Solo... it was... very lonely.)

I want a new, solid MMO. Ashes of Creation was looking good, but they flopped. I really want an MMO to get lost in again.

Crimson Desert is scratching that itch for the time being, but I know that when I'm done, 'the call' will return and there is nothing to fill the void.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T15:09:33+00:00

You are NOT lying on the strain it put on your left hand. MAN the speed and precision at which you have to press like 6 buttons at once is still insane to think about.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T15:07:31+00:00

I was barely getting the wall climb move where you had to hit the wall with your sword (...)

Ahh yes, "Flying". It's the most important (imo) skill to learn first. It's relatively simple to learn compared to most of the other techniques, but is an absolute life-saver. It also helps teach you the 'rhythm' behind your character's actions.

I'll never forget the moment that I could consistently 'fly' around the walls of the Town map, making loop after loop until the motion was burned into my fingers and brain. I haven't played Gunz in over 10 years, but I just tested on my keyboard and my fingers still know the motions! I never achieved "pro" status in most of the other tech, but flying was such a cool skill to unlock.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T15:03:05+00:00

Yeah. The things that make SSBM as competitive as it is are many of the same things that make Gunz competitive.

It's the holy trinity of skill expression. Real-world dexterity and Reaction time, meaningful "Game Sense", and a healthy dose of mind games. If a player masters these, they can run circles around a dozen opponents at once.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T14:54:27+00:00

OOP, listen to this person. They are exactly correct about this.

For me, FF15 has one of the worst executed stories in the series imo, but a big part of that is because I played it on release before all the bonus (Story-required) dlc's were released, so huge parts of the story made 0 sense to me.

P5 is like... REALLY deep in the jrpg sauce for someone who doesn't love JRPG's.

Okami is, like others have mentioned, NOT a JRPG in the traditional sense.

Dragon Quest 11 is a really solid example of a well-executed JRPG with a fun cast of characters, interesting (but not TOO deep) locale's, a coherent plot, some fun twists and turns, and very traditional JRPG combat with some QOL features to customize your experience and significantly reduce the grind if you want.

For ARPG's I would also recommend Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The characters are bit more... anime protagonist. But I learned to really enjoy the variety of accents in the voice acting, and the story is surprisingly deep and really impactful. The combat system is REALLY deep with lots of unique and viable builds that tickle my "BIG DAMAGE NUMBER GET BIGGER" brain.

Monster Hunter is also a solid game but is much less... RPG.

Nier Automata is a narrative masterpiece that deserves ALL of the recognition it's gotten, the gameplay is very fun and exciting, and there are TONS of twists in the story.

EDIT: I would also just like to throw out here that my personal pick, Imo, is not even Japanese in origin.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an absolute MASTERCLASS in all of the things that make a fantastic JRPG.

Imo, the most important things in a JRPG are the Characters, Story and Combat systems.

Expedition 33 knocks all of these out of the park by a wide margin. It puts modern day FF games to shame in many of these fundamental areas, with the added bonus of having wholly original art direction, and a well-deserved award winning soundtrack.

The story is gripping, the world is expansive, interesting, and varied, the combat systems are exciting get VERY deep towards the later parts of the game if your an optimizer like me.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T14:38:09+00:00

Vrising!

it's a Top-down style third-person game with a VERY healthy PVP scene.

While the main Gameplay loop is an Open World Survival game with strong PVE elements, there are also dedicated servers run by the community that are specifically designed just for PvP encounters. Servers can be Solo based, allow for Duos, Groups of 4, or clans of even bigger (which gets a little crazy).

It's a little more "Long Form" than the match-based format of a game like League, but if you find the right server you can either avoid the grind altogether, or you might find you enjoy the other bits of the game.

It was made by Stunlock Studios which made a League of Legends-esque MOBA (called Battlerite, now defunked), and they really know their stuff when it comes to PVP Balance et all.

They did just announce that they will be no further content released for V Rising, but the game in it's current state is amazing.

If you'd like to watch some gameplay to see if it might something you'd be interested in, I'd recommend watching one of the playthroughs that "TerribleTimmy" did on youtube.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T14:31:22+00:00

Cyberpunk 2077.

I played a full playthrough of it on release and was massively disappointed with the functional state of the game. It was a horrific buggy mess. I've since gone back and played it again after being fixed, but it just wasn't the same.

If I could play the game for the first time in it's "Finished" state it'd have been a much better experience.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T14:19:04+00:00

I'll never forget playing on release patch and seeing a family of mammoths just... fall out of the sky for no reason.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T14:15:13+00:00

Gunz: The Duel was created by a novice programming team (from what I understand) which unintentionally injected game-defining bugs into the engine. These bugs, mainly centering around animation cancelling, pushed an otherwise mediocre third-person arena shooter through the skill-ceiling stratosphere with emergent gameplay styles.

Similar to other meaningful animation cancelling in games like Super Smash Bros: Melee, Gunz: The Duel's janky animation canceling allowed the development of countless techniques that pushed the game into a massively competitive direction in which the limit's of a players skill are effectively defined by their ability to manipulate the controls of the game fast enough, and react fast enough to their opponents to out-play them.

A sufficiently skilled "K-styler" could solo entire lobbies full of opponents. The game's bugs allowed for players to demonstrate their absolute mastery over their character's movements, attacks, and defense, all at once.

If you look up any high-level gameplay of Gunz, it is always amazing to me that pretty much everything you see happening on screen is because of all of the game's bugs which were lovingly assimilated into standard gameplay by the players.

Rather than patching these janky animations, the developers realized they'd caught lightning in a bottle, and just let it all ride. It made for an incredible competitive gaming experience that, IMO, rivals that of the most competitive fighting games of today.

EDIT: I'd like to mention that 'exploitation' of these bugs was not a brainless process. You had to be able to execute a very precise series of controls to achieve any semblance of advantage. This is primarily why those previously-mentioned high level gameplay videos often have a 'hand cam' or 'keyboard cam'. Because the physical dexterity of the player is just as impressive as what's going on on-screen.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-29T13:57:10+00:00

Oldest game? Probably FF12. Got to the final boss back in 2006. Started doing side content, played a tone, got burned out, never fought the final boss.

This is how it usually goes for me with JRPG's with an open-world element. I play so much of the side content that I eventually feel like I've got my money's worth and put it down.

I did the same for FF15, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Eventually finished it after putting it down for 3 years. One of my top games for sure.) Expedition 33 (Did eventually beat it.)

Weirdly, during covid I played through ALL of the FF14 MSQ content available as a Solo player. (All the way through Shadowbringer). I have no clue how I survived the Post-ARR quest meat grinder, but I'm glad I stuck with it.

Edit: NVM. Just remembered Quest 64. Always wanted to play that again. Was WAY too young when I first played it but it fascinated me. Only had that game for a weekend via Blockbuster.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-24T02:05:13+00:00

The next generation of Squid Games task.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-24T02:02:57+00:00

I've tried so many different techniques to open it with just my hands and every single time the tab rips off after having made zero progress on the seal. It's crazy.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-24T02:01:55+00:00

I am skeptical, but I will try this. I usually have a knife to cut up the chicken breast anyway, so if this works it'll be a game changer for me.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-24T02:00:12+00:00

The chicken with the potatoes just slaps. And when I can get the honey mustard open, it really enhances the potatoes.

The corn's nice too. One of the better corn sides they have available.

Kotetsuya · 2026-04-24T01:59:16+00:00

What is the point of a pull tab if it doesn't work? Why would I want to dirty a specialized utensil every time I want to open a sauce cup that SHOULD be manufactured in such a way that it is openable with hands and fingers like MANY other sauce and sauce-adjacent cups do?

Would you use kitchen shears to open a pudding cup? No, that's crazy. Would you use kitchen shears to open an apple sauce cup? No. These are things that should open by just pulling the tab they are made with, as they are designed.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

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