Game Mechanics that need to die.

@Rainbowkisses said:

Having to repeatedly mash a button to lift or open something.

I hate this so much. Especially when you get no consequence from failing it. Hell, I would understand if some big brute was chasing you down and you had to mash to open that door open. But, when its just you and the door/chest, that's just annoying.

Bullshit collectibles designed to artificially lengthen a game, like collect a million Riddler trophies!

Quick time events with little or no hinting its gonna happen. 

QTE's.

But I must clarify. I like QTE's where if you fail, something happens. Not the ones where you have to try again. But lets say if I successfully perform a QTE, I run out of the way and find a chest - or something. And if I don't, I run out of the way (toward a different direction) and I just don't get the chest. No penalty for not completing the QTE, but there is a reward if I do perform it.

Ya dig?

I guess I would like to see the almost exclusive tie between combat and XP in RPG go away. In many pen and paper RPGs, you can gain experience by specifically avoiding combat, it is still not the case in video games enough. I know some do encourage other approaches, but combat is still the main experience grinder you can find, and there are not unlimited other ways to grind your characters, once you have exhausted the non-violent ways to gain XP that the devs have built into the game, it is back to fighting and grinding through combat. Too bad.

@Bell_End said:

Lines of dialogue that repeat after you die everytime.

Most of the things in this thread don't bother me but I'm with you on this. If I'm dying a lot on a particular part its already frustrating but this like rubs your face in it.

@Bell_End said:

Lines of dialogue that repeat after you die everytime.

LOOK AT ALL THAT JUICE!

Junk items in games. Don't see why you can't just give the player the gold value of the junk items. Maybe something to do with loot tables?

@bemusedchunk said:

QTE's.

But I must clarify. I like QTE's where if you fail, something happens. Not the ones where you have to try again. But lets say if I successfully perform a QTE, I run out of the way and find a chest - or something. And if I don't, I run out of the way (toward a different direction) and I just don't get the chest. No penalty for not completing the QTE, but there is a reward if I do perform it.

Ya dig?

Binary Domain had some weird new space age QTE's which threw me in for a loop the first time they happened (and I think theres literally 3 instances in the entire game where you they appear)

They had unique win and lose animations so thats neat.

Rail shooting sequences. That's what's going to be the absolute worst part of RE6.

@BoringK said:

This is a little specific, but I just played through Skyward Sword and I am FED UP with the "wallet" that limits how much money you can carry, something that's been a problem with the Zelda franchise for years.

"You found a Gold Rupee! It's worth 300 Rupees, which are GONE FOREVER because your wallet is FULL of money you can't even spend on anything unless you wanna talk to the fortune teller eighty times! Lucky!"

Infuriating.

You need to let go, it sounds like the actual problem here is that you have nothing to spend your rupee on, which is something Zelda has had a problem with for ages, the only Zeldas that made decent use out of the rupee were LOZ1 and Windwaker (specifically the auction house). Other than that its just a series hold over that doesn't really mean a whole lot in the grand scheme.

Oh boy, let's see.

• Arbitrary dialogue options (basic good/evil choices--what's the point if you've essentially picked good/evil at the outset?)
• Most QTEs
• Deaths returning you to your last save file (fuck you, game; I was too busy playing to save)
• Hint systems that can't be disabled
• Unskippable cutscenes (I usually watch everything, but if it's before a difficult boss that I keep dying to, then I'll be pissed)

@Humanity: Awesome! Picked it up in a sale and can't wait to play it. There's another game that had similar ones - I just can't remember the name right now...

Jam on screen so real.

@FluxWaveZ said:

Needing to pick up ammo manually instead of a character performing the action automatically. It's unnecessary.

No way, that was awesome in Crysis! Certainly not in every game, but it fit the flow that Crytek were going for very well.

@DoctorWelch said:

None, because it all depends what game that mechanic is in and how it is implemented.

And really, this is the correct answer as far as I'm concerned. There is a time and a place for more or less anything.

@SockemJetpack said:

Encumbrance should be a toggle. If you want to play with it you can but give people who play the console version the option. First thing I do when playing PC games with encumbrance is bring up the console commands and fix that.

This. I understand if you are a hardcore old school RPG player you would be all for encumburance, but its honestly a horrible game feature. In Skyrim I'm already carrying an impossible amount of items that are invisibly stored within my character, so what makes the difference if I am holding 15 dragon bones or 150?

Let me think...

• Quick Time Events
• Escort missions
• Stealth missions in non-stealth games
• Two-weapon limit
• Weapon/item degradation, especially when it happens quickly
• Constantly respawning enemies in linear games
• Unskippable cutscenes
• The inability to save anywhere
• Forced tank levels (if it's a choice, fine, but I hate controlling tanks)
• Turret sections
• Repeatedly mashing a button to open something, as opposed to holding it or just pressing it.
• Limited wallets (Bioshock)
• Taking away all your weapons and asking you to go find them again after you've spent two thirds of a game maxing out ammo. (*ahem* Doom 3)

I'm sure there are many more, but I can't think of them at the moment.

I'm in favor of encumbrance because it keeps you from filling up your inventory with junk. Sure, it's annoying when it gets so full and you need to organize it, but that's why you're supposed to manage it. It's part of the game. Don't take shit you don't need - that scrappy bandit's boot isn't going to net you much gold at the local shop so leave it on him.

And, finally, this one's weird but ammo limits. No, really - let me carry all of the bullets that I can find. Honestly. Please? If I spend the entire game not using my shotgun and I take it out for the final two or three missions to find that I have a million billion shells for it, that would be awesome. This complaint stems mostly from the Gears of War series, where ammo limits went down in every new iteration. It also stems from the Halo series, where the Battle Rifles and SMG's (the two most fun guns to use in the second game at least) can't hold enough ammo to last more than half a firefight even if all you get are headshots. Or Resistance 3, where the awesome shotgun can only hold 24 shells (8 in the chamber or whatever it is, 16 in a pocket somewhere).

@SuperWristBands said:

@Baillie said:

The hell is a jump puzzle?

I'm assuming it means platforming. I had never heard the term prior to Guild Wars 2 talk and people are referring to what seems to just be platforming sections. Sounds silly to me.

This:

They were more common in old school shooters. A very short and small one isn't that bad, but when there are a lot of them it's incredibly annoying.

This isn't really a mechanic but when I select a weapon for a character and it just appears in their hand instead of them pulling it from somewhere.

Drinking from toilets, I just want to see if it flushes man not drink from it.

@phrali said:

item durability

This is debatable, It would more depend on the game the does it.

@believer258 said:

And, finally, this one's weird but ammo limits. No, really - let me carry all of the bullets that I can find. Honestly. Please? If I spend the entire game not using my shotgun and I take it out for the final two or three missions to find that I have a million billion shells for it, that would be awesome. This complaint stems mostly from the Gears of War series, where ammo limits went down in every new iteration. It also stems from the Halo series, where the Battle Rifles and SMG's (the two most fun guns to use in the second game at least) can't hold enough ammo to last more than half a firefight even if all you get are headshots. Or Resistance 3, where the awesome shotgun can only hold 24 shells (8 in the chamber or whatever it is, 16 in a pocket somewhere).

Certain games handle this well by making ammo scarce. What I think breaks immersion is if you have max ammo for one gun and none for another but still can't pick up anymore ammo for the first. I think maybe an overall ammo cap might be fun. Another rocket or 20 more shotgun shells? A real Sophie's Choice.

@Tordah said:

Checkpoints leading into an unskippable cutscene followed by a difficult combat scenario...

That's the worst! Checkpoint after the 60+ second cutscene, please! Especially if I'm playing on the hardest difficulty. I shouldn't have to wait any longer than the time it takes to reload the scenario to get back into it!

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

EDIT: Well fuck... Thanks a lot Parchment.

@FluxWaveZ said:

Needing to pick up ammo manually instead of a character performing the action automatically. It's unnecessary.

Right, everyone needs cock magnets that pick em up when you go over em.

Picking up ammo is so uncommon, and any example I can think of it works to serve a tightly worked gameplay formula. I don't actually think automatic bullet gathering is bad in games, just that saying manual pickups have no value is a little silly. The rush you get trying to get ammo in Gears when things are popping off, or the connection to the physicality that the Crysis ammo pickup animation gives is something I really appreciate.

But I can kinda understand it being annoying. I just don't think many games that make you do it make you do it very often (I don't need to constantly get more ammo in gears, for example).

Crysis is actually a nice middle point, because it actually lets you do either one. Ammo can totally be picked up automatically or manually.

@SockemJetpack said:

Encumbrance should be a toggle. If you want to play with it you can but give people who play the console version the option. First thing I do when playing PC games with encumbrance is bring up the console commands and fix that.

I think people that complain about encumbrance are silly. I can kind of understand it because it's silly that it lets you take more than you can fit, but it's not the restriction that's the problem, it's the fact that most of the games that use it often just fuck you when you accidentally get too much because you weren't paying attention. But it makes sense to restrict a player's inventory, and it's not like it's really that restricting in most of the games. Dragon Age, Bethesda games both use those systems, but you can still hold a hell of a lot, even without a high strength modifier or what have you. Games shouldn't let you care everything. That'd silly. But it'd be nice if Bethesda games in particular would be better communicated and it probably shouldn't let you just pick up all of the paintbrushes. If you want to go into the console and change that, fine, but I don't think it's something you can ever expect devs to do. Because it sorta breaks their games. It's a slippery slope to just letting players turn on god mode and infinite ammo (which I'm fine with if it's done like in CoD 4, but less so just having it open from the start)

@1DER said:

Invisible walls.

God yes. Invisible walls ruined Dear Esther (well, that and it costing way too much). They are the gameplay equivalent of Dead Space's PC controls. A complete lack of effort on an important part of the game.

Random encounters are awful.

@Ravenlight: Have either of you guys ever carried ammo on your bodies in real life? I think ammo limits are two things 1) Most games are pretty generous letting you carry 200ish rounds for two weapons with pretty large bullets. (2 A way to stop someone in a shooter from rampaging indefinitely with their weapon of choice.

I hate when I have to escort an A.I. companion so that they can open a door for me to proceed. Also the slow "Gears of War" walk. What game mechanics do you wish would die?

On rail shooting. I just find it annoying and tedious.

@Erk_Forever said:

@Ravenlight: Have either of you guys ever carried ammo on your bodies in real life? I think ammo limits are two things 1) Most games are pretty generous letting you carry 200ish rounds for two weapons with pretty large bullets. (2 A way to stop someone in a shooter from rampaging indefinitely with their weapon of choice.

In the same vein, have you ever murdered hundreds of dudes with automatic weapons over the course of several days without ever using the bathroom? Video games, man :P

Unskippable dialog and cut scenes.

QTEs

@bemusedchunk said:

QTE's.

But I must clarify. I like QTE's where if you fail, something happens. Not the ones where you have to try again. But lets say if I successfully perform a QTE, I run out of the way and find a chest - or something. And if I don't, I run out of the way (toward a different direction) and I just don't get the chest. No penalty for not completing the QTE, but there is a reward if I do perform it.

Ya dig?

I've been thinking about this recently and I wish more games used this mechanic with their QTE's. The only thing I can really remember having this was the car scene in Heavy Rain.

Cid.

@davidwitten22 said:

Platforming elements being forced into games where they don't belong. If I'm playing a survival horror game I'm not very interested in inching my way across a very thin bridge because the controls are bad and not meant to perform such an action.

Indeed.... especially when it's first person platforming.

Mirrors Edge did it right. If your game isn't designed to be a platformer, don't bother. It's not enjoyable.

@Hector said:

On rail shooting. I just find it annoying and tedious.

Everytime I encounter a turret sequence I can't help but shake my head. It's just not okay anymore. Especially since most rail shooting sequences are so poorly executed (look at ME3, I love that game but come on).

Not sure if this is a mechanic, but man do I hate the audio dropping out as people get farther away from you or you turn your back to them. I noticed in Space Marine earlier I was two metres away from a lady, but because I had turned the corner she sounded like she was talking from another room, whilst trapped in a tin can. It's not realistic, it actually reminds me i'm playing a game. Games have done this forever and i'm surprised it has stuck around for so long.

@fini_fly: Make it a risk vs. reward thing - just don't punish me if i fuck it up...

@bemusedchunk: True. It would be nice to have a significant number of paths so that there are not only unique solutions, but several ways to get there.

@fini_fly: That's pretty much my dream game. Not just conversation trees - but actual decisions which alter how the game moves forward.

Not a mechanic, but falling off ledges because of attack animation

Quests where if you don't follow an exact sequence of correct dialog the quest fails forcing you to reload your save if you want to complete the quest

Escort Missions

Timed challenges. Might be harsh in saying they need to die, but I've given up on so many games because I've screwed up a timed challenge.

@SmilingPig said:

Drinking from toilets, I just want to see if it flushes man not drink from it.

This. First time I played Fallout 3 I saw a toilet and same as you I wanted to see if it would flush. Nope. I just dunked my head in there and had a slurp. Wonderful. Now I'm irradiated and I have poo in my teeth.

Quick time events and escort missions

Dragon quest 8 is a good source of bad game mechanics:

• large open fields that take an hour to traverse with nothing but one treasure chest at the very end
• the same random battles over and over and over
• weapon proficiencies. Great, now my characters are forced to use only the one weapon type they put skill points into.
• characters with stories who become mutes once they join the party
• slow movement speeds
• the winning boss strategy is always attack/heal x 1000

Star Ocean: Till the end of time is another good source:

• crafting systems which are nothing more than money dumps
• dialogue that explains things that are already painfully obvious
• dialogue choices with long-term consequences that the player cannot possibly predict at that point in time
• Dozens of missable achievements
• huge swathes of readable text that add nothing of value to this story or environment

Controls that cannot be changed; encumbrance of small/less relevant items such as cutlary, food, jewelry etc.; enemies spawning infinitely (unless there's a good story justification); invisible walls; fetch quests.

Unskippable cutscenes.

No way to change controls (pre-sets are alright, but why can't you just bind them how you want)

escort missions. i hate them as escorting people usually are dumb. another thing i hate is when they walk slower than you. if there is a button to walk slower then you still end up walking faster.

games that are laggy on consoles.

@ShaggE: I hope that never happens, though I agree with your frustration. Everything playing the same way would blow.