Mechanics that are justified by story.

In one of the latest Gamespot Gameplay podcasts they started discussing games with gameplay mechanics and/or limitations that are justified by the game world, like the mission requirements for full synchronization and the fact that you can't kill innocent people in Assassin's Creed, or the hud and health indicator in Dead Space.

There is also stuff that contradicts the fiction in some games. In Resident Evil you can get bitten by a zombie, heal yourself with a spray or herb and have it not infect you.

Can you guys think of other examples of both cases?

My favorite justified mechanic is Driver: San Francisco, which came up with an amazing justification for the shift mechanic, and then did some really neat things with it in some of the later missions.

There's also Persona 3, but that's kind of a big spoiler for what mechanic I'm thinking of.

I can't really think of that many for the second case off the top of my head though.

I think the focus on melee combat was pretty justified by the story in Sleeping Dogs. Except in the late game where you kill half of Hong-Kong.

Thinking of contradiction, I think you can point to RDR & GTAIV for a contradiction between killing everyone & the respective main characters of said games talking about how much they don't want to kill people any more in cutscenes. Other than that though, I got nothing.

'dem powers in Dishonored.

bioshock- they justify your every action through story, you cant get much bigger than that

Bulletstorm would be another one where your kill skill score is justified for being a tool to ensure that only the most top tier soldiers can survive.

for The Warriors, when you get to the point where you're replaying the movie, you don't have guns because no one was allowed to bring any to the big meeting, and so you're forced to melee your way back home which is clear across New York.

The contradiction though is that you NEVER get guns, even when you're defending your own turf from an invading gang. In fact, guns are used only 3 times through the entire game, and one of them is a cut scene. The player never gets to use them

Also on the contradiction side, that's one of the big reasons we never had a truly great Superman game, they always have to contrive a bunch of stuff to make it work.

@Maajin said:

Also on the contradiction side, that's one of the big reasons we never had a truly great Superman game, they always have to contrive a bunch of stuff to make it work.

Thats why Superman sucks. He has every power and it makes him utterly boring.

@WilliamHenry said:

@Maajin said:

Also on the contradiction side, that's one of the big reasons we never had a truly great Superman game, they always have to contrive a bunch of stuff to make it work.

Thats why Superman sucks. He has every power and it makes him utterly boring.

At least they tried to get around this problem in interesting ways, like making your health bar the health of the city.

Assassin's Creed's fiction was literally designed from the ground up to accommodate their gameplay.

Dead Space's strategic dismemberment actually makes perfect sense; it's dead flesh animated by a frequency, not a living creature. The frequency only ceases animation of the flesh once it's no longer useful; when it's limbs or blown off.

Smash TV justified all it's mechanics with The Running Man's story

My theoretical turn based strategy game I'm designing would have story justification for the turn basedness of the strategy, but that probably doesn't count... Since it only exists in my head...

I always like it when games do this but damn if I'm not blanking on any examples from games right at this moment. Does in fiction menus like the Pip Boy in Fallout 3 count?

Grabbing/climbing in Shadow of the Colossus, mostly because of what revolves around that mechanic at the end of the game.

There is a humongous number of games for both sides. Gonna be kinda big lists ~.^

Games like Heavy Rain and Shenmue have clunky controls so that you value space. You don't zip around rooms like other game, so its sort of like real life where you actually have to make a effort to move around.

Pokemon has your pokemon getting stronger both by defeating other pokemon (goes along with the theory of evolution) and the friendship stat (goes along with the the idea that a pokemon and their trainer are a team.)

Metal Gear Solid 3 has the first aid and food system which is justified because Snake is out in the wild surviving for himself. Same goes for MGS4's Psyche meter. The theme of that entire game is how a soldiers emotions can dictate how they perform in battle. Old Snake doesn't have the nano machines to suppress his emotions. Also if you kill like 100 people in a chapter of that game Snake vomits just to show how messed up war is. Also when your health gets too low, Snake or Raiden bleed out on the flood, your health drains away and guards can follow your blood trail to find you. Many mechanics in those games are meant to show you that despite being tough, your no super hero. If your starving your stomach can grumble giving away your position, also your aim is less steady when your pyche/ stamina meter is low.

There's plenty, but from the top of my head: the fact that Vanille in FFXIII starts with 3 ATB bars. It's a cute form of foreshadowing.

Nier also does a lot of shit with its interface getting influenced by the plot, like actually completely changing the menus once you acquire Grimoire Weiss. Or ending D.

The story justification for why you have two screens in 999 is fucking crazy

The Mass Effect series is a great example, seeing as every mechanic, enemy, and item in the game is thoroughly explained through narration.

@Maajin said:

health indicator in Dead Space.

Really doesn't make that much sense if you think about. How does having it on your back help him in any way? probably the worst place you could put it as Isaac can't see it at all