Mechanics in games that should just die.

[Psychotic Ninja]

There is really no need for the harshness, Username. You can voice your opinion without calling people names and dissing them. I don't understand how it's so hard to be civil. XD Just Shhhh. If you don't like something, you don't have to say anything. It's not going to ruin your life if you choose to be quiet.

And Helio, calm down. X3 Ya'll need to take a few chill pills.

 

You say that as if I was the only one being a dick here

 

And yet here you are, continuing when we were told to drop it.

[Jeb_CC]

One more word out of either of you Username or Helio and I'm temp banning you. :I Going off topic, unnecessary lashing out, no need for it. And Username, you were the one directly bashing out Helio, that's why I said it as I did. Helio isn't the one calling you a cunt. No more, now. Back on topic please.

[turbodevil]

Pace-slowing-down locations in action game.

 

Great job on your previous mission, Fisher. How about you walk around your plane, go upstairs, buy some weapons, overhear some conversation, call your daughter. Same for you, Corvo. You are truly master assasin. Now have fun walking around Hound Pits pub, searching for princess, cheap trinkets, or peeking at this chick caretaker bathing. Thisis exactly what games yearn for in games, right? (these sequences can last even 20 minutes)

 

NO WE DO NOT!

 

MISSION COMPLETED SCREEN -> MISSION STATISTICS -> SHOP -> STORY & BRIEFING CUTSCENE -> NEXT MISSION

 

FFS

[Meelis13]

NPC-s that you have to follow but are slower than you. Just started with Witcher 3 and im loving it because NPC-s are same speed when you need to follow them

[Heliocentrical]

Level based progression:

Level based progression is a testament to just how much contempt game developers have for their players. Nope, we can't just let you have everything from the get go your brain would probably explode and leak out your ears. Instead of doing things in a simple manner let's make you do a bunch of meaningless grinding to slowly increment a pointless xp bar that goes ding every time you hit what we've designated as levels and at each level you get something. Your our bitch in a Skinner box and we'll make sure you know it.

 

Not to mention this mechanic has infected every website and AAA video game under the sun like a cancer. If you can think of a way to implement one odds are it's there. If level based progression had just stuck to RPGs then I wouldn't be complaining about it but it's everywhere now.

Edited August 2, 2016 by Guest (see edit history)

[K4_Kydure]

Same for you, Corvo. You are truly master assasin. Now have fun walking around Hound Pits pub, searching for princess, cheap trinkets, or peeking at this chick caretaker bathing. Thisis exactly what games yearn for in games, right? (these sequences can last even 20 minutes)

 

NO WE DO NOT!

 

MISSION COMPLETED SCREEN -> MISSION STATISTICS -> SHOP -> STORY & BRIEFING CUTSCENE -> NEXT MISSION

 

FFS

Or you could simply just do the objective which 90% of the time is "go to bed" skipping everything you were complaining about.

[K4_Kydure]

Nope, we can't just let you have everything from the get go

Because having everything from the start would ruin any sense of progression. Imagine playing WoW and you're level 80 with the best gear in the game the moment you started a new character.

 

Your our bitch in a Skinner box and we'll make sure you know it.

I have a feeling you're just parroting Extra Credits now.

[Selfsurprise]

Level based progression:

Level based progression is a testament to just how much contempt game developers have for their players. Nope, we can't just let you have everything from the get go your brain would probably explode and leak out your ears. Instead of doing things in a simple manner let's make you do a bunch of meaningless grinding to slowly increment a pointless xp bar that goes ding every time you hit what we've designated as levels and at each level you get something. Your our bitch in a Skinner box and we'll make sure you know it.

 

Not to mention this mechanic has infected every website and AAA video game under the sun like a cancer. If you can think of a way to implement one odds are it's there. If level based progression had just stuck to RPGs then I wouldn't be complaining about it but it's everywhere now.

I guess it's a geek cultural thing, but levelling characters seems so ubiquitous in the fantasy genre thanks to it's Dungeons & Dragons/d20 heritage that it's hard to imagine doing without it. I suppose there is a point to made about how RPG computer games are arbitrarily engineered to attenuate difficulty, adventures in pen and paper RPG's are typically tailor-made to specifically suit the character/s level/s and has an inherent advantage in those stakes. I agree that the notion of levelling (abilities, weapon mods, "powers", etc) has infiltrated the mindset of game developers to an alarming degree.

[BidetoftheDead]

Unnecessarily forcing limitations in a strategy game to make sure your country doesn't expand too fast. Looking at you Paradox, especially with recent changes to EU4.

[Heliocentrical]

Because having everything from the start would ruin any sense of progression.

There are better ways of creating a sense of progression such as simply giving you something. Like how you acquire guns in Quake 1 for instance. You don't every gun at the get go but at specific intervals you get new weapons and slowly gain more ammo for said weapons. An experience bar by comparison is completely artificial.

 

I have a feeling you're just parroting Extra Credits now.

Don't get me wrong I hate their guts for being trendy game design hipsters and James Portnow is a fraud but every so often they have a point and this is one of them. An experience bar is exactly like a Skinner box. You do a thing and get a reward for doing said thing. Now you could argue that this concept is more endemic to game design itself than just experience bars and I would totally agree with you there.

 

Since you mentioned EC I would like to point out that they're actually in favor of skinner boxes. It's called Gamification. They've mentioned the dangers of skinner boxes, sesame credit and yet they're still all for Gamification. So what EC says doesn't really matter in this regard because they're giant hypocrites.

[turbodevil]

Or you could simply just do the objective which 90% of the time is "go to bed" skipping everything you were complaining about.

Yes, I can skip it. So, I get content that I shouldn't really be doing because it is boring (by design). And I have option to skip it. And this is how games should be made these days, that's fun! And I totally should not complain that game designers won't do that instead:

 

MISSION COMPLETED SCREEN -> MISSION STATISTICS -> SHOP -> STORY & BRIEFING CUTSCENE -> NEXT MISSION

[Ursa Doom]

Do video games still do that thing when you only have one saveslot and the game only uses autosave? Because I hated that.

[K4_Kydure]

Or you could simply just do the objective which 90% of the time is "go to bed" skipping everything you were complaining about.

Yes, I can skip it. So, I get content that I shouldn't really be doing because it is boring (by design). And I have option to skip it. And this is how games should be made these days, that's fun! And I totally should not complain that game designers won't do that instead:

 

MISSION COMPLETED SCREEN -> MISSION STATISTICS -> SHOP -> STORY & BRIEFING CUTSCENE -> NEXT MISSION

You are not making your point clear. All I'm getting from you is that you're complaining about content that you don't like can be skipped and ignored. In the end it's your lost for not getting the extra money and runes around Hounds Pits that would be helpful later on.

[Meelis13]

Do video games still do that thing when you only have one saveslot and the game only uses autosave? Because I hated that.

last game im aware of this is AC: unity

[BTGBullseye]

I never said carry weight, I said weapon limit.

 

I agree about the 2 weapon limit... I think it would be much better to have a weapon harness and inventory space based carry limit.

Context... Can you recognize it?

 

Where in there did I mention weight?

[curt+wraithpantz]

(I dont want to get involved in a flame war so I will just start a new complaint)

 

I wish certain map customizing features on games were better when they are ported to consoles. I dont know if the PC version is any better, but I recently played the new Doom game with my sister and we were dicking around with the snapmap feature. Console games that have any sort of level builder feel intentionally limited compared to their PC versions. I find the same problem exists with the controls and building placements in strategy and management that get console ports.

[turbodevil]

You are not making your point clear. All I'm getting from you...

Transitions between missions are too long. Boring conversations are boring. Short cutscenes fit action games better. Free roaming works in open world games. Free roaming doesn't work in action games with missions in isolated areas. I can't skip boring content, because I don't know if I don't miss out on something important. Putting boring content in game is pointless. Story can be expressed in exciting way.

 

Compare Dishonored to Thief: The Dark Project. In Thief, I can get all the mission details in 2 minute cutscene, through few images and hero's commentary. If something important is going on, hero will inform me. I do not need to chase characters and talk to them to gather hints. I get them all in 2 minute sequence.

 

I can jump from 1 mission to another in few minutes without feeling I'm missing out on something. And it fits action games more. Recently however game designers started to artificially extend games length by additing long, boring transitions between missions which I dislike. And I can't skip it because I don't know if I really dislike it until I experience it.

[K4_Kydure]

Transitions between missions are too long. Boring conversations are boring. Short cutscenes fit action games better. Free roaming works in open world games. Free roaming doesn't work in action games with missions in isolated areas. I can't skip boring content, because I don't know if I don't miss out on something important. Putting boring content in game is pointless. Story can be expressed in exciting way.

 

Compare Dishonored to Thief: The Dark Project. In Thief, I can get all the mission details in 2 minute cutscene, through few images and hero's commentary. If something important is going on, hero will inform me. I do not need to chase characters and talk to them to gather hints. I get them all in 2 minute sequence.

 

I can jump from 1 mission to another in few minutes without feeling I'm missing out on something. And it fits action games more. Recently however game designers started to artificially extend games length by additing long, boring transitions between missions which I dislike. And I can't skip it because I don't know if I really dislike it until I experience it.

The problem you seem to have is instant gratification and hand holding, or rather a lack there of. It makes me wonder why you're even playing stealth games where the point is to avoid action.

[Psychotic Ninja]

 

Where in there did I mention weight?

 

I never said carry weightI said weapon limit.

 

I think it would be much better to have a weapon harness and inventory space based carry limit

 

Next time, get your own damn wording right. What's next? Wondering where you ever said carry limit when you clearly said weapon weight? BTW, carry weight/limit are basically the same thing, especially when the weight's artificial, like in the Elder Scrolls games.

[Blightmare]

Since no one can explain themselves without sass, allow me to give this a shot. /sass

 

Carry limit and weight based systems are 2 different things. The amount you can carry in a weight system can range far more wildly than a carry limit since a carry limit ignores weight and instead focuses on item size and/or item slots. For example, a weapon limit can be: 2 side arm slots, a main weapon(ex: automatic rifle), and a heavy weapon(ex: rocket launcher) whereas a weight limit example could be a 50 kg limit, 50 weapons all weighing 1 kg. A CARRY limit can be like what diablo does where each inventory item takes up a predetermined amount of slots.

 

I agree though that EYE: Divine Cybermancy had a very clever way of dealing with inventory, especially the pockets on your gear acting as slots.