The worst game mechanics?

[Beck 2,553]

Hi all,

There's a thread on another forum I frequent about peoples least favourite game mechanics and wondered what yours were.

I'll start the ball rolling with infinitely respawning enemies until you pass a certain point.

This really pisses me off in games since sometimes I like to sit back on the towns outskirts for example and snipe everyone rather than running in guns blazing. Now obviously if those enemies keep respawning until I actually walk through the gate on the other side of town then I'm obviously never going to progress and all those kills I just racked up I have to do again up close and personal.

I'd much rather there be a set number of enemies in town and having the game allow me to approach the situation however I want.

So what are your least favourite? Regenerating health? Experience points? Classes? QTE's?

[Froyok 46]

Personally : any QTE in any game. It's even worse if they are random (Hello Assassin's Creed III). It's even, even worse if you can't predic them, like when you rest during a cinematic and BOOM, a QTE kills you... during a cinematic. Currently, the only good QTE I saw was in Prince of persia : the two thrones. The QTE is related to an action key which is itself related to the weapon that you use. Also, the QTE is launched by you, not by the game (it's a QTE used to eliminate quickly a guard without fighting).

Exemple (at 5:45) : http://youtu.be/dAQPxFryQGc?t=5m43s

(This is the tutorial, so it's very slow)

Edited February 25, 2013 by Froyok

[Beck 2,553]

Yeah that QTE in PoP looks fine, since you know it's coming. Kind of like the reload mechanic in Gears of War where if you hit the reload button again whilst reloading at the right time you reload slightly faster and get a slight damage boost for that clip. If you messed up you jammed the gun.

Shenmue is one of my favourite games and that is full of QTE's. But the game was slower paced than most and you kind of knew most of them were coming. The ones that weren't so obvious rarely had negative consequences, they just opened up new dialogue options and different branches in the story. I felt that worked since it kind of reinforced the games world, where random things could happen.

But QTE's in most games are handled badly and really don't fit like you said. They're just bolted on to make cinematics more "engaging" when in reality they just ruin it or are totally unexpected/undesired.

[blackdog 4,418]

the only good QTE I saw was in Prince of persia : the two thrones [...] the QTE is launched by you, not by the game (it's a QTE used to eliminate quickly a guard without fighting)

Yeah, that is really a great implementation.

As most people i too do hate QTEs, but I have to say that, despite all my swearing while playing it, looking back I like the system that was used in The Indigo Profecy/Fahrenheit... after a while you got used to it, it actually made sense because actions where like mapped on what you had to do (like dodging a car). Unfortunately sequences were just too long and repetetive, giving the feeling of those video-games played over the phone during a tv-show.

I think that in the end it's a matter of context.

[AlexM 1,149]

Do unskippable intro tutorials count?

[Beck 2,553]

Do unskippable intro tutorials count?

Definitely, I hate them myself!

[Sprony 8]

Perhaps I'm just old school but I really hate that all the corpses magically disappear in most modern games. I like to have a moment and look back to carnage I caused.

[Grinwhrl 273]

Sprony, that's not a mechanic, that's a performance thing.

I'm also not a fan of QTE's, at least when they are not done right, for example, AC3 and The force Unleashed games.

Unskippable intro tutorials can be annoying too, I hate em, but they are needed most of the time. I've done a bunch of work to try and make this stuff clear but more systemic. New players really suck at learning game mechanics. Its hilarious how hard it is to even get a player to learn how to take cover for example.

Edited February 25, 2013 by Dark

[D3ads 2,307]

Doors that lock behind you even though you just walked through them without any trouble (yes Max Payne 3, I'm looking at you)

[Sprony 8]

Sprony, that's not a mechanic, that's a performance thing.

I'm also not a fan of QTE's, at least when they are not done right, for example, AC3 and The force Unleashed games.

Unskippable intro tutorials can be annoying too, I hate em, but they are needed most of the time. I've done a bunch of work to try and make this stuff clear but more systemic. New players really suck at learning game mechanics. Its hilarious how hard it is to even get a player to learn how to take cover for example.

Just because it has to do with performance doesn't mean it's not an mechanic. There are more examples in which both are effected like the locking of doors behind you.

Edited February 25, 2013 by SpronyvanJohnson

[dux 4,281]

Bloody screen so real, health regen, ironisghts in everything - but I guess those really aren't much of a mechanic but I'm bored to death of them, press x not to die

Whats worse than unskippable cinematics is unskippable intros for the game. Sat there for over a minute watching some spinning logo explode into fire or something.

[Beck 2,553]

Doors that lock behind you even though you just walked through them without any trouble (yes Max Payne 3, I'm looking at you)

Yeah that caught me out a few times, especially with the golden gun parts. I'd often see a split route and go explore one direction intending to go back and explore the other, only to be greeted by a locked door since I had progressed too far. >_<

Bloody screen so real, health regen,

Edited February 25, 2013 by Beck

[Psy 180]

I despise games with save checkpoints just before 10 MINUTE LONG UNSKIPPABLE CUT SCENES.

Yes. I'm looking at you Paper Mario 2. It had a 10 minute long cut scene just before the final boss. If you die, you had to rewatch the WHOLE FUCKING THING. I must of watched that cutscene about 30 or so times before I was able to finally beat the bastard.

Edited February 25, 2013 by Psy

[Beck 2,553]

I despise games with save checkpoints just before 10 MINUTE LONG UNSKIPPABLE CUT SCENES.

Yes. I'm looking at you Paper Mario 2. It had a 10 minute long cut scene just before the final boss. If you die, you had to rewatch the WHOLE FUCKING THING. I must of watched that cutscene about 30 or so times before I was able to finally beat the bastard.

Yeah that's horrible.

Alternatively, cut scenes without basic controls are very annoying, especially in this day and age. For example, pause or skip. Sometimes I have to leave the game for a second in the middle of a cut scene. It'd be nice if I could pause it so I don't miss anything.

[Grinwhrl 273]

Sprony, that's not a mechanic, that's a performance thing.

I'm also not a fan of QTE's, at least when they are not done right, for example, AC3 and The force Unleashed games.

Unskippable intro tutorials can be annoying too, I hate em, but they are needed most of the time. I've done a bunch of work to try and make this stuff clear but more systemic. New players really suck at learning game mechanics. Its hilarious how hard it is to even get a player to learn how to take cover for example.

Just because it has to do with performance doesn't mean it's not an mechanic. There are more examples in which both are effected like the locking of doors behind you.

Both of these are performance/progression tricks, why else would they be used? Its to either lock players in so they cant fuck up the game, or becase stuff behind the player must be unloaded, etc. Yes they both suck, I agree.

Edited February 25, 2013 by Dark