Current Events > Outdated game mechanics.

(+) Yeah! (+)

What game mechanics do you consider outdated?

Having to start at the beginning of the video game when you die is pretty dated. It's fake challenge after a while when the first couple stages aren't the ones that kill you anyway.

Having to put on passwords is dated too, thank goodness for save data.


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Manual saving
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Silent protagonists not named doom guy or link.
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Using the d-pad to move a cursor.

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Continues/lives dichotomy, although I don't think any new games have that anymore. I realized this with Mario Sunshine, the only difference was that a continue took slightly longer to get back to where you were. Not that lives systems are inherently bad, but they should serve a purpose, not be nearly identical to just continuing.

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Timers a la Super Mario Bros 1; inconsequential and can mostly be ignored. I'm all for things with soft timers and rewards (s rank, stars, whatever) but "beat this in 999 seconds or you die, but if you take your time it'll only be <400 anyways" is an arcade game holdover.
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Turning on any screen.

Why can't I close my eyes and have the image projected onto the inside of my eyelids?


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Password-based saving
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- Rubberbanding in racing games. If I smoke the ai, let them stay back there.

- Level scaling. This doesn't make the game harder, it just removes the sense of progression

- Limited inventory space. If I'm playing a game that encourages looting a bunch of stuff, don't make it so that I have to sell/scrap things constantly to have space for things. Especially annoying when you have to get rid of said items one by one...

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Tediousness disguised as difficulty. Something taking a long time doesn't mean its hard. In before patience is a form of difficulty.

Lives

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Passwords
Limited continues
Taking turns in 2 player games

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"you just died, so we'll confiscate your items/health/abillilties/money and if you want them back then trek back to the scene of your death after you respawn"



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Boss battles, theyre just extra padding to games and makes them more harder ugh.

Serious answer: walk and talk sections. Look if you got story to tell in your game then tell it through cutscenes, dialogue boxes and whatnot. But dont pretend that youre making an interactive/engaging experience by having the player hold up on the control stick during an exposition dump.

Inb4 some doofus says turn based combat

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kernel-level DRM

some doofus saying turn based combat

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Interactive animations that have nothing to do with actually playing a game. You can't lose in them or anything, you just have to press the buttons when prompted.

You know the ones I mean. You approach a rusty door and you have to tap X 15 times to wrench it open.

Last of Us loved this shit.

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Spawn flipping like in call of duty. Usually seems like a way to try and compensate for poor map design. Its better when shooters have alternate away spawns as opposed to just flipping the team spawns

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Having the bow and arrow be OP in games. Silent killer that usually one shot bad guys and often has recoverable ammo.

MarthGoomba posted...

Manual saving

This except for a game I love, Subnautica. It really works in that game.

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QTEs
Pressing R1 to shoot instead of R2
Cutscene of something irrelevant instead of playing it out live

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turn based combat
fetch quests
dude bro fps shooters like halo and gears

Twitchy mechanics in menu-driven games.
Slow menus in twitchy games, especially so when the menu doesn't pause.

One that doesn't typically damage a game too badly, but really nags at me, is superfluous functions. Things that you'll never use because there's another thing that's strictly superior in every scenario. The unlimited ammo, perfect-accuracy pistol you start with in Splinter Cell: Conviction is always better than everything else. Directional mines in Rainbow 6 Vegas/2 are strictly superior to breaching charges.

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pinky0926 posted...

Interactive animations that have nothing to do with actually playing a game. You can't lose in them or anything, you just have to press the buttons when prompted.

You know the ones I mean. You approach a rusty door and you have to tap X 15 times to wrench it open.

Last of Us loved this shit.

A lot of times those are loading screens in disguise. FF7R had a bunch of it too. I'd rather just wait while it does it though instead of pretending I'm doing anything.

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Anytime a playstyle is restricted because an enemy/enemies are immune or highly resistant to it.

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Games being absolutely convinced that you're not paying attention, and/or don't notice the obvious pathway you've been led towards:
"Okay, player, you need to do the thing"
"C'mon, player, do the thing!"
"You've got to do the thing!!"
"Player! DO THE THING!"
[repeat]

Jiek_Fafn posted...

I'd rather just wait while it does it though instead of pretending I'm doing anything.

Or, at least stop trying to pretend these segments are interactive in any meaningful way.

Jiek_Fafn posted...

A lot of times those are loading screens in disguise. FF7R had a bunch of it too. I'd rather just wait while it does it though instead of pretending I'm doing anything.

What's funny is that some of those segments in ff7r actually AREN'T loading anything. They're just there lol. Typical Square

Also this is going to be very dated soon with console ssds

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Everything about Vagrant Story.

Having to use the menus for almost everything, hitting dummies thousands of times to raise affinities, having to farm dozens of the same equipment to make endgame gear, etc.

It's probably the best worst game ever, if that makes sense.

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QTEs. Fuck em. Just lazy game design.

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lives

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Lootboxes are recent but they need to die a quick death.
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Ubisoft open-world model; even Ghost of Tsushima's overall quality suffered because of it.

non-dynamic turn-based JRPG combat mechanics - just scrolling through a menu while your characters stand in front of the enemy isn't fun, IMO.

even modern, popular JRPGs like Persona 5 are guilty of this.

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Save points.

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Xatrion posted...

QTEs. Fuck em. Just lazy game design.

I agree for the most part, but some games have implemented it in a very fun way.

Legend of Dragoon is one.

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Third time Ive seen this topic here lol. Anyway lives are pointless in a post arcades world.

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ChocoboMogALT posted...

Using the d-pad to move a cursor.

That's not out-dated, that's convenient. I hope that never goes away as an option.

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MyMainAccount posted...

Having to start at the beginning of the video game when you die is pretty dated. It's fake challenge after a while when the first couple stages aren't the ones that kill you anyway.

This isn't the case for a good rogue like

I die in the first act of Slay the Spire all the time for instance!

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tall grass for stealth thing

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quick time events

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HagenEx posted...

I agree for the most part, but some games have implemented it in a very fun way.

Legend of Dragoon is one.

100% agreed

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Right click thumbstick to zoom weapon

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HagenEx posted...

I agree for the most part, but some games have implemented it in a very fun way.

Legend of Dragoon is one.

if the first thing that comes to mind as a good example of it is 20 years old I'm pretty sure that means it's dated

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item burden/encumbrance

like, how does it make sense to carry several tons of armor, weapons, items, etc. and then one extra item being what holds you down?

it's a useless mechanic that adds nothing more than inconvenience.

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dank souls series

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Any game that you manually need to pick up gold and health potions

Manual save points

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Forced walking