Failed Concepts

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Vlane

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fullmetalangel said:
Vlane said:
fullmetalangel said:
Wasn't there a thread like this earlier?

Oh well. Badly implemented game ideas: Adding a storyline to an MMO unless you can actually pull it off, which to this day I have not seen. Arcady life systems where you get a game over after 3 lives or something similar.
Lunia and SMT Imagine kinda pull it off. I haven't "beaten" one of these but they at least have a story with cut scenes (which is rare in the MMO genre). I'm also sure that SMT Imagine has a good story because it's a SMT game.
Oh yeah, I forgot about Lunia. I recall watching my brother play it a few times and the cutscenes were intriguing but I don't remember anything about the story so I don't know :D

Also, forgive my ignorance but I've never heard of SMT Imagine.
Maybe you should give it a try. The open beta started a few days ago.
 

twilinova07

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L33tsauce_Marty said:
twilinova07 said:
weapon degeneration. its just annoying no matter what game its in.

it doesnt feel right when it breaks before it kills any enemy (RE outbreak)

and it always costes about three kidneys worth of cash to repair it in RPGs.
Far Cry 2 did it quite well.
i havent played far cry 2 yet so ill have to check it out

and while im here, moral choices affecting outcomes. the endings are always so black and white. either the future city is happy-go-lucky with tulpis in every lawn or a scum hole where only the most bitter digenerates show there faces. wheres the "well my city is economicaly good but theres the occasional robbery downtown" outcome. ok so its boring but still...
 

masterblaze0

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Using your jacket as an inventory.
Using the Right Analog Stick to hit things.
Pressing the Right Analog Stick to BLINK in First person view.
 

meatloaf231

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Feb 13, 2008
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fullmetalangel said:
meatloaf231 said:
fullmetalangel said:
Wasn't there a thread like this earlier?

Oh well. Badly implemented game ideas: Adding a storyline to an MMO unless you can actually pull it off, which to this day I have not seen.
Guild Wars, anyone?
When I say you can actually pull it off, I mean actually make you feel like the character you made is important, regardless of how good the story itself is. As Yahtzee said, gameplay and storyline should go hand in hand.

Bear in mind, I have not played Guild Wars and if Guild Wars does indeed do this I'll put it on my list of games to check out, but somehow, I really doubt it, it's just in the nature of an MMO to make your character feel like a nobody.
The character you make is pretty much the center of the entire plot. You're in almost every cutscene, and the story revolves almost solely around your actions.

I'd recommend the game, but read up on it further before you go buying it.

No monthly fees, though.
 

Sewblon

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Nov 5, 2008
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Open World Game play. I have played GTA, The elder scrolls and Fallout 3 but so much potential always goes untapped. A game that takes place in a steam punk themed world ruled by people wielding light sabers and deathnotes in which you play a time traveler and can kill the rulers of the land, thrust it into chaos alter the space time continuum so that you wear never born and still complete the story would make more use of the sandbox concept then anything I have seen so far.
 

xitel

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Aug 13, 2008
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Praelanthor said:
xitel said:
Time Control. I have yet to see a game pull it off well.
prince of persia sands of time bro
I already said, all it had was a rewind function and a "slow everything down" button
 

BobisOnlyBob

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Nov 29, 2007
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Iron Mal said:
Giving mail order explosives, radar and choppers of doom to players who are doing well may sound like a reasonable reward at first but when you are on the recieving end of 3 airstrikes in a row followed by a chopper you will clearly see how this is simply a way of kicking less experienced players while they're down. (If anyone reading this works for infinity ward, allow me to suggest that next time you give these bonuses to the losing team in order to even things up a bit).
That's a "catchup" bonus, liken the item distribution being weighted to favour those behind in Mario Kart. Unfortunately, there seem to be three approaches with items/powerups/enhancements in multiplayer:

1. Reward the skilled. Give them items after a set threshold of kills, points, etc. Encourages the elite and makes entry into the game difficult.
2. Help the disadvantaged. This gives them a chance to counterattack and turn the game around. Greatly reduces the apparent need for skill to win.
3. Free-for-all randomness. This is the strategy used in Smash Bros. games, with occasionally the elite getting superweapons and continuing to dominate (they tend to get there that little bit faster) and often the weaker players picking up superweapons and getting a chance to turn it around. Unfortunately, it too reduces the apparent need for skill to win.

I'd say all of these aren't "failed concepts", just incredibly difficult and often broken concepts.
 

Doug

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DRM - a poor, poor concept from the start - like beating your customers with sticks for buying your products.

Shurikens and Lightning said:
brettman170 said:
Battles between capital spaceships. Battlefront 2 was the only game that did this moderately well, but it could be much improved.
You must play sins of a solar empire my friend. I had a 50 capital ship battle with cruiser exploding left and right.

Spore was a great concept yet it failed because it wasnt hardcore enough.

I feel that alot of B games had great ideas like Lair and Legendary and Turning point fall of liberty. They just dont have the money or talent.
I'd like to see an FPS cap-ship game - either as boarding marines or ship captains. To date, I have NEVER seen this done well. A Half-life 2 mod did it ok, but wasn't great. Add to that there was never anyone to play against and with, it didn't work.
 

Mr. Moose

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ColdStorage said:
nathan-dts said:
xitel said:
Time Control. I have yet to see a game pull it off well.
Ouch, you just brought Timeshift into my head.
I really enjoyed Timeshift, the weapons felt really meaty and satifying to use.

Support characters that you have to interact with, never implemented well enough for me to not want to murder them myself;
Emma Emmerich, die *****
Ashley whats her face from RE4, luckily you can put her in a corner and she'll stay there
Navi, shut up!
Slippy "do a barrel roll" frog, firstly you can tell me what to do providing you can go for 2 seconds without getting shot and secondly its called an aileron roll, you douche.

and as much as Half Life 2 pulled them off so well I still want to murderize the rebels half way through their
"reload doctor free" <<< BANG! DIE!

Uh.
Peppy said 'Do a Barrel Roll'

And seriously, what sounds better?
"DO A BARREL ROLL"
or "DO AN AILERON ROLL"
 

sirdanrhodes

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twilinova07 said:
weapon degeneration. its just annoying no matter what game its in.

it doesnt feel right when it breaks before it kills any enemy (RE outbreak)

and it always costes about three kidneys worth of cash to repair it in RPGs.
Guess you hated Far Cry 2 then!
 

Graustein

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Jun 15, 2008
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twilinova07 said:
weapon degeneration. its just annoying no matter what game its in.

it doesnt feel right when it breaks before it kills any enemy (RE outbreak)

and it always costes about three kidneys worth of cash to repair it in RPGs.
Fire Emblem. The implementation may not have been realistic, but it made no attempt to seem so, and was pretty damn integral to game balance. Fire Emblem wouldn't have been Fire Emblem if weapons like Ragnell weren't unique in their indestructability.
 

Valgarent

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Dec 25, 2008
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meatloaf231 said:
fullmetalangel said:
meatloaf231 said:
fullmetalangel said:
Wasn't there a thread like this earlier?

Oh well. Badly implemented game ideas: Adding a storyline to an MMO unless you can actually pull it off, which to this day I have not seen.
Guild Wars, anyone?
When I say you can actually pull it off, I mean actually make you feel like the character you made is important, regardless of how good the story itself is. As Yahtzee said, gameplay and storyline should go hand in hand.

Bear in mind, I have not played Guild Wars and if Guild Wars does indeed do this I'll put it on my list of games to check out, but somehow, I really doubt it, it's just in the nature of an MMO to make your character feel like a nobody.
The character you make is pretty much the center of the entire plot. You're in almost every cutscene, and the story revolves almost solely around your actions.

I'd recommend the game, but read up on it further before you go buying it.

No monthly fees, though.
They also added(Be it generic) dialog for the players characters. They all sound exactly the same based on Gender but it added more to the story. It's the only MMO, That really makes your character feel like a hero.

Back on topic.
I think the 'Random Chance' people put into some games are epic failures. It can be good in theory but most people are going to be plagued by getting it when it's useless... Happens to me all the time.
 

Iron Mal

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BobisOnlyBob said:
1. Reward the skilled. Give them items after a set threshold of kills, points, etc. Encourages the elite and makes entry into the game difficult.
2. Help the disadvantaged. This gives them a chance to counterattack and turn the game around. Greatly reduces the apparent need for skill to win.
The first point is more or less what goes on a lot of the time, I already gave the example of Call of Duty but it is also apparant in Team Fortress 2 since the winning team will recieve faster respawns and better spawning locations than the losing team.

These small bonuses aren't actually much but would be enough to help give newer/inexperienced players a fighting chance against skilled players (since a player who is not so good is going to die more often in game than a skilled player they should probably be allowed to spawn faster and the same is opposite), this may sound like something that punishes the elite but then again, if they are so skilled then they should be able to work around these little perks and should be able to score points without having to unleash superweapons/special abilities.
(As long as common sense is used in deciding what these advantages are then I don't see how it would detract from the skill needed to win, faster respawns or slightly faster movement speed/mild protection doesn't severely overpower anyone).
 

Vortigar

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Nov 8, 2007
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How come Hellgate: London hasn't been mentioned yet? Same goes for Tabula Rasa. Theoretically sound idea that never worked. (Someone mentioned large scale shooters though.)

geldonyetich said:
There are no failed concepts, merely poor implementations.
I'd say a failed concept would be something that's doomed from the start and then is proven to not work when somebody makes it real.
 

nathan-dts

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Jun 18, 2008
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ColdStorage said:
nathan-dts said:
xitel said:
Time Control. I have yet to see a game pull it off well.
Ouch, you just brought Timeshift into my head.
I really enjoyed Timeshift, the weapons felt really meaty and satifying to use.
WHAT?! Are you and I thinking of the same game? You might be thinking of a good game, Timesplitters.
 

DigitalSushi

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Dec 24, 2008
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nathan-dts said:
WHAT?! Are you and I thinking of the same game? You might be thinking of a good game, Timesplitters.
LOL Yeah i'm thinking of timeshift, no monkeys in it whatsoever, dont know why I enjoyed it it just felt homely (like watching aliens), you know cosy
and the guns felt like they did damage while you used them, once again, dont know how that is... right you know in Halo? the assault rifle feels disjointed?, I had the opposite with Timeshift.