That high pitched screaming you can now hear is legions of RPG diehards calling you very mean names.
Game mechanics that need to die
- Thread starter immortalfrieza
- Start date
Which makes no sense. Being able to reset or redo skill trees not only stops you from being locked into a "bad build" but experimentation is fun. Kingdoms of Amalur for all its flaws at least relished in the player going hey try this out no big deal.
What do RPG diehard get from being mad a respecing. If you don't want to respec then don't respect.
Because they don't have any actual talent or merit, are insecure, and like the cause misery on others just to feel better off themselves. The usual.
I assume its a hold over from the old school tabletop RPGs, which to my knowledge do not have rules for respeccing. Its also an attempt to stop min-maxers, or Munchkins if you will, from doing it every five minutes to cheese the game's encounters. There's also the in-story implication that most of the skills your characters demonstrate (swordsmanship, archery, effective steath or firearms, hacking, detective work or spycraft) are ones they've refined over the years and that outside of certain settings - Cyberpunk 2020 for example - simply acquiring that knowledge at the expert level one day is an immersion breaker.
Plus there's also value on restrictions; it encourages creative thinking and teamwork around the table.
I can see having a a party balance for role play and tension cause battles and stories are not as cool when a party of 4 is giga powered with all the abilites. And trying to get the party balance just right is dragon chase in of it self.
Which brings me to something that grind my gears. When RPGs allow for this robust job system where your characters can take on different jobs and you think it would offer for some interesting or wacky composition. But then they kick you in the nuts and certain base stats and growth leans them towards certain kinds of jobs and its waste to even experiment in another. Might as well of made them that designated class. FF12 and Yakuza Like a Dragonquest being the big offenders though I still love them so.
Maybe, but I think it's more to add weight/permanence to the decision each player makes. What's the point in having a skill tree if at any moment, you can throw all of your choices out the window and re-do everything? Yes, they may not be for everyone, but a feature that makes them a moot point is pandering to those who're not invested in the learning experience they afford.
There is that, the dudes who insist there's one true way to play(coincidently the way they play). Off the top of my head, running across dudes who consider using Summons in Souls games as "Cheating" because you're expected to suffer(and if the boss is a 3 on 1 gankfest, git gud). Or whining that invasions are no fun because "insert reason here*
I remember Soul fans all lost their tops, because someone decided the cheap in the PC version of Sekiro. I'm saying, "Why do you all care that much?". It don't affect you or to copy of the game. Play your game and enjoy your own fun.
Sekiro is hard in it's own right, despite the QoL additions, such as parries/deflects not needing to be nearly as precise as in Soulsborne or the Bonfires being right next to boss rooms half the time. Hell, the game has two ways of making the game harder for those who want to make it harder, the demon bell and the charm.
Of course, the flipside to that is if the game is well designed and balanced (yeah, I know... look! unicorns!) it takes conscious effort to kneecap yourself and make an actual 'bad build'. Then again, you get the dills who consider anything but the 'I have spreadsheets to prove it' optimal builds to be 'bad'.
That's why I said specifically said "reasonable" way to respec. I'm fine with having to have a cost for it like having to pay a fee or losing some levels or making it so you can only do it so many times. But just not having the option in some way feels a bit much.
Here are my three:
1. QTE with RNG
I did a quick scroll/scan of this thread and didn't see much talk about QTE, sorry if I'm repeating someone. But specifically, the type of QTE that I think is pure bullshit is when the prompts are different each time you try it. It's especially galling when there is little QTE in the rest of the game. For example I am thinking of the older God of War games boss fights where, IIRC, you used the standard gameplay mechanics to whittle them down and then to advance to the next phase of the fights or finish them off you have to do QTE to execute cinematic moves. But each time, the prompts are different so it's like Simon Says in the middle of my action fighting game and it's like, yo, wtf right now. I think the Kayran (sp?) fight in Witcher 2 was like that, man that is some bullshit.
2. Useless skill trees
I know people like skill trees and building their character. But games that aren't RPG's don't need them, it is just noise.
I am a huge Assassins Creed fan (yes, I acknowledge and agree with all the criticisms, but I still have fun with them, whatever). It will never nor should be an actual RPG. But with "RPG elements" (ugh, shit or get off the pot, either do a thing or don't, stop with this "elements" crap) they have skill trees now. But in order to make the game accessible to its target wide audience, you can get all the skills, or it doesn't matter what you pick you're still dodging and attacking. Valhalla's skill tree was deservedly mocked for having like 400 dots that all do nothing.
3. Useless loot
Similar to #2- a loot system should have value, not just be a way to collect 1,000 broken swords or whatever.
1. QTE with RNG
I did a quick scroll/scan of this thread and didn't see much talk about QTE, sorry if I'm repeating someone. But specifically, the type of QTE that I think is pure bullshit is when the prompts are different each time you try it. It's especially galling when there is little QTE in the rest of the game. For example I am thinking of the older God of War games boss fights where, IIRC, you used the standard gameplay mechanics to whittle them down and then to advance to the next phase of the fights or finish them off you have to do QTE to execute cinematic moves. But each time, the prompts are different so it's like Simon Says in the middle of my action fighting game and it's like, yo, wtf right now. I think the Kayran (sp?) fight in Witcher 2 was like that, man that is some bullshit.
2. Useless skill trees
I know people like skill trees and building their character. But games that aren't RPG's don't need them, it is just noise.
I am a huge Assassins Creed fan (yes, I acknowledge and agree with all the criticisms, but I still have fun with them, whatever). It will never nor should be an actual RPG. But with "RPG elements" (ugh, shit or get off the pot, either do a thing or don't, stop with this "elements" crap) they have skill trees now. But in order to make the game accessible to its target wide audience, you can get all the skills, or it doesn't matter what you pick you're still dodging and attacking. Valhalla's skill tree was deservedly mocked for having like 400 dots that all do nothing.
3. Useless loot
Similar to #2- a loot system should have value, not just be a way to collect 1,000 broken swords or whatever.
I actually talked about QTES. Mainly all types that do it wrong, or you're forced to repeat it again at a checkpoint. This mechanic has actually been dead for the most part. It pretty much died around the mid 2010s. A majority of the time now, when a QTE comes up, it's most likely a finisher prompt, or just to break free from a grab. I mentioned it earlier, but Asura's Wrath has the best use of QTES in any game ever.
Of all games, Mortal Kombat X did a pretty good job with QTEs as well. They were your standard QTEs in design...but if you failed a QTE, it wasn't game over, it just changed the way the cutscene played out, and you started the upcoming match with less health. Still rewarded you for doing it well, but if you didn't, you could prove yourself through the main game mechanics.
Skill Trees can die now. Just go back to the regular upgrade systems of DMC, Bayonetta, and Ninja Gaiden.
I remember about a third of the unlockable skills in Far Cry 3 being utterly useless. How often was I going to be underneath two enemies?
That sounds like a skill from a VERY different game indeed.
Happens to me less often than I'd like.
Oh wait, we're on the gaming board, nvm.
Y'all are making me question what Sun Tzu really meant when he said "keep your friends close and your enemies closer".