Game mechanics you absolutely detest

[Vendor-Lazarus]

I'll join in with the people saying QTE's, Unskippable Cutscenes (I always watch them once though, never got people who skip over them without seeing them, ever.), Magnetic Cover Walls, Escort Missions and Time Trials.

Also adding Over the Shoulder Camera in ARPG's.
Oh, First Person Perspective only in driving/piloting games (which is why I wont be getting either Star Citizen or Elite: Dangerous)

 

[CloudAtlas]

TL;DR: Mass Effect 2 fucked up because I made a stupid choice, and I ruined my perfect play through.

What exactly is the "game mechanic you absolutely detest" here though? Choices leading to outcomes in obtuse, unforeseeable ways?

Not that "I waited too long and now they're all dead" wouldn't exactly be an obtuse, unforseeable outcome here. It rather seems to me that you're angry because you tried to game a system and lost because you didn't understand the mechanics of the system as well as you thought you did.

 

[purf]

All of the above, maybe? Exceptions:
I've seen QTEs done well, in a sensible way. I think. But don't ask me where.
I don't mind sticky covers.

What grates on my nerves is the gameplay story mechanic of the character being a braindead tool. "Oh, what's that? Do I hear those shady dudes plotting to kill me in my sleep? Huh. Man, I feel tired. Time for a nap!"

Mini cutscenes that force your character's perspective toward an important entity or fancy set-piece.
[...]

or: the back of a Pentagon's sexy secretary. That, CODandSuch, right there, was where we parted ways.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

TL;DR: Mass Effect 2 fucked up because I made a stupid choice, and I ruined my perfect play through.

What exactly is the "game mechanic you absolutely detest" here though? Choices leading to outcomes in obtuse, unforeseeable ways?

Not that "I waited too long and now they're all dead" wouldn't exactly be an obtuse, unforseeable outcome here. It rather seems to me that you're angry because you tried to game a system and lost because you didn't understand the mechanics of the system as well as you thought you did.

As I explained to someone else- My playthrough was nearly identical to previous ones where all of my crew survived- the only difference was the collector attack mission started before I woke legion-
Waking legion involves a one minute conversation, but, judging by my outcome, this conversation counts as a recruitment mission, thus counting it against me. I think that's bullshit- and note that once I selected the galactic map- the collector attack was forced on me, there was no going back; I realised that I forgot to wake Legion, but the game would not let me back out of the impending cutscene. I also find that bullshit.

 

[DementedSheep]

I like puzzles. I'm ok with hidden object "puzzles" if it's in a one area and you know when you've got everything you need. I don't like when you can't progress because you didn't pick up this hidden thing that you had no reason to even know you would need from 4 areas ago.
And of course puzzle operating on moon logic or relying on people acting really stupid to work. Well game I didn't think of your solution and had to use trial and error because your solution doesn't make sense!

Unskipable cut-scenes are the obvious one. Noone likes them so god knows why developers still do them. If has something really important in it and feel the need to make players watch it then make it unskipable once. Do not do this before hard fights or something you may need to repeat multiple times to get an achievement with the save before the cut scene. Looking at you GW2, I didn't need to repeatedly watch two of your characters kiss and that's hardly important enough to make unskipable. Of course the cut-scene with the fucking dragon waking up which shows you what the villains plan was and sets up the story going forwards wasn't unskipable. Shitty romance > plot I guess.

Having bosses/ common enemies being outright immune to things. Especially if they do it in such a way that an entire class or skill set becomes useless. The hacksaw of balancing and the bane of rouges in RPGs.

A lot of people complain about QTE. I only mind them if I feel like they are there to try to pass cut-scenes off as game-play or they are out of the blue. If it's an actual part of the normal gameplay (like with blocks or finishers) then their fine.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Unskippable Cutscenes
Autosaves which reload to BEFORE unskippable cutscenes
Lack of manual save option
Inability to change FoV
Quick-Time Events
Push button Takedowns
Obligatory turret sequences
Military Jargon
"Hyper" bars in fighting games, as in SFIV for example

 

[PainInTheAssInternet]

Why hasn't anyone thrown in weapon degradation? It's just a nuisance and it tends to happen in games where weapons fall from the sky anyways.

 

[Cerebrawl]

The big four for me is:
1) Lack of manual saves. I really hate savepoint only systems.
2) Gear degradation. It's almost universally unreasonably fast, and always utterly obnoxious, especially if its tied to the gears performance, "your weapon will hit for its maximum damage 5 times, and then it will start to go lower until it's useless".
3) MOUSE ACCELLERATION. Allcaps, because whoever has this forced on in their game should die painfully in a fire.
4) Unskippable cutscenes.

Then we have things like:
Insufficient resolution options. "Oh our game only comes in 4:3 resolution", "this game only runs at 720p", etc.
Our keybinds are the only way to play the game! No rebindable keys for you!
This PC game only works with xbox 360 controller. No don't even try another gamepad, we don't support anything else.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Mafia II has cleaning toilets, selling cigarettes, lifting one heavy crate VERY SLOWLY into a truck, and much more tediousness that really cements it's nature as an "Authentic experience", though if I'm being honest afterwards you'll wonder why you wanted that. Or in my case, wonder why in the hell people wanted GTA V to imitate this game.

I cannot speak for Heavy Rain but I must disagree with you on Mafia 2 here. Each of those particular examples absolutely had a place in the game. They were boring, even humiliating (in the case of the toilet), but that was the point.

The lifting the boxes was a major turning point for Vito. It was his attempt to follow in his father's footsteps (and honour his mother's wishes), working at the docks in a deadend job for low pay, but a legit job. We, as Vito put up with it for as long as we could before protesting exactly that it was menial, thankless work and it *directly* led to his name-dropping that set his feet onto the better paying path on the wrong side of the law.

The cigarettes is something the mob did and is entrusted to the green recruits, like Vito, to carry out. That is how the mob genuinely functions, with a hierarchy ranging from the goons at the bottom, their bosses ("Made Men"), Capos and Dons. This was an early job because Vito was a newbie and his rise through the ranks is integral to the story and missions he gets. He has to start off small and we, the player rise through the ranks and gain the related rewards.

The toilets thing was meant to be just what it was. A humiliating show from the guards, putting Vito in his place, demonstrating the power they have over him as well as punish him for his misdeeds on the Outside. I found it immersive and emotional in a way. You *had* to grind your teeth and put up with it as a prisoner would probably have to in real life.

Mafia 2 had a few issues for me too (mostly QoL ones such as no manual saving, barely tolerable FoV but also not making enough use of the wonderful sandbox), but though the story could arguably be described as cliché, I think what there was, in context, was wonderful, made the game more immersive and had me as the player much more invested. Even cleaning the urinal.

 

[seaweed]

Cover shooting

Poorly designed forced tutorials (For a good example, 2/3 of Portal 1 is a tutorial and it's fun as hell! But when it's like Look Up, Look Down, Look Left, Look Right, are these controls okay or do you want them inverted? Use WASD to move. Space to jump. E to use. It's like OH MY GOD GET ON WITH IT, 99.9% of the people playing this have played a video game before)

Region gating without good reason (There's a blackout in Lumiose City! You can't go any farther! That doesn't make any sense! In fact I can see the lights in the buildings up ahead are actually very much ON!)

Forced slow-walk sections where NPCs deliver exposition to you

Obvious content padding(Go collect three macguffins down these three separate hallways to open this door)

Bullet sponge enemies

Mechanics that are highly incongruous with each other or the story of the game

Level design that is just a straight hallway for the entire game

Ooh, look at this pretty thing exploding in the skybox. Wow, so cool. Wow. Except that was totally played out back in like 2009.

Press F to airstrike. Press F to breach this door. Press F to comfort Elizabeth. Press F to watch cutscene.

 

[Racecarlock]

Mafia II has cleaning toilets, selling cigarettes, lifting one heavy crate VERY SLOWLY into a truck, and much more tediousness that really cements it's nature as an "Authentic experience", though if I'm being honest afterwards you'll wonder why you wanted that. Or in my case, wonder why in the hell people wanted GTA V to imitate this game.

I cannot speak for Heavy Rain but I must disagree with you on Mafia 2 here. Each of those particular examples absolutely had a place in the game. They were boring, even humiliating (in the case of the toilet), but that was the point.

The lifting the boxes was a major turning point for Vito. It was his attempt to follow in his father's footsteps (and honour his mother's wishes), working at the docks in a deadend job for low pay, but a legit job. We, as Vito put up with it for as long as we could before protesting exactly that it was menial, thankless work and it *directly* led to his name-dropping that set his feet onto the better paying path on the wrong side of the law.

The cigarettes is something the mob did and is entrusted to the green recruits, like Vito, to carry out. That is how the mob genuinely functions, with a hierarchy ranging from the goons at the bottom, their bosses ("Made Men"), Capos and Dons. This was an early job because Vito was a newbie and his rise through the ranks is integral to the story and missions he gets. He has to start off small and we, the player rise through the ranks and gain the related rewards.

The toilets thing was meant to be just what it was. A humiliating show from the guards, putting Vito in his place, demonstrating the power they have over him as well as punish him for his misdeeds on the Outside. I found it immersive and emotional in a way. You *had* to grind your teeth and put up with it as a prisoner would probably have to in real life.

Mafia 2 had a few issues for me too (mostly QoL ones such as no manual saving, barely tolerable FoV but also not making enough use of the wonderful sandbox), but though the story could arguably be described as cliché, I think what there was, in context, was wonderful, made the game more immersive and had me as the player much more invested. Even cleaning the urinal.

Fantastic. It had me wondering why I wasn't playing a better game. Like any other game.

 

[Silvanus]

I realise I'm in a minority on this one, but I rather like rail shooter sections and fixed turret sections, both of which have been mentioned here (and are common bugbears).

QTE's are frustrating and unnecessary if they have unduly harsh consequences for failing them.

Not being able to skip or pause cutscenes. Bonus points if it's right before an incredibly hard portion of the game, forcing you to sit through it every time you fail the gameplay segment.

I think I must have watched the cutscene preceding the battle against Yunalesca at least 25 times.

Yunalesca: "Let me be your liberator..."

Auron: "Now! This is it! Your fate is in your hands! Die, and be free of pain, or live, and fight your sorrow!"

(It's been almost a decade since I played the game).

 

[Racecarlock]

Mafia II has cleaning toilets, selling cigarettes, lifting one heavy crate VERY SLOWLY into a truck, and much more tediousness that really cements it's nature as an "Authentic experience", though if I'm being honest afterwards you'll wonder why you wanted that. Or in my case, wonder why in the hell people wanted GTA V to imitate this game.

I cannot speak for Heavy Rain but I must disagree with you on Mafia 2 here. Each of those particular examples absolutely had a place in the game. They were boring, even humiliating (in the case of the toilet), but that was the point.

The lifting the boxes was a major turning point for Vito. It was his attempt to follow in his father's footsteps (and honour his mother's wishes), working at the docks in a deadend job for low pay, but a legit job. We, as Vito put up with it for as long as we could before protesting exactly that it was menial, thankless work and it *directly* led to his name-dropping that set his feet onto the better paying path on the wrong side of the law.

The cigarettes is something the mob did and is entrusted to the green recruits, like Vito, to carry out. That is how the mob genuinely functions, with a hierarchy ranging from the goons at the bottom, their bosses ("Made Men"), Capos and Dons. This was an early job because Vito was a newbie and his rise through the ranks is integral to the story and missions he gets. He has to start off small and we, the player rise through the ranks and gain the related rewards.

The toilets thing was meant to be just what it was. A humiliating show from the guards, putting Vito in his place, demonstrating the power they have over him as well as punish him for his misdeeds on the Outside. I found it immersive and emotional in a way. You *had* to grind your teeth and put up with it as a prisoner would probably have to in real life.

Mafia 2 had a few issues for me too (mostly QoL ones such as no manual saving, barely tolerable FoV but also not making enough use of the wonderful sandbox), but though the story could arguably be described as cliché, I think what there was, in context, was wonderful, made the game more immersive and had me as the player much more invested. Even cleaning the urinal.

Fantastic. It had me wondering why I wasn't playing a better game. Like any other game.

I really hate it when people act as if video games are supposed to be fun toys, and only fun toys.

They're a storytelling medium like any other, and they should be treated like it.

I mean, how dare the Matrix set up Neo's normal, dull corporate life before getting to the anime gunfights. Dont the film-makers know that action movies are supposed to have combat on the screen 100% of the time?

Well sorry for having a preference for fun toys as opposed to falling asleep in front of supposed "Entertainment".

What am I supposed to do? Change my view because someone else noticed the "artistry"? No. It was boring, it was dull, and I hated it.

I don't expect anyone else to change their opinion of this game. This is just what I thought. Ok?

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

QTE, fucking non-gameplay piece of garbage

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Temporary power boosts or weapons that break after a number of uses.
I don't know, I guess I just don't like the uncertainty of it.

 

[Tyrant_Valvatorez]

No mention of heavy RNG dependance yet? As much as I love Disgaea 4 the post game is an absolute RNG nightmare. You want weapons that don't suck? need to unlock the land of carnage then, rather than unlocking it being based upon pirate maps that you would gain all of them during your multiple item runs, now you have to build a specific Pirate ship.

The catch being that in order to do so you must capture and torture specific enemy types to have them make a chest appear on a random maps, oh yay the drops from said chest are random better save scum like hell! The worst offender being the body piece which you must defeat the Meowkins for it... they just so happen to be the Pirates with the lowest appearance rate... who also happen to have the shortest floor range to appear. Even following the optimal steps to get all the ship parts it took me about 2 weeks just to get all of them, another kick in the teeth was the massive nerf to the puppy paw stick which further made Disgaea 4's post game "Save Scum to win" with most of the playtime staring at the title screen upon reload.

 

[Rozalia1]

There sure is a lot of weakness in this thread... unless glitches are involved what is wrong with the likes of escort missions, or QTEs? Them being hard? Than git gud.

Personally I detest XP systems that either give none, half, or all of just one type of XP (but none of the other). What purpose does it serve really? It promotes focusing on a single team, and forces you to grind if you want to swap to another set of guys. Some do give the whole party XP, but than they throw in a secondary XP (usually to level up skills) because screw you.

 

[duwenbasden]

- QTEs in cutscenes. You either be a movie, or a game, not both at the same time.
- Broken bridges. Just, DON'T. So many in Pokemon X...
- Cutscene incompetence. So my army of 2 named Dragons and my character with the Relenting Force shout somehow can't beat a dude on a horse and 5 mooks?

 

[Smolderin]

Not being able to skip or pause cutscenes. Bonus points if it's right before an incredibly hard portion of the game, forcing you to sit through it every time you fail the gameplay segment.

To game devs; I get it. You spent a lot of time and effort on those fancy cutscenes, and you want some recognition for it. That said, if you force me to watch it you'll only breed resentment. Maybe I've already beaten the game and don't want to sit through it again. Maybe I can only play for a twenty minute segment and don't want to waste half of it just watching when I could be playing. Maybe my viewing is interrupted by that pesky "real life" thing people talk so much about. Maybe I just can't be arsed because the game's story is shit.

On a similar note, I consider QTE's as an extension of this, thus my general disdain for them as well.

This. I remember playing the original Kingdom Hearts on the PS2 on Proud Mode and Clayton from the Deep Jungle kept kicking my ass, so of course I was to forced to watch the same scene over and over and over and over again until I finally beat him. I swear I have, "Not Clayton...Ho..hoo...hoo hoo ha....Not Clayton" permanently ingrained into my head. So glad KH 1.5 HD Remix fixed the horrid failure of foresight.

 

[clippen05]

I really hate timed missions, or games that score you based on how long you take. For example, in Battalion Wars, I'd love to take my time and do everything methodically, but if I want to get a good score I can't do that. There's loads more examples but to be honest I can't remember any right now.