Game mechanics you absolutely detest

[Elberik]

extended tutorials.
Red Dead Redemption is, to me, one of the greatest games of all time but I did not like how it basically forced me back to square one when I went to mexico.

I don't like games that hold your hand explaining how you can interact with the world, especially when the controls aren't that innovative. Fallout 3 explaining the VATS made sense because no other game did that. However Assassin's Creed 4 sill giving me pointers on how to parkour around town is ridiculous.

 

[kilenem]

This is mroe game design but why the hell do people keep putting Load points behind cut scenes. I thought it was bad in Black Ops for 2010 and it was still in GTA5 2013.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

Random mechanics in general. While certain random elements can work well to add variety or a sense of "needing to adapt" to a game (see every Roguelike and Roguelite ever, as well as Minecraft), things like random crits and random bullet spread tend to annoy me greatly, as I usually hate relying on luck rather than one's own capabilities. Funnily enough, I do like Hearthstone. XD

Another good mechanic for the chopping block is black / white morality systems. One of the reasons I don't like the first InFamous (the only one I've played) was how boring the morality system was. Either you went goody-two-shoes or mustache-twirling villain, with the game punishing you if you didn't going all-in one way or another. The fact that all of your best powers were prone to getting you punished for hurting what the game considered to be a good / bad person via collateral damage didn't help matters either. Anyways, if you're going to have a morality system in your game, you need to be willing to flesh it out and essentially omnidirectional, not a one-or-the-other "are you Superman or the Joker" system.

 

[Kotaro]

Stamina meters. As in, the kind you see in free-to-play games. You know, the mechanic that limits how much you can play at once? That is just utter fething bullcrap; if I want to play your game in two-hour marathon bursts, that's my decision. You don't have the right to tell me I can't. On second thought, just put "poorly-implemented free-to-play monetization" here. It can be done well, it just usually isn't.

In fact, I was vaguely interested in the new online Yu-Gi-Oh! thing that Konami has in beta, until I read that it will use a stamina meter. That alone just killed it for me. I'll stick to DevPro, thanks.

 

[Notshauna]

I'll have to go with time limits and mechanics that stifle play. I don't like time limits in games while they do produce higher pressure moments I feel like the cost of freedom is so great that I rarely value it, because it simply forces you to forgo any strategy that's not sufficiently fast (there are a few exceptions namely in raiding in MMOs where if timers didn't exist it'd be difficult to offer a gear check for DPS players). As for the mechanics that harm play it's far harder to describe as it's far more varied (and it's not like these things should never happen rather that they shouldn't happen in excess), but as examples super heavy counter jungling in LoL, the mythical counterspell everything and draw everything blue mage in Magic, forced turret or stealth sections, and really anything that feels like they never considered if this mechanic is somewhat enjoyable to play against.

 

[Poetic Nova]

QTE's and regenerating health need to die off already, both ad nothing to the gameplay and rather looks like lazyness to me. The latter also drains tactics which I absolutely hate.

 

[TerranV]

Games that require weapon/armor forging. I can't stand having to grind out random drops to get all the rediculous materials just to make one weapon. Hell in KH 1.5 Remix I got to the end of the game and said "FUCK THIS" to synthesis.

That goes double for Kingdom Hearts 2 (or, I guess II.5 at some point) for me... especially when I'm required to collect X amount of a synthesis item before I end up using it all on a bracelet and/or an earring that's basically useless to me at the point I synthesize it...

Also, Jiminy's Journal (in general) in Kingdom Hearts 2... You mean I have to complete that whole shit 100% just to get that "secret ending" in Standard Mode? FUCK THAT! I'm playing on Proud Mode for now on!!

Edit: In a more general game mechanic... uh... instant/unpredictable QTEs?

KH 2 didn't bother me that much because all you need to make something was the right synthesis level and recipie. In KH 1.5 they added an extra section of items you MUST create in order to unlock the Ultima Weapon. Furthermore they require you to gather materials from rare monsters that have to be defeated in a specific way just to get a chance at the drop. Needless padding and incredibly frustrating.

 

[chaser5000]

Kill cams: I hate these with a passion, they have no reason to exist, they add nothing to the game yet they are in every game. I would rather just stare at a respawn timer than watch a kill cam.

When games grab the camera to make you look at an explosion or some other set piece while you're playing the game.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Kill cams: I hate these with a passion, they have no reason to exist, they add nothing to the game yet they are in every game. I would rather just stare at a respawn timer than watch a kill cam.

Killcams allow you to learn the game faster so you can figure out the "good" spots faster and git gud faster. Before, there were people that would camp a spot no one knows about for literally a year and just do the same thing every match.

 

[BarkBarker]

Forcing you to fight a meat-tank of HP when they aren't even hard...so I guess my complaint is mind numbing padding.

 

[FPLOON]

Games that require weapon/armor forging. I can't stand having to grind out random drops to get all the rediculous materials just to make one weapon. Hell in KH 1.5 Remix I got to the end of the game and said "FUCK THIS" to synthesis.

That goes double for Kingdom Hearts 2 (or, I guess II.5 at some point) for me... especially when I'm required to collect X amount of a synthesis item before I end up using it all on a bracelet and/or an earring that's basically useless to me at the point I synthesize it...

Also, Jiminy's Journal (in general) in Kingdom Hearts 2... You mean I have to complete that whole shit 100% just to get that "secret ending" in Standard Mode? FUCK THAT! I'm playing on Proud Mode for now on!!

Edit: In a more general game mechanic... uh... instant/unpredictable QTEs?

KH 2 didn't bother me that much because all you need to make something was the right synthesis level and recipie. In KH 1.5 they added an extra section of items you MUST create in order to unlock the Ultima Weapon. Furthermore they require you to gather materials from rare monsters that have to be defeated in a specific way just to get a chance at the drop. Needless padding and incredibly frustrating.

Given how that seems to be what all of the Final Mix games seem to have alongside more story-related content, especially in Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix, I know I'm going to hate Jiminy's Journal even more... But, you're right, at least all you have to do in 2 is find the recipe and go from there [usually] instead of having to synthesize other items before you can synthesize the item you wanted to synthesize in the first place... (on top on finding rare items in a somewhat "unorthodox" way than usual in Final Mix...)

 

[Mid Boss]

Weapon degradation

A power bar that never refills. I'm looking at you Scott Pilgrim vs The World.

Special moves that damage your health. Looking at you Streets of Rage.

 

[seaweed]

QTE's and regenerating health need to die off already, both ad nothing to the gameplay and rather looks like lazyness to me. The latter also drains tactics which I absolutely hate.

Regenerating health paired with cover shooting drives me insane. The two mechanics are at total odds with one another.

It's a much better incentive to use cover if I have a health bar and getting hit makes it deplete permanently until I get a health pack, especially if they're in short supply. The enemy AI in those games usually pop their heads up every couple seconds too and have hitscan bullets. It's awful. Awful awful awful. There is almost nothing worse than a bad cover shooter.

When they're designed well they're good fun, but there are so many bad examples and the market is saturated with them.

 

[Veylon]

I've just dived into Civ 4 recently and was forcefully reminded why I stopped playing Civ games: the stacks. Oh, and also the no-retreat do-or-die based on wonky rules combat; more often than not (seemingly) one unit emerges unscathed after utterly annihilating the other. Especially annoying is that dozens of units in a massive stack appear to graphically be no more than a single scout.

If there's one thing I liked about Civ 5 more than it's predecessors is that it zealously (maybe overzealously?) fixed the stacks. A vast army sprawls appropriately. Even back in Alpha Centauri big stacks were penalized with collateral damage if an attacker won against the top unit or bombarded the group.

Paradox games have infinitely superior combat: units get worn down over time and can be withdrawn or forced to retreat, whereupon they can be merged into one another or resupplied with men. Overlarge stacks suffer attrition in bad, ruined, or simply over-foraged terrain. I'd love to see this adopted for a tile-based Civ game. I like Civ games beside the combat.

 

[Shanahanapp]

I think the one that bothers me the most is "Don't get detected" stealth missions (assassin's creed is rife with them). I know they make more sense than being detected and just being able to continue a mission but mechanically they're awful. In a Metal Gear Solid game for example if you get spotted you can run and try to find another place to hide or you can fight your way out. This can lead to some tense hiding or some cool action gameplay. In an Assassin's Creed stealth mission if you get detected, restart. It's especially frustrating because it leads to situations where even if you manage to take down someone who notices you before he can raise an alarm, you still have to restart.

 

[RealRT]

Mouse acceleration (IF I'M PLAYING IT ON A FUCKING PC, WHY ACCELERATE IT YOU ASSHOLES?!), escort missions (nobody likes them, why do they do that?), out of nowhere QTEs (Uncharted, what the fuck?), stealth missions in non-stealth games (Jedi Outcast, what the fuck?), walking on beams in games controlled with the analog stick (God of War, what the fuck?), infrequent checkpoints and lack of manual saving, unskippable tutorials, "PRESS X TO CONTINUE" pop-ups (WHY?! YOU CAN JUST PUT IT ANYWHERE ON THE SCREEN AND DON'T TAKE CONTROL AWAY FROM ME), unskippable cutscenes, unpausable cutscenes, checkpoint before unskippable cutscene before boss, over the shoulder camera in third-person games (it looks retarded and doesn't add ANYTHING, why do they do that?), BLOODY SCREEN SO REAL and regenerating health.

 

[JourneyManRick]

I absolutely despite gimmicky bullshit modes in fighting games (looking at YOU, Namco). What do I mean by "gimmicky bullshit"? I mean using the game mechanics in ways that they aren't meant to be used, such as fighting game controls for a beat-'em-up mode (Tekken Force and Scenario Campaign), or putting in conditions for specific fights instead of just letting you fight (Edge Master mode in Soul Blade/Edge, Weapon Master mode in SC II).
What makes these worse are that they are the only ways to unlock stuff rather than just playing the arcade mode. I also hate the fact that in Tekken Tag 1 AND Tekken Tag 2, you only get one ending based on who beat Unknown at the end, instead of giving you two endings based on the characters you chose. It pads the game too long and makes the tag mechanic somewhat pointlessly frustrating from a single-player standpoint.
Speaking of pointlessly frustrating, fuck blue shells and their equivalents in other kart games. The only thing they do is make people salty when they have a legit win. Also, why does the AI use an item when you're practically right next to the finish line and they're so far behind that they're going to lose anyway? It just wastes time.