Stupid, pointless stuff you do in games

[Specter Von Baren]

My criteria here for what constitutes "pointless" is anything that isn't directly beneficial to helping you succeed at the gameplay.

In Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, you play as two characters that you can switch between at will (One's a physical fighter and the other is a witch). The pointless thing I like to do when playing it is rapidly switch between them because whenever you swap they say their names, so I just hear, "Charlotte! Jonathan! Charlotte! Jonathan! Charlotte! Jonathan! Charlotte! Jonathan!" over and over again. The way they say their lines just has a nice rhythm to it.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

On the MW2 remaster and Shadow Warrior games, they have a dedicated button just for a "fiddling with your current weapon" animation. I use it way way more than anyone fighting for their life in a chaotic shootout ever should. (every fps shooter should have this pointless dangerous button)

 

[Casual Shinji]

I have the compulsion to wipe my thumbs on my lap while holding a controller due to me fearing they'll get sweaty and slip off the analog sticks or buttons, eventhough they've never been sweaty. And I tend to do this in the most inopportune moments, like during Boss fights or QTEs.

 

[BrawlMan]

In ghosts of tsushima, I will have Jin bow after facing a deadly adversary, or boss I consider a worthy opponent. Or to any innocent that has died in the story. I won't have him bow to more monstrous or evil characters though.

In Streets of Rage 4, I'll always try to finish a boss off stylishly. To the point where I feel like I'm not doing well enough, I'll restart the entire stage just to make the fights look more interesting.

I don't consider this next one pointless, but in most of the Devil May Cry games, I'll taunt in between combos to look more cool and flashy. Some of you don't know how satisfying that is, until you experience it for yourself. Seriously, why didn't DMC 2 or DmC not have a taunt button? The latter would try to make up for it somewhat, by having Dante comment or say something, if you stayed at an S rank or higher.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

RDR2 online is the king of pointless stuff I do anyway. Like going through all the button presses and animations of petting the dog at the camp, none of which has any statistical or gameplay impact on the dog or the character, but I do anyway just to see the tail wag and feel less guilty about the long trips. Waving at NPCs when you've already maxed out your good guy meter. Polishing guns and aiming down their sights in third person just for the sense of accomplishment. Being in a city or back at camp whenever I log off. Etc.

I also try to use every move and gadget in every fight in the Arkham games, just because it feels more "Batman" when you use everything you've got. I know doing this helps the combo and raises XP dividends, in theory, but I'll go out of my way and undermine a perfectly good if boring winning strategy just for the sense of flair.

 

[Xprimentyl]

In Morrowind (well, Oblivion and Skyrim as well,) despite never really favoring the alchemy skill that could actually use them, I impulsively collected all the various ingredients I could find and stowed them away in my various bases of operation throughout the land. I probably spent 40% of my time within those games walking while looking down and smashing the button to collect all the plants and funguses I happened to walk over. I also robbed every alchemist’s shop blind for basically zero personal gain, just spite and/or boredom. I didn’t even bother to make valuable potions to sell for cash; the shit is just sitting in dozens of crates throughout Tamriel to this day. Who said the Neravarine, Seventh Champion of Cyrodiil and Dragonborn couldn’t be extremely petty?

 

[xmbts]

In more narrative heavy games I tend to walk instead of run if there's no immediate reason for doing so.

Because I don't value my time.

 

[Kae]

In more narrative heavy games I tend to walk instead of run if there's no immediate reason for doing so.

Because I don't value my time.

Yeah, I do this too but in like every game if I think it looks cool.

I also follow traffic laws in open world games and never use fast travel, because I feel like I'm no longer like in the game world, so apparently waste a shit-load of time.

 

[meiam]

Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, Talk to NPC, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, fight enemy, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump.

 

[SilentPony]

I mean I try to go for achievements.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, Talk to NPC, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, fight enemy, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump.

Well it does shave off time in some games. Stupid-looking, not necessarily pointless.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, Talk to NPC, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, fight enemy, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump.

You cannot begin to understand my despair when I went to look for a video of Link rolling everywhere in Ocarina of Time set to Limp Bizkit's Rollin' only to find that it doesn't exist.

 

[Worgen]

Well the default answer should be the dive roll, at least for something like Dark Souls or Horizon Zero Dawn. I think its sillier in HZD since that game seems like it tries to have more of a realistic feel to it.

Also in fps games I tend to switch between weapons if they have a decent weapon switch animation. I tend to do it a lot in Halo when I have the pistol.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

The pointless thing I like to do when playing it is rapidly switch between them because whenever you swap they say their names, so I just hear, "Charlotte! Jonathan! Charlotte! Jonathan! Charlotte! Jonathan! Charlotte! Jonathan!" over and over again. The way they say their lines just has a nice rhythm to it.

I think Vinny from Vinesauce got a kick out of that same thing when streaming the game.

OT: I just got done playing Persona 4, and one thing I found funny is how the running animations worked. It seems the protagonist turns and stays still for a brief moment before the walking/running animation starts and you start moving. So I ended up lightly tilting the control stick in random directions to make the protagonist spin around all over the place during his idle stance. But then I would start firmly tilting the stick to get the running animation to work, but changing each direction made him turn while still doing the running animation, while not going anywhere in the process. It was very pointless and weird looking, but it entertained me enough to do it throughout the whole game

 

[happyninja42]

Well the default answer should be the dive roll, at least for something like Dark Souls or Horizon Zero Dawn. I think its sillier in HZD since that game seems like it tries to have more of a realistic feel to it.

What about the dive roll is "unrealistic" to you? Is it the idea of using it as a defensive maneuver or the actual physics of the action itself?

 

[BrawlMan]

Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, Talk to NPC, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump, fight enemy, Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump.

 

[Gyrobot]

Roleplaying in fallout and making sure every home feels Aesthetically pleasing. From making sure beds are half decent looking instead of flea bitten mattresses to setting up an interior gym where my son was so my Lone survivor can work out. All part of giving him some sense of pre war living instead of post war survival

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Well the default answer should be the dive roll, at least for something like Dark Souls or Horizon Zero Dawn. I think its sillier in HZD since that game seems like it tries to have more of a realistic feel to it.

Also in fps games I tend to switch between weapons if they have a decent weapon switch animation. I tend to do it a lot in Halo when I have the pistol.

Oh yeah, I'd sometimes just go around hitting things with my rifle in the original Halo game just because it was very satisfying to pop Flood corpses too.

 

[Worgen]

What about the dive roll is "unrealistic" to you? Is it the idea of using it as a defensive maneuver or the actual physics of the action itself?

Really all of it, its a horrible defensive maneuver and should literally only be used as a last resort in real life since you will get hurt doing it. I mean games let you dodge roll up stairs, I don't think I have to tell you how bad an idea that is. Even on a mostly flat surface its a horrible idea since all you need are a few rocks under your back and you are in a bad spot.

Oh yeah, I'd sometimes just go around hitting things with my rifle in the original Halo game just because it was very satisfying to pop Flood corpses too.

Heh yeah, even on legendary the AR is pretty decent against the flood, although it turns out pistol/shotgun is better.

 

[happyninja42]

Really all of it, its a horrible defensive maneuver and should literally only be used as a last resort in real life since you will get hurt doing it. I mean games let you dodge roll up stairs, I don't think I have to tell you how bad an idea that is. Even on a mostly flat surface its a horrible idea since all you need are a few rocks under your back and you are in a bad spot.

Yeah I agree the various ways dodge rolling works in games is quite silly, but if you're good at tumbling the "getting hurt" part isn't that big of an issue. Obviously terrain is a big variable on that. The human body can actually negate an impressive amount of damage with the right training. But yes, dive rolling up stairs and over really rocky terrain, is silly, and would at least bruise the shit out of you. Like, doing it on a gravel driveway...ouch. Doing it in my front lawn? Meh.