Forum > Gaming Discussion > The Cardinal Sins of Video Game Design
The Cardinal Sins of Video Game Design
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Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:47:43
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I know there are mechanics that are abused or often poorly implemented, but what game mechanics would you say are wrong in all circumstances, and should never be done?

The inspiration for this topic is locking onto enemies that are behind you.  If the enemy is more than 90 degrees either direction from where the character is looking, IT SHOULD NOT LOCK ON.

Add them as you think of them.

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Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:25:00
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The thing I think should be forever retired it kind of hard to describe.

Metal Gear Solid did this, as did Contact, and Animal Crossing.  You are ushing the analog stick forward to go up the stairs to the 2nd floor of Nooks.  You walk through the door, as soon as you go through the door the perspective changes and now analog forward translates to analog backwards, so as soon as you enter the door you then go back through it immediately.

That mechanic can be put down forever.

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Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:50:58
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aspro said:
The thing I think should be forever retired it kind of hard to describe.

Metal Gear Solid did this, as did Contact, and Animal Crossing.  You are ushing the analog stick forward to go up the stairs to the 2nd floor of Nooks.  You walk through the door, as soon as you go through the door the perspective changes and now analog forward translates to analog backwards, so as soon as you enter the door you then go back through it immediately.

That mechanic can be put down forever.

LOL

Same thing happened to Okami. So annoying.

I remember that in Zelda games you keep moving forward, even if the perspective changes. Than if you let go, the analog controls get back to normal.

My issue unskippable cutscenes. The beginning of Okami is just a piece of shit that does not end. Can you imagine not being able to skip that, like in the PS2 version?!

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Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:34:00
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Iga_Bobovic said:

aspro said:
The thing I think should be forever retired it kind of hard to describe.

Metal Gear Solid did this, as did Contact, and Animal Crossing.  You are ushing the analog stick forward to go up the stairs to the 2nd floor of Nooks.  You walk through the door, as soon as you go through the door the perspective changes and now analog forward translates to analog backwards, so as soon as you enter the door you then go back through it immediately.

That mechanic can be put down forever.

LOL


I remember that in Zelda games you keep moving forward, even if the perspective changes. Than if you let go, the analog controls get back to normal.


the way it should be.

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Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:46:20
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Backtracking. Which gets even shittier when enemies respawn again when you have to go back because of some stupid item or just to get out.

Games guilty: Condemned, Halo, Halo 3. And many, many more.

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Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:33:46
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The item world...that's right, it might be in one series, but it really is that annoying. Nyaa

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Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:05:31
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SteelAttack said:

Backtracking. Which gets even shittier when enemies respawn again when you have to go back because of some stupid item or just to get out.

Games guilty: Condemned, Halo, Halo 3. And many, many more.

You just killed Metroid.  On the plus side though, you also killed Phantom Hourglass.

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Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:36:13
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Waggle. It is THE most fucking lazy thing I have ever seen used in motion control, and it goes far beyond button mashing. Although some games can be forgiven for using it for one or two standalone moves (ie Mario Galaxy)
Edited: Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:37:34
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Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:55:43
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The Grenade Lottery in Call of Duty. Having grenades constantly falling at your feet from nowhere.

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Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:04:14

SteelAttack said:

Backtracking. Which gets even shittier when enemies respawn again when you have to go back because of some stupid item or just to get out.

Games guilty: Condemned, Halo, Halo 3. And many, many more.

 

SteelAttack said:

LOL Cho Aniki.

Let's balance things out a bit in this fucking garden of Mario/Zelda/Metroid splooging erect dicks:

1. StarCraft/BroodWar

2. Street Fighter 2

3. Half-Life 2

4. Age of Empires 2 (noticing a pattern yet?)

5. Super Mario Galaxy

6. Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War

7. Mass Effect

8. WarCraft 2

9. Metal Gear Solid 3

10. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night


 

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Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:14:17

LOL Eventually, I did get tired of SotN neverending back-and-forth between rooms and alternate castles, but having never played a Metroid game before, it was a first-in-a-lifetime experience for me. On the plus side, I'll never have to play any Metroid game.

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Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:27:36

So steel hasn't played metroid or zelda?

I'm calling for a ban.

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Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:40:08
What comes to mind are incredibly difficult mid-bosses or level bosses in JRPGs where the difficulty spikes up so high you're forced to grind for hours just to stand a chance.

I hate that. It's like you're cruising through the game, enjoying it, and then all of a sudden, you face a insanely hard boss and ruin the whole game. Dragon Quest is really guilty of this. I love the series but things like this really make me push the game in my back file. Sadly, sometimes I don't even feel like coming back to it. DQIV was the main culprit. I haven't run into something like this in DQV yet though.

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Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:10:12

Since I'm playing Fallout 3 here are a couple of design doosies.

Firstly, no more "you cannot do this because you are not a level 30 in (pick category)"

It's cheap. Sure if its an adventure game and I need a power glove to lift huge boulders, fine. Restricting me from reading a computer or opening a locker because of numerical stats? NO

And making levels for scope instead of gameplay. Because trudging through miles of pointless scenary for nothing is not fun.

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Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:54:43
MMO Grind. It's like watered down coke (with ice!) at a cheap and nasty fast food store. Any developer who thinks it helps retain players should be crucified.
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Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:16:51

Over collecting.

Collecting is good but not endless collecting. And if there is lots of collecting then it has to be worthwhile. For instance instead of a million identical banana's in DK64, have individually rendered items you can treasure and decorate with like in Animal Crossing.

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Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:47:36

I don't like it in games, when you stick a knife into a terrorist's thigh, he asks you to go on a fetch quest halfway across the city to meet another terrorist.

Damnit!

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