Gaming disconnects, instances when reality destroys suspension of disbelief

[BQE]

For me it's silent protagonists.

Recent offenders have been Persona 4 and Dishonored. Sure in Dishonored most folks tend to talk AT you than WITH you. Persona 4 is a completely different story to me, it's absolutely infuriating that not only does my character speak in a story based around relationships amongst characters and drama but people in the game have the gall to speak for me, and assume my complacency in all that happens. It just boggles my mind to think that a form of justification for silent main characters is to put yourself in their shoes when it just serves to distance me from the character. As all other people in the tale progress, feel, and experience, my 'masterfullyl disguised robot with a skin face' is somehow accepted among these people and even becoming intimate. It's incredibly jarring, to the point of being reminded of the Thin Men from XCOM.

 

[Ryan Hughes]

I actually have some real problems with many general theories on the suspension of disbelief and so-called immersion in games.

Basically, as long as you have solid characters, and you explain why those characters feel and act the way they do, you can get people to believe anything. Look at George Orwell's novel Animal Farm. It is -on its face- ridiculous, but for some reason it is still engrossing. Same thing with many classic games as well.

But many -though not all- modern devs think that "realism" equals immersion, and they make storyline with poor, one-dimensional characters who's actions make little to no sense. Whereas a good writer could make a game about a space aardvark stealing treasure from the left nostril of a dragon and make it compelling, emotional storytelling.

In short, I suppose that there would be just too many games for me to list here, sorry folks.

 

[ThePuzzldPirate]

Every time someone uses iron sights, no I'm not against iron sights but logic dictates we are resting the butt at our shoulders for at least some recoil control. So why in hell do we move the gun into the middle of the screen/chest. You think with them talking about realism that we would of make proper I.S animations by now. Same with not being able to see your feet when you look down.

 

[Yopaz]

Furthermore, in most (J)RPGs, when you have to fight a character that will join you afterwards, but for some reason (s)he has powered down greatly. This also re-inforces the idea that enemies and allies are judged by different ways (ie. if the enemy had your stats, you would have been dead or vice versa) which also tends to break my immersion. Same goes for bosses that are made out to be invincible (Star Ocean 3; when the dragon-like enemies appear capable of destroying entire spaceships with ease) but when you start encountering them as enemies, they are a farcry from the power they previously exhibited (those same dragons turning up as enemies being able to easily beaten by no more than 3 kids).

Yeah, this is one of those I notice a lot. There's also the huge difference between cutscenes and fights. Outside fights a weak spell or a slash with a sword can make someone fall down or even die. During a fight you can summon a meteor shower and impale your enemy several times and only deal a tiny bit of damage.