Poll: Weapon Degradation

[Rahnzan]

Degredation is fine if it's not quite to the extremes of dead rising, that game was awesome but more often than not I'd wish the weapon I had contained just a FEW more swings in it.

Otherwise I wouldn't mind heading into shop to sharpen blades and fix guns if it felt more like fixing them was a temporary damage boost (or something) instead of having weapons blessed-with-suck.

 

[Small Waves]

I like it when they are at least being fair about how durable a weapon is. A sword with 12 power should wear out faster than a sword with 6 power, but not to such an extent that the 12 power sword would sit in your inventory forever because of how little you can use it. At the very least, you should be able to purchase such weapons at normal shops, giving the player a choice between a long-lasting weapon or raw power (assuming they could afford it).

A bad way to do this would to make that 12 power sword the most powerful weapon in the game, one-of-a-kind, and easy to break in a game where you can't fix weapons (such as Fire Emblem). Generally, unique weapons should NEVER wear out more quickly than those you get at shops because a newbie would probably wear it out before they really need it and end up Shit Creek without a paddle.

 

[Shock and Awe]

Depends how fast it is. It needs to degrade slow enough that it wont go to crap in a extended firefight, it would also have to be fast enough to be noticeable.

 

[Sir Kemper]

In Deadrising the weapons degraded, but they made up for it by turning every goddamn thing into a weapon, and placing everything all over the place. The design fit that game because of the out-of-whack inventory system.

I fricking love Deadrising though, so they must have done it right.

It's all got to do with how quickly the weapons degrade and how plentiful the weapons are.

Like in Fallout 3 there is an element of weapon degradation that only works thanks to it being 300 years in the future. -.-
What kind of Ak47 Breaks after a clip of ammo?!

Ninja'd on the first post.

 

[TheEarlOfGrey]

Dead Rising's weapon degradation was a bit ridiculous. Katana sword wouldn't shatter after ten kills. Far Cry 2 sort of worked because the Jakal mentions that the guns have been brought in after many years of wars.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

I didn't mind it in Fire Emblem too much, because it kept throwing new weapons at me faster than I could use up the old ones. In general I hate it, though. Back in the day, my roommate tried to get me to play Dark Cloud, because he thought it was great, and about half an hour into the first dungeon I wanted to stab someone after all my weapons broke...except I couldn't, because all my weapons broke.

 

[NeutralDrow]

The game I've seen do weapon degradation well is Soulbringer, a PC RPG. Weapons gradually become less effective without repair, especially if you use them against the wrong types of armor (chopping at a rock monster with an axe is rather stupid). And there's still a weapon you get that never needs repair, if you don't want to bother.

I didn't even realize there were games that did the same for guns.

 

[TheSeventhLoneWolf]

The only game I actually liked the weapon degradation was Far Cry 2, Especially when a sniper rifle barrel explodes and falls off.

That never happened to me, because as soon as I could afford guns, extra containers, manuals and all I forgot all about all the rusty guns the NPCs were toating around. After every single mission the first thing I did was take a jeep ride to the nearest gun dealer shack, throw the "old" guns on the floor of the weapons room and pick up brand new ones off of the walls. And while I was at it, I picked up ammo.

The only NPC gun that I carried around for a while was the AR-15, because I loved that gun from the moment I picked it up. However, once it started consistently jamming up on me I threw that piece of rust-pipe away and continued soldiering on until I could finally buy the same gun from the gun dealer shack.

There was this mission where you have to snipe this person in some city of some sort. I took aim, fired, and my gun exploded on me. I did the same as you though. Soon as I found a dealer. I get the same gun.

 

[ManiacEskimo]

Only if it is really slow and/or believable or realistic.

Weapon Degradation in Fallout 3 was stupidly fast.

 

[drisky]

I'm for it especially in fire emblem and other games like it, it makes you have to keep the army funded and well equipped.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

The only game I played that really integrated it was Far Cray 2.... This was total bullshit however. You pick up a gun from a fallen enemy and it jams after you fire off 2 clips, but the enemies' guns will never jam when there are using them.

While I rather enjoy weapon degradation mechanics in shooter games (if done well), THIS is the scenario that seriously ticks me off. I find it particularly unfair that some walking juggernaut can pepper my position with lead for three minutes non-stop, but when I finally down him, I find that he has only five rounds and a weapon that couldn't fire all of them without jamming.

It's fair if it goes both ways, really. If not, it's just an artificial difficulty enhancer.

 

[Jinx_Dragon]

It is one of those bane and boon things that, if implemented right, can bring a good element to game play but if implemented wrong or is out of place then it can kill a game.

The biggest problem it has, in my eyes, is the whole 'look what I have' curse that game designers seem to be stricken with. This curse is simple: A small feature is included in the game, usually some minor gimmick or 'realism' feature, but instead of using it in a sensible manor they saturate every waking moment of your game play in said feature.

For degradation of weapons this over the top saturation can be easily seen in how quick the weapons degrade. Every bullet takes of another % point of some mythical 'health bar' that the weapon has. Even at times it seems just looking down the sights has made the gun shoot wonky....

In reality a single AK47, just as an example, can be submerged in sand and muck after firing hundreds of rounds between cleaning and when you pull the trigger... well it fires again! True the AK47 is like the god of gun reliability, you can mismatch parts and it still fires, but even the most fiddly of guns has a reliability that will see it through at least one battle.

So while I don't mind degradation in a game over doing it is what is really killing a fairly good idea. If it was some minor feature then it wouldn't be so annoyed over it. A gun jamming after a few hours of continuous use in a heavy fire situation on the battlefield... fine. A gun fresh off the armoury shelf jamming half way through the first mag.... bad.

The way I seem to like it is if the degradation happened of screen. If a gun lays on the ground it can degrade at a set rate for all I care, even can be used as part of the 'clean up' program so it vaporises and stops junk littering the levels. Like wise weapons you pick up from the enemy can be in 'bad condition' that would explain why they jam more often. It makes it so a player has to weigh up the options between keeping the gun they started with, well made and maintained prior to the mission, or drop it for one with more abundant ammo or 'better stats' but has a chance of jamming cause it wasn't well maintained.

But even then they better be sensible with the gimmick of weapon jamming and not try to make it so every third gun you pick up will explode in your hands.

 

[jenx_137]

Far Cry 2 was a shining example of how not to do the degradation system.

5 magazines breaks a gun?

The idea was that it was in africa, where endless recycles of old guns meant you'd very rarely have access to a shiny new weapon. I think it worked well in FC2, not only does it add a bit of thinking on your feet when your gun jams or breaks, and when choosing a weapon loadout, it also fits nicely in with the central theme, ie, war-torn african nation.

realistically, yer they could've made the AKs a lot more durable, but then it would just degrade into everyone using AKs, and no variation.

I agree with every1 saying that the enemies should've had the same thing happen to them, didn't notice them having any trouble with the rust-encrusted shotguns...but then I guess the main character just has some super ability to make objects go to shit when he touches them

 

[Romaru]

In most FPS's the idea of degradation detracts from the action. If it were Halo you wouldn't want to be running off to find parts to fix your weapons mid mission.

Fallout 3, I feel, it adds to the immersion. It's 300 years since a massive nuclear war, and the weapons are bound to be piles of rust and recoil, unless they are maintained.

There is an awful lot of cleaning and maintainance that goes into owning a weapon in real life. After 300 years where the populous have lost a lot of the knowledge how to build and maintain these weapons they are going to fall apart pretty quick. The brotherhood comments on it at one point I believe, "The knowledge to build and maintain a laser pistol is becoming a dying art"

So in conclusion, it depends on the game. For 90% of FPS games it's not worth it, but for some like Fallout where it is story driven then it's cool.

 

[Weaver]

Far Cry 2 was a shining example of how not to do the degradation system.

5 magazines breaks a gun?

I agree, this mechanic was one of the contributing factors to my unyielding hatred of that game. That and it was just damn boring.

 

[Tomster595]

The only game I played that really integrated it was Far Cray 2.... This was total bullshit however. You pick up a gun from a fallen enemy and it jams after you fire off 2 clips, but the enemies' guns will never jam when there are using them.

While I rather enjoy weapon degradation mechanics in shooter games (if done well), THIS is the scenario that seriously ticks me off. I find it particularly unfair that some walking juggernaut can pepper my position with lead for three minutes non-stop, but when I finally down him, I find that he has only five rounds and a weapon that couldn't fire all of them without jamming.

It's fair if it goes both ways, really. If not, it's just an artificial difficulty enhancer.

Yea, you bring up the ammo thing too.. I forgot to say that. The enemy always seems to have unlimited ammo, but then when you pick up his guns, its got nothing.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

Well, Oblivion was a ***** about it. No reapiring enchanted items unless you have high enough armorer skill, and repairing umbra costs a lot, especially if you got it early. If they only take damage if say, your opponent blocks, then that works, especially if the damgage heals over time. With guns it'd be if you melee attacked with it.

 

[Fingolfin High-King of the Noldor]

I like it especially for bows and arrows and guns and such. I like the feeling you get when a good weapon breaks and you look frantically for a weapon and all you can find is like a rusty sword. It makes it funny for me.

 

[GeekFury]

I'm ok with it in games like Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls series, but in games like oh say, Beowulf, The Movie, The Game where weapons shatter after like 3 hits, even the legendery ones last like 5 hits, it's abit of a pisser. Especialy if you're trying to get the 'good' ending as I could never find a new weapon fast enough and had to resort to the old tearing people asunder with bare fist and getting negative karma.

 

[Twad]

See S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl (with mods) or Clear Sky for that mechanic done right.

In stalker mod: oblivion lost, weapons do degrade, but slowly. Slow enough a brand new weapon isnt likely to degrade anytime soon (especially if its a high-quality one), And even badly damaged guns can still function reasonably well, but they get unpredictable.
So its still something to take care of, but not to the point where it cripple you. The only thing that degrade relatively quickly is your armor, but only because the player is hard to kill and keep healing himself.

Something nice to have would be a field repair kit, where you could repair a gun/armor on the field back some ammount, but you lose (temporarily, until you pay to repair it normally) some maximum durability, so its gets better.. but not perfect, and the more you do it the worst it gets.