Praised Game mechanics you don't enjoy.

[Mr Thin]

Well, I've always assumed that the game-play of the Final Fantasy games must be pretty well loved, as there's what, fourteen of the damn things out now?

Personally, I dislike it. I find that, even when playing a normal-length game with that type of game-play, I get bored half-way through, and the Final Fantasy games are famous for their length and replay value.

It's a shame, because apart from the tedious game-play, the other aspects of the series interest me greatly.

FF hasn't really had the same gameplay since the tenth tbh. 11 and 14 are both MMOs so the gameplay is vastly different, 12 also played like an mmo though it's a stand alone game surprisingly enough, and 13 was "alright" once you got to the endgame zones and just mashing the A/X button wouldn't get you past the enemy's opening volley.

Then if we're counting the non-numbered instances we've got a couple of beat em ups (Dissidia), a couple of Tactics RPGs (Tactics, Tactics Advance), a decent action rpg (crisis core), a 3rd person action game (dirge of cerberus), a racing spinoff (chocobo racing)

Sorry for the tangent but people lumping FF into a single game-play style really rustles my jimmies.

I probably shouldn't be arguing this point with someone who's clearly played more FF than I have, but I'm going to anyway.

You're right about the games outside the main series (I've actually tried Tactics on the DS, I didn't mind it), I was only thinking of the numbered games when I made my generalisation. When applied to only the numbered games, though, I stand by it.

It doesn't matter if you're playing FF VII or FF XIII, you still wander around getting into random encounters, they still teleport you to separate arena-type places, and you still engage in turn-based combat (note: I consider the 'Active Time Battle System' to be turn-based with a time limit).

It seems to me that the gameplay difference between (to keep the example) FF VII & FF XIII is like the gameplay difference between WoW and Rift, or CoD: Modern Warfare and the new Medal of Honor. They only seem different if you're an enthusiast of the genre.

 

[katsabas]

Bullet time. I would like to see those who like this piece of crap try and play Burnout 3.

Dying in multiplayer and waiting for the next round in order to respawn. Stupid. If I wanted to wait, I would join a 'watch the grass grow' guild.

The obvious easy route. How much can you bet that it will be obstructed by boulders, QTEs you are supposed to fail or combat scenes you are supposed to lose?

Disappearing booty and loot. I am looking at you, RE5. How the f*** am I supposed to get everything when there is a fucking 7 feet tall executioner on my tail that walks like someone put a boat engine in his butt?

 

[Choppaduel]

[HEADING=2]In FPS:[/HEADING]
Smearing jam on the screen when you get shot.
Regenerating health.
2 weapons.
Rifle butt, instant melee. (opposite of swap to knife, slight swing time)
Console controller. (as opposed to mouse/keyboard)

[HEADING=2]In general:[/HEADING]
QTEs
Rigid, 1 dimensional "Morality"/"Karma" systems.
Grind.
Infinitely re-spawning enemies.
a total, universal, mandatory achievement system.


Idk if anyones praising these things, I certainly hope not.

 

[castlewise]

Cover based shooting. On a related note, I also miss health bars.

 

[Planetoid]

moral choices. Cause for the most part it's always either black or white, and secondly they're choices based upon the developer/ the norm's morals and I'm sure I'm not the only one whose moral compass does't point to the same north as theirs

Agreed, because while roaming through something like inFamous, I was given the option to either help a guy get some precious Blast Shards out from a locker, or kill him and take them for myself. I would've just waited till he left and stolen the shards without killing him. Or, you could help him, refuse his reward, and have your morality shoot through the roof.

I really hate pause screens that switch to another menu. Sometimes I just like to freeze the frame on a great explosion or critical hit and enjoy my work. Instead I get "upgrade screens."

Also, capitalism. You always need to "buy" new moves/equipment. You can't ever break into someone's warehouse and steal a bunch of guns for your rebellion, you always have to BUY them.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

Well, I've always assumed that the game-play of the Final Fantasy games must be pretty well loved, as there's what, fourteen of the damn things out now?

Personally, I dislike it. I find that, even when playing a normal-length game with that type of game-play, I get bored half-way through, and the Final Fantasy games are famous for their length and replay value.

It's a shame, because apart from the tedious game-play, the other aspects of the series interest me greatly.

Just out of curiosity, which Final Fantasy or Fantasies might we be talking about? Because, opposed to other franchises, the series made quite a few twists throughout its different gameplay mechanics.

On topic: Guitar Hero and its rhythm gameplay that utilizes a guitar. I don't like to be pried away from my classic controller and I never got into the plastic guitar thing. So yeah, I'm a guy who really liked Harmonix' previous titles - FreQuency and Amplitude - but no so much what they did after that.

 

[LtWiesel]

turn based combat and cover based combat!

tbc because you can easyly end up in loops of useing health spell/pot/whatever and getting knocked back to low health from an attack.

cbc is just getting so damn old...sure it's a good idea to take cover but i don't want to get glued to a wall. I can use cover in battlefield, cod and half-life without this mechanic.

 

[Mr Thin]

Well, I've always assumed that the game-play of the Final Fantasy games must be pretty well loved, as there's what, fourteen of the damn things out now?

Personally, I dislike it. I find that, even when playing a normal-length game with that type of game-play, I get bored half-way through, and the Final Fantasy games are famous for their length and replay value.

It's a shame, because apart from the tedious game-play, the other aspects of the series interest me greatly.

Just out of curiosity, which Final Fantasy or Fantasies might we be talking about? Because, opposed to other franchises, the series made quite a few twists throughout its different gameplay mechanics.

On topic: Guitar Hero and its rhythm gameplay that utilizes a guitar. I don't like to be pried away from my classic controller and I never got into the plastic guitar thing. So yeah, I'm a guy who really liked Harmonix' previous titles - FreQuency and Amplitude - but no so much what they did after that.

I was called out on this by another guy a short ways up the page; if you're curious enough to read that and you still disagree, get back to me.

 

[Daymo]

Oh yes one I forgot that has been brought up, a two gun limit. I know it makes no sense carrying every gun ever, regenerating health makes even less sense though and in some games, you're supposed to be a super strong badass. I want to carry a full armory of weapons on me and chose what I want to use. I love that Resistance 1 had it and it frustrated me that 2 removed it, but Insomniac is making up for it by bringing the weapon wheel back for 3 and being able to upgrade the guns.

 

[DaJoW]

I don't know if it's praised per se, but I never heard any criticism for it - realistic drifting mechanics in racing games. The type where, at ANY curve in a road you have to slow down - almost to a crawl - and turn very carefully, otherwise you end up spiralling out of control.
It really breaks the flow for me.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is your answer. I tried out the game and I had fun with it at high speeds. Still have to get it. ; ;'

A friend of mine said it was terrible. But I will inevitably rent it what with all the free time I'm going to have this summer.

Well, it's impossible not to drift in the corners or bends, or straights if you need to get out of the way for a car. The cars seemingly have no grip at all and I tended to smash into at least one wall per corner. This was on the PC though so not exactly a good medium for the game.

 

[Rivers Wells]

Maybe not so much a mechanic, but definitely a feature in a lot of games these days, especially of the Bioware and Bethesda type. Complete control over what your character looks like, the choices they make, etc. etc.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea, but if I'm spending 30+ hours with a character, I want them to be engaging for their own characterization, not for being a tabula rasa style place holder for myself since I already know what I'd do, and it probably isn't one of the options that come up in gameplay. Also, if I can just change the story how I like based on certain choices in gameplay, the story begins to lose my interest.

As for a more traditional mechanic, and I believe its already been mentioned: moral choice systems. In order to avoid any possible confusion between whats good and whats bad in game, the extremes the choices go to is just silly. However, if they don't go that far, the lines between good and evil (can't believe I actually got to say that) get really blurry and confuse the player.

 

[Deshin]

It doesn't matter if you're playing FF VII or FF XIII, you still wander around getting into random encounters, they still teleport you to separate arena-type places, and you still engage in turn-based combat (note: I consider the 'Active Time Battle System' to be turn-based with a time limit).

This is where I'm calling you out; XII has absolutely none of those things whatsoever. There's no screen shifting, no random encounters, and no turn based combat. To be technical, XIII doesn't have random encounters either. I'm starting to think you've drawn your conclusions about an entire franchise from seeing a few screenshots and a couple of vids. :/

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Regenerating health. I don't mind it if you can explain why your health regenerates so quick and it actually makes sense within the story. But games like Modern Warfare? We can't regen our health now, so why can they? It kills realism.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

Well, I've always assumed that the game-play of the Final Fantasy games must be pretty well loved, as there's what, fourteen of the damn things out now?

Personally, I dislike it. I find that, even when playing a normal-length game with that type of game-play, I get bored half-way through, and the Final Fantasy games are famous for their length and replay value.

It's a shame, because apart from the tedious game-play, the other aspects of the series interest me greatly.

Just out of curiosity, which Final Fantasy or Fantasies might we be talking about? Because, opposed to other franchises, the series made quite a few twists throughout its different gameplay mechanics.

On topic: Guitar Hero and its rhythm gameplay that utilizes a guitar. I don't like to be pried away from my classic controller and I never got into the plastic guitar thing. So yeah, I'm a guy who really liked Harmonix' previous titles - FreQuency and Amplitude - but no so much what they did after that.

I was called out on this by another guy a short ways up the page; if you're curious enough to read that and you still disagree, get back to me.

Read it and totally understand it.
Although, Final Fantasy XII did do this quite a bit different (to the dismay of some loyal fans, to the joy of some others).

- You don't get into random encounters. Enemies are visible and can be avoided.
- You don't get transported into arena-type places during combat, you fight in the area itself.
- FF XII uses the Active Dimension Battle System. It's a bit like 'Active Time', but you can actually run around freely (in essence, it's still "turn based with a time limit", but you hardly notice it)

Just throwing that out there.
But you're right, most FF-titles (or JRPGs in general) won't capture your interest if the issue lies with the ATB/turn based mechanics and the transportation in battle.

 

[thom_cat_]

In first person shooters, hold to crouch.

Really? I need to hold the analog stick in/hold shift down to crouch? Why can't I just tap it? I hate it when games make you hold to crouch. I have no idea why it's the default, it's so stupid.

EDIT: And does anyone notice that all the ones screaming for health bars back are probably the same ones who were screaming for regen health way back when? I like regenerating health, thank you very much. Though health bars don't bother me all that much. Besides, there's more tension in trying to find something to hide behind and if you succeed, praying that whatever's chasing you doesn't come around the corner.

I LOVE HOLD TO CROUCH.
AND HOLD TO USE IRONSIGHTS TOO.

It's bloody consoles with their silly buttons.
Hold CTRL to crouch. You can do this easily while using WSAD and jump with space at the same time! Along with all the firing and stuff on the mouse too.

And right click can always be held.
I don't want to be stuck in a stupid position just because I haven't hit the key again.
This makes a lot of stuff that you can do in PC gaming defunct. That's why it exists, because PC controls are easy and no other function needs to be toggled, so why crouch or aim? The only aim that can be toggled should be the scope, and I don't mind if that's a hold either.

Also, there's more tension in realising you have hardly any health and need to not get shot.

 

[bushwhacker2k]

What game mechanics even though they are highly praised by critics or fans can't for the life of you stand? Mine would be Gears of War's cover based combat and Bioware's dialogue wheel. I don't mind a cover based system if you can survive well enough without using it, like most sandbox games, but with Gears, it is the epitome of stay out of cover for a second and you're dead gaming.

With Bioware's dialogue wheel, I much prefer their older style of unvoiced conversations with more options. Seeing as I'm behind the times, this wasn't because of DA2, it was Mass Effect compared to the older Kotor.

I like Gear's cover-based combat somewhat, but lest I hear incorrectly it's becoming rapidly overused these days.

I agree about the dialogue wheels, I especially don't like how it regularly assigns the good action to a certain slot and the bad action to a different slot (or paragon/renegade, w/e). It ends up being a thoughtless action when an in-depth dialogue system would have you carefully choose your words instead of just falling into an archetype.

I suppose I wouldn't say it's praised but Peter Molyneux really seems to like the character-to-character actions in the Fable games which, to my knowledge, no one cares about.

 

[Electrogecko]

Block.

Fighting games or Hack n' slash.
Who the fuck blocks?? We're given buttons to smash the shit out of our controllers with the intent of harming whatever stands in our way.
Why the fuck are we going to waste time holding down a single button when we chould be smacking the shit out of the motherf***er!?

To further my argument.. I dont enjoy unleashing hell on an enemy just to watch him hold his tiny sword/fists over his face and take no damage from my fiery combo of death...

Who the fuck blocks? I do...and so do real boxers and MMA fighters. Blocking adds much depth to any fighting game and any game that allows a player to constantly block without limitation or repercussion is bad.

In first person shooters, hold to crouch.

Really? I need to hold the analog stick in/hold shift down to crouch? Why can't I just tap it? I hate it when games make you hold to crouch. I have no idea why it's the default, it's so stupid.

EDIT: And does anyone notice that all the ones screaming for health bars back are probably the same ones who were screaming for regen health way back when? I like regenerating health, thank you very much. Though health bars don't bother me all that much. Besides, there's more tension in trying to find something to hide behind and if you succeed, praying that whatever's chasing you doesn't come around the corner.

I agree. It was only a couple weeks ago that I was playing Reach with a friend and I realized that whenever I was hit by anything (bullet, plasma, explosion) when crouching, (this was on toggle crouch) I would automatically stand up. My friend, who uses hold to crouch, was having no such trouble. He would remain crouched as long as he held down his stick no matter what hit him. So getting knicked while crouching behind cover led to me standing up led to me taking more damage (and this was with the skull for no regeneration without performing a melee kill) led to me finding it impossible to stay crouched for more than a second led to me deducing that toggle crouch is a broken play option and Bungie decided at some point that this was a good idea.

....this story doesn't make any relevant argument for or against hold to crouch. This problem didn't need to exist- it was a concious decision of the developers that I will never understand. The point is, toggle crouch is much more comfortable and any exploitation of hold to crouch that makes it superior (crouch jump, that gay crap I just mentioned) should be removed from the game.

 

[Deshin]

snip

Yay, first time I ever ninja'd someone!

Thing is most "cutting edge" (at the time of course, context) RPGs did the whole random encounter / teleport to a combat room thing due to system limitations. Less monsties running around on screen ate up less memory and allowed them to render the animations and characters better. These reasons still hold true today, perhaps the opposite of it (in an rpg context) would be Diablo.

Also, if that's how you're going to classify turn based systems then Dragon Age is also turn based because it has cooldowns. The fact that you can kite monsters (and is a pretty good strategy for most of the early bosses) throws any prospect of it being turn based out the window tbh. That and you can be walking along and see a couple of monsters randomly beat the snot out of each other just because they felt like it.

 

[bushwhacker2k]

In first person shooters, hold to crouch.

Really? I need to hold the analog stick in/hold shift down to crouch? Why can't I just tap it? I hate it when games make you hold to crouch. I have no idea why it's the default, it's so stupid.

I pretty much agree, unless this is some kind of hyper-realistic tension thing like we're holding on for dear life it just seems like it makes it annoying to use even regular mundane actions like AIMING, which seems fairly mandatory provided you want the enemy to be dead and you not so.

EDIT: And does anyone notice that all the ones screaming for health bars back are probably the same ones who were screaming for regen health way back when? I like regenerating health, thank you very much. Though health bars don't bother me all that much. Besides, there's more tension in trying to find something to hide behind and if you succeed, praying that whatever's chasing you doesn't come around the corner.

I kind of understand arguments on both sides, I do recognize regenerating health as being quite convenient and the argument for the other side seems to be that things are too easy and it lowers the value of exploration to find things to heal with.

I think things could still be done well with regenerating health, it probably just needs modification from game-to-game.