Ranting about immersion/flow breaking mechanics

[Major_Tom]

I mentioned this before, but I can't stand reversed ejection ports in STALKER games. I just can't forget it and it breaks my immersion constantly, every time I fire an SVU I think: "that casing just hit me in the head", *bang* "that casing just hit me in the head", *bang* "that casing just hit me IN THE FUCKING HEAD, WHY WOULD YOU REVERSE THE PORTS YOU STUPID FUCK". Thank god for mods.

 

[sageoftruth]

For me, it's quest markers. I prefer games that make me rely on my sense of direction instead of an icon or a dotted trail that I must mindlessly follow. As Super BunnyHop stated in his assessment of Witcher 3, "When traveling, I spent more time looking at my mini map than I did looking at the actual environment I was wandering through." I was thrilled to hear that you can remove the mini map and that the game is still playable without it.

 

[sageoftruth]

I know it's weird, but repetitive character movements. In Deus Ex: Human Revolution just about every person you talk to has the same movements. Point, point, shake head and then shift to the side. When I played it that's all I could notice sometimes and I would miss dialogue.

Ah yes. It looked so lively at first, but I soon came to recognize each movement, and once I started seeing everyone do the same gestures, that broke it for me.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

3D Zelda games generally knock me out of the game with their rudimentary control schemes. I love Wind Waker and kinda like Twilight Princess, but update your fucking controls, Nintendo, for the love of God. Give me a jump button and make the camera/lock-on not shit.

As much as I like Nintendo games, I gotta agree with this. The Wiimote + Nunchuck combo made Skyward Sword bad and the Wiimote + Nunchuck combo killed the Metroid Prime Trilogy for me. The DS Zelda games were another pair of games that I just couldn't play because of how strange and, different the controls were. Nintendo, you guys made a classic controller alongside the Wiimote and Nunchuck, freaking utilize it. I just wanted the option to use a different control scheme but you don't even give people an option menu you jerks! No I will NOT understand!

To keep picking on Nintendo, I genuinely like Other M more then that Prime Trilogy because I can play it. Then there are those areas where I need to use a missile on something that just completely takes me out of the experience. Yes, it's awkward to control a 3D game using what is essentially a wireless NES controller. Yes, the acting and story are on a level that Manos: Hands of Fate would be able to look down on. At least I can just tune out enough to have fun ninja-flipping around a bit and blasting space monsters. Then I have to point my Wiimote at the screen, hope the sensor picks up that fact, hope I don't have to re-calibrate the controller more than 10 times, then go back to playing the game like an actual game.

...

Let me get away from Nintendo for a moment to bring up Bethesda and their floating menus. This is a common criticism but it is kind of jarring to go through an entire childhood in a steel hole in DC only to be greeted by a sign on your way out asking if there are any aspects of your childhood you would like to change before you begin exploring the DC Metro Area.

 

[Zaltys]

Anything with quicktime events. Sudden "press X not to die"-prompts make it obvious that I'm playing a game, and whenever they pop up I tend to pay more attention to the prompt than what's actually happening in the game. That's a sure way to kill the immersion.