Tiny Details We Take for Granted, But Make No Sense.

[LawlessSquirrel]

Ever notice how in most (if not all) MMOs, enemies will wait until you enter a certain radius before reacting to you? Yeah, turns out in any other circumstance, you would not use EXTREMELY near-sighted minions to use as guards.

It's very much just a legacy gameplay exploit that never got dropped.

 

[ThisIsSnake]

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQv-jd1JxkPYmeXEC1bgSnDdmcKPPim6xfXkkM-ONO8IOrjFhRUfJNrakY8NA

10 rings is just not trying hard enough I find.

I was just wondering today why In Final Fantasy games I can typically just take any item I want from a house, old woman's life savings,pet dog, firstborn child etc. But when it comes to shops suddenly my character forgets he's a reknowned kleptomaniac. I figure all shops in the game have already been robbed senseless by the time I arrive so everything is in some kind of safe or behind a shotgun wielding shopkeep. In FFVIII the theft must have been so rampant that someone decided to steal the entire shop interiors leaving you with just a menu screen and weapon shops that don't have any weapons in stock.

Of course by XIII the problem got completely out of hand and entire towns were being hijacked, all commerce had to be done from inaccessible fortified bunkers with wifi.

 

[Guido656]

It doesn't happen so often these days, with all the COD clones out there. But FPS games certainly used to let you carry an unbeleivable amount of stuff on your person and any one time.

I mean, an assault rifle on its own weighs a shitload, but in games like Half-Life you can carry a crow-bar, pistol, shotgun, machine-gun, crossbow, rpg, 5 grenades, some trip mines and some other stuff I can't think of right now. You would need to be superhuman to lug all that stuff around, especially whilst jumping from girder to girder 1500 feet above the ground.

Still, I'd prefer to unbeleivably be able to carry all that stuff around than only 2 guns.

Sometimes fantasy is better than reality!

 

[EHKOS]

Way back in the pen and paper days of dragon warriors, I think you could wear 4 rings, but only on your left hand. Cause left-handedness was a sign of something unnatural way back when.

Dude, your avatar just made me crap my pants. Congrats.

OT:Yeah I was a little cheesed about that, but I guess it's a fair compromise for being able to change the weather.
I never understood why everything ever made with intent to be evil has a self-destruct button.

 

[EHKOS]

Why is it that in a lot of RPGs I can walk right into a person's house. I'm not talking about walking right into a shopkeeper's store. Obviously they won't mind. I'm talking about walking into a random guys home. Think about it. If someone you didn't know walked into your house right now, what would you do? But these people don't mind some random guy walking right in. Even in games like Fable, they are okay with that. And then you can start looking around opening random treasure chests that happen to be in their living room and taking the contents. No worries. That doesn't make sense.

It does in Canada. Micheal Moore did that. Except for the stealing of tattoo plans.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Double jump.

Sometimes it is due to some kind of machine or is explained by other methods...but sometimes....

 

[twaddle]

in basic RPGs you can summon or call out monsters or beast to battle for you, but you cant call them out to ride them on land over large distances. I SAID BASIC RPGS. Pokemon for example. I would like to ride my oversized large pokemon like my Groudon or at the very least my Suicune. Oh and in final fantasy i would love to fly around on bahamut outside a cutscene

 

[Actual]

In Star Wars they have force fields which can be "tuned" to allow certain materials through. The example you'll see most often will be across ship docking bays, they allow the ships out but keep the air in.

They use this to explain light sabres; a beam of plasma kept at a certain length by a restraining forcefield which only effects plasma.

So at least one of their writers tried to explain the silliness.

 

[Lilani]

I think health kits are funny. The idea that a bottle of pills can heal me after getting some broken bones and severe lacerations is pretty ludicrous.

Also, the way some games completely ignore the character's need to sleep. Valve is particularly guilty of doing this, like with Portal and Half-Life. I mean, chronologically, in HL2 Gordon wakes up on the train, and doesn't stop until the very end. Everybody is just "on," all the time. He doesn't even fall unconscious or black out for a while. I mean, this is days and weeks of time we're talking about, here. And Portal is the same way. With how short Portal 1 is it doesn't really register, but Portal 2 is quite a long time to just be going and going.

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

I think health kits are funny. The idea that a bottle of pills can heal me after getting some broken bones and severe lacerations is pretty ludicrous.

Also, the way some games completely ignore the character's need to sleep. Valve is particularly guilty of doing this, like with Portal and Half-Life. I mean, chronologically, in HL2 Gordon wakes up on the train, and doesn't stop until the very end. Everybody is just "on," all the time. He doesn't even fall unconscious or black out for a while. I mean, this is days and weeks of time we're talking about, here. And Portal is the same way. With how short Portal 1 is it doesn't really register, but Portal 2 is quite a long time to just be going and going.

SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK!

honestly i think all video games have that... ill fitted logic that doesnt make sense in real life, but HAS to exist in game to make it.... work.

 

[Kiardras]

Magazines.

This is one Fallout 3 and NV are particulary guitly of.

Basically, I have my assault rifle. I buy from the shop 56 rounds of ammunition, and load it into 2 magazines.

Later, I go back and buy 500 rounds of ammunition - and magically have enough magazines for it all.

Such a simple thing could have been fixed by buying 30 round mags from the shop instead of individual bullets, but it always bugs me.

 

[Panzervaughn]

I think health kits are funny. The idea that a bottle of pills can heal me after getting some broken bones and severe lacerations is pretty ludicrous.

Also, the way some games completely ignore the character's need to sleep. Valve is particularly guilty of doing this, like with Portal and Half-Life. I mean, chronologically, in HL2 Gordon wakes up on the train, and doesn't stop until the very end. Everybody is just "on," all the time. He doesn't even fall unconscious or black out for a while. I mean, this is days and weeks of time we're talking about, here. And Portal is the same way. With how short Portal 1 is it doesn't really register, but Portal 2 is quite a long time to just be going and going.

GladOS actually comments on that early portal2, something about pumping adrenaline or stimulants into the air to keep you awake, to maximize testing. forever.

My favorite little detail? How the hell does a compass detect treasure chests.
Jumping in general. Jump onto a table, right now. standing start. (actually dont, you might break your neck)

 

[Richardplex]

Why is it that in a lot of RPGs I can walk right into a person's house. I'm not talking about walking right into a shopkeeper's store. Obviously they won't mind. I'm talking about walking into a random guys home. Think about it. If someone you didn't know walked into your house right now, what would you do? But these people don't mind some random guy walking right in. Even in games like Fable, they are okay with that. And then you can start looking around opening random treasure chests that happen to be in their living room and taking the contents. No worries. That doesn't make sense.

were you thinking of this per chance?

 

[Scarim Coral]

The whole inventory system, just how is it we can store all of those items into a bag without it getting bigger or burst out? Does each of the bags contain a black hole for us to use?

 

[AdmiralMemo]

Can't you wear 6 rings per character in Dungeon Siege? Still not up to 10, but it's better than 2.

 

[Xanadu84]

really, if you have a thing that has the magical ability to make you fly, the fact that it is on your finger probably doesn't matter. The general, D+D approach is that more then 2 rings interfere with each other, making them not work.

Id say that the oddest thing is NPCs chattiness. Walk up to a random person on the street and ask them random questions, and you will probably get a lot of funny looks. Make vague threats and then back away from those threats, and its unlikely they will continue having a pleasant chat. It really is just endlessly surreal if you think about it.

 

[spartan231490]

We all know that in stories, we should have some sort of willing suspension of disbelief. Especially in Fantasy or Science-Fiction.

Yes, we know that a Light Saber can't exist in that way, The Light wouldn't know when to stop.
But we're willing to see beyond that. Mostly because it's freaking cool.

But the other day, while playing Oblivion, I noticed another thing we willingly disbelieve, or even take for granted.
My Character just found a new shiny magic ring. And by found, I mean stolen.
But I was already wearing two rings. So, my thieving character decided it was in good manners to follow the law of "You Can Only Have Two Rings On You At All Times."
Why?
Why can't I wear 10?
It's simply possible, it doesn't need some loophole to do.
It makes sense. 10 magic rings are better then 2.

But yet, in almost no RPG can you wear more then 2 rings.
It's never explained why that is, or hinted that they don't function with more.

So, can you name other tiny details in gaming, that we take for granted, because "Oh, that's just how it's always been."

It's a holdover from dungeons and dragons(like just about everything). and in DnD they do explain it a little, if you look for the reason. In DnD you can't wear more than 2 rings for 2 reasons. 1) more than two rings would interfere with holding your weapons, and 2) the magic just doesn't work. The rings interfere with each-other so the third one wouldn't work anyway, even if you put it on.

 

[FuzzyRaccoon]

As for other details, it's been pointed out a million times, but basically anything to do with health. How exactly does a first aid kit (ie. bandages and antiseptic) allow a person to instantly recover from a bullet wound? Even full-on medical surgery doesn't do that without allowing time for natural recuperation. And why is my normal human character recovering from said grievous wounds in a matter of seconds like he/she's bloody Wolverine? And even if there's an explanation for the regeneration (future armour technology, nano-machines, he's Wolverine etc), how is my character coping with having his/her flesh and organs torn apart and rapidly repaired dozens of times per hour?

I've always wondered this, from my first FPS where you'd stab yourself with morphine. It's like: Uh... yeah but I'm still dying?
xD.
Some games do a good job of this. Like Mass Effect's Med-gel. It's a gel that'll swamp the afflicted area and basically pretend to be whatever tissues are supposed to be there. To remove it, you only need to use a specific sound frequency. Not many games help with explaining that though.
>>

There are a lot of details I find weird. Like how the original Assassins Creed had everyone screaming out that you were an assassin the second you accidentally stood on a pottery table instead of pressing against is.

Or how Ezio doesn't dislocate his shoulder whenever he does the Ledge Grab moves.

How how why that guy from the Pokemon Gold-Silver-Crystal era was never arrested for his evildoing... or the fact that oddly Indigo has police officers but seemingly every other region (unless they're back in the new ones?) doesn't despite Team Rocket's variations running around.

Or how in Mass Effect 2 they explained away having ammo versus having unlimited ammo very sparsely at the beginning of the game and you're supposed to except it. YOU'D THINK THEY'D JUST MAKE WEAPONS THAT HAVE BETTER HEATMANAGEMENT SYSTEMS. Not that I disagree with the change, just felt like they should have explained it better.

 

[Thaius]

Weird-looking barrels always explode. I never even really thought about this until teaching my girlfriend to play Uncharted. It made perfect sense to me that, if there's a random barrel next to a pillar on the other side, shoot it to make the pillar fall and give you a bridge. Duh. But after I just ended up showing her, she asked, "How was I supposed to know the barrel would blow up?" A good question indeed; because they always do. Even if that doesn't make sense.

 

[Zhukov]

As for other details, it's been pointed out a million times, but basically anything to do with health. How exactly does a first aid kit (ie. bandages and antiseptic) allow a person to instantly recover from a bullet wound? Even full-on medical surgery doesn't do that without allowing time for natural recuperation. And why is my normal human character recovering from said grievous wounds in a matter of seconds like he/she's bloody Wolverine? And even if there's an explanation for the regeneration (future armour technology, nano-machines, he's Wolverine etc), how is my character coping with having his/her flesh and organs torn apart and rapidly repaired dozens of times per hour?

I've always wondered this, from my first FPS where you'd stab yourself with morphine. It's like: Uh... yeah but I'm still dying?
xD.
Some games do a good job of this. Like Mass Effect's Med-gel. It's a gel that'll swamp the afflicted area and basically pretend to be whatever tissues are supposed to be there. To remove it, you only need to use a specific sound frequency. Not many games help with explaining that though.

...

While medi-gel would be a modern paramedic's dream come true, it still wouldn't actually heal a person. It just seals the wound, which would help prevent haemorrhaging and infection, but wouldn't do anything for a damaged organ.