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

[Ranorak]

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."

 

[RaffB]

I think with the ten rings thing, it would be hard to do anything too fiddly or complicated with half a pound of rings on each hand.

 

[ChocoFace]

by that logic you could wear amulets and necklaces like Mr.T.

 

[Thaluikhain]

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.

 

[Something Amyss]

The Light wouldn't know when to stop.

There are multiple ways one can terminate light, you know. It doesn't need to "know" when to stop, as it could be told. Is it feasible? Laser swords are still pretty unlikely. It it impossible for that reason? Hell no.

 

[Zhukov]

The first game I ever played with the 'two magic rings and one necklace' rule explained it away by saying that too many magical items on one wearer would start interfering with each other.

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?

 

[Daughterofether]

I seem to recall Diablo (yes the first one) stating that too many differently enchanted items too close to one another caused some manner of interference, thus having more than one magical ring per hand would make enchanted gauntlets and weapons too risky a prospect.

same with amulets and enchanted armour.

My pet strange detail is the way cities in games are never really cities. Obviously there are solid mechanical reasons for that one (Sheer memory cost, complexity of the programming job etc...) but even in games where one city is the whole setting and no detail has been spared or sandboxes like prototype with actual cities used for the map, i never manage to see even one scene that feels lifelike rather than procedurally generated

 

[Wuggy]

by that logic you could wear amulets and necklaces like Mr.T.

Hahaha, that's a very good point! That would be hella cool looking though. I pity the foo' who calls me criminal scum!

Anyway, I didn't quite ever understand why you couldn't take more than 3 companions with you on Dragon Age: Origins (and Awakening, and 2). I mean, in case of Mass Effect they alluled to that the 3 man team were like a team of commandos, slipping in and out. I don't see that as a good enough explanation for Dragon Age.

 

[RuralGamer]

I always find the whole 'throwing away a magazine yet somehow retaining the remaining bullets' weird, which is why when I come to play BF2 or one of the older games in the series I'm like "Why can't more games do it like this?" I mean think about it; it would render a lot of shooters a lot, lot harder in single-player, yet basically no one does it that way at all, save a few (admittedly many of them are sadistically hard such as Flashpoint or ARMA).

 

[Odd Water]

Or as the D&D model put it...

1 Arms/wrists = Bracelets, bracers
1 Eyes/face = Goggles, lenses, mask
1 Feet = Boots, shoes
2 Fingers (one slot per hand) = Rings
1 Head = Hat, headband, helmet
1 Hands = Gauntlets, gloves
1 Neck = Amulet, brooch, medallion, scarab, necklace, periapt
1 Shoulders = Cape, cloak, mantle
1 Torso (inner layer) = Shirt, vest, vestment
1 Torso (outer layer) = Armor, robe
1 Waist = Belt

Basically the idea of only 2 rings is pretty much about limiting how much any character can have without stacking up too much magical effects and abilities. As if filling out all these slots wasn't already too much (but can be quite fun for us D&D and such type gamers). But most games don't get into this many item slots, but don't add in more ring slots to take the place of all the other slots lost, and only deal with a few basics like armor, boots, helmet, and 'accessories' slots.

My say is, pretty much all RPG gaming first took from the D&D gaming idea (and pretty much all gaming takes from another previous gaming idea backtracking to such), and so kept the 2 ring rule cause it was in there.

But there have been a few games that allowed more then 2 rings, only one I can think of off hand is Sacred 2. If you played a mage you could wear 4 rings I think.

Back to topic idea: Things we take for granted. I say how very few games factor in eating, sleeping, bathroom (and I mean in ways to keep us living and going, not just drink something for energy or eat something for health) and yet in game we can be up and running for days at a time. Its just accepted these things on done at some point, like how in movies they don't always show this stuff, you just know it happens.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

If you wear more than one magic ring on each hand you hands will explode or turn into snails or something.

I'm pretty sure that's the explanation everyone uses.

 

[Something Amyss]

If you wear more than one magic ring on each hand you hands will explode or turn into snails or something.

I'm pretty sure that's the explanation everyone uses.

Turning into snails? Now that's an effect I can get behind.

 

[Saltyk]

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.

 

[xvbones]

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

Health items are absorbed instantly, through osmosis. You just have to step on or near food in order for food to heal you.

By the way, a steak dinner can fix a gunshot wound.

 

[Zhukov]

Oh, I thought of another one:

Running backwards. Seriously, stand up and try it.

 

[putowtin]

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.

but woo betide you if you do something to offend them, like play the lute or fart (ref: Fable)

 

[Thaluikhain]

The maximum amount of ammo you can carry for one gun isn't affected by what else you are carrying, though that's not always the case.

 

[RuralGamer]

Oh, I thought of another one:

Running backwards. Seriously, stand up and try it.

Without doing that, I concur; its far too easy to do in games to escape/make difficult fights easier. I heard somewhere (probably PCGamer) that in Skyrim, that's a lot harder to do.