Outdated game mechanics.

Sadly a lot that I think I prefer for having growing up with, anything that make it possible to have lost in a game practically disappeared from mainstream big budget affair (I imagine console gaming save game management created an habit and creped on PC gaming overall), you can read younger audience trying say Baldur Gates 2 and being a bit flabbergasted to have lost a party (entering and going too far in a dungeon unable to get back alive from where their last save point is), with older audience finding strange that a player would not create a save game outside a Dungeon in a RPG game for that obvious possibility.

Having to learn a world-map instead of blindly following an auto, magical and perfect minimap.

Has stated above not having magical and super fast healing is getting rare (if that what is meant by medical pickups)
 
Agree with RPG mechanics. Most of them tend to suck. The best aspect of RPGs are story related decision making. But constantly swapping pants to give you 3.214% more armor every 10 minutes isn't fun or interesting.

Third person shooters, unless they are action RPG games like Mass Effect (the good kind of RPG). Otherwise, FPS is better in every single way.

Open worlds. I see why around 2010 they became very popular as technology and hardware got a lot better. But most games don't use them well. A more semi open approach like Metro Exodus would be better for most games. Games that are level based, but have well thought out level design often have more variety in gameplay and visual style than most open world games. So while it was a logical evolution for games at the time, I think developers should come to the realization that they can't extend most games enough to properly utilize a large open map.
 
I love rpg mechanics and stats ONLY if they are hidden from the player. Assume Skyrim without seeing the skill page or the lvl up screen etc. As you played you just got better without knowing you were getting better (stat wise). I know some people hate this idea but the number crunching is lame and takes the rpg out of the rpg.
 
I love rpg mechanics and stats ONLY if they are hidden from the player. Assume Skyrim without seeing the skill page or the lvl up screen etc. As you played you just got better without knowing you were getting better (stat wise). I know some people hate this idea but the number crunching is lame and takes the rpg out of the rpg.
I do not mind a mix, say like the Quest of Glories back in the days, you can better at the thing your character actually do, not passing level and having to make any choice pass the short character creation screen, but you can still see your stats if you want too. A lot of RPG mechanics are quite non sensical, now you know how to use a boat, read or make potion because you killed a bunch of Orc ? (Or just the notion of having more health point has you get older in general....), never thought about fully hiding the numbers but that would be interesting.

Both have their place obviously.
 
I also am tired of minimaps in every game, be it rpg, fps, strategy, etc.

Sometime it feel someone that do not speak a word of the game language could go through it, some button to press over an highlighted character followed by a destination spawning on a minimap that bring you to a difference location-character with the button for you to press showing up, you can be fully obliviously to everything that is going on. It remove a lot of element, for example going through a forest instead of following a rivers, sea or road does not feel different enough.

It would be nice if a game dynamic would be more like the following:
You have the magic minimaps for what your character actually know but it is not normal that you do not and only show stuff that he actually know. So a fog of war would make the minimap very minimal to empty if you go outside the location your character grew up in and so on.
 
I love rpg mechanics and stats ONLY if they are hidden from the player. Assume Skyrim without seeing the skill page or the lvl up screen etc. As you played you just got better without knowing you were getting better (stat wise). I know some people hate this idea but the number crunching is lame and takes the rpg out of the rpg.
For many people including myself, the number crunching is half the fun.
 
Agree. Fetch quests and infinite quests can die in a fire.
I generally agree with this too. I wouldn't call that a game mechanic as much as it's lazy filler to pad a game's total completion time.
Has stated above not having magical and super fast healing is getting rare (if that what is meant by medical pickups)
Actually, what I mean by that are random boxes you run over which magically fill your health bar back up. Since Halo, this hasn't been a huge problem as you have regenerating health and shields. Some people bitch about that too, but that's another discussion. To some degree it is more realistic, but if the game were hyper-realistic, we'd all die from gun fire or whatever and you'd never make it very far.
Agree with RPG mechanics. Most of them tend to suck. The best aspect of RPGs are story related decision making. But constantly swapping pants to give you 3.214% more armor every 10 minutes isn't fun or interesting.

Third person shooters, unless they are action RPG games like Mass Effect (the good kind of RPG). Otherwise, FPS is better in every single way.

Open worlds. I see why around 2010 they became very popular as technology and hardware got a lot better. But most games don't use them well. A more semi open approach like Metro Exodus would be better for most games. Games that are level based, but have well thought out level design often have more variety in gameplay and visual style than most open world games. So while it was a logical evolution for games at the time, I think developers should come to the realization that they can't extend most games enough to properly utilize a large open map.
I love the story and decision making aspects of RPG's. This can greatly enhance the replayability of a game. But generally speaking, I dislike RPG's as you end up spending more time managing inventory than you do playing the actual game. I don't need to look through seven identical looking weapons to pick up one with slightly better stats than another one. It's ridiculous and it's a dated mechanic I can't stand. Fortunately, Mass Effect 2 and 3 avoid this trope spectacularly. But most RPG games don't. Cyberpunk 2077 even has this problem. I wish you had to improve your skill to meet the challenge of the game rather than grind levels to increase a bunch of numbers and then depend on RNG to get the loot you want, etc.

Open world games are something that I can enjoy when they are built the right way. They have to be structured a certain way or they don't work well in my opinion. Mass Effect Andromeda suffers from an open world design while maintaining almost none of its benefits. Love it or hate it, Cyberpunk 2077 handles it very well with quests naturally having you explore the world and not necessarily getting bogged down in side quests just to clear an area. It still suffers from the same problem of the side quests detracting from the urgency of the main quest but not to the degree it happens in Andromeda.
I love rpg mechanics and stats ONLY if they are hidden from the player. Assume Skyrim without seeing the skill page or the lvl up screen etc. As you played you just got better without knowing you were getting better (stat wise). I know some people hate this idea but the number crunching is lame and takes the rpg out of the rpg.
Well, this works in lieu of player's improving their skills to meet the challenge of the game. I agree these things are best hidden from the player. I hate managing armors, weapons and inventory items just to get arbitrary stat points to do something. Some games handle these things better than others.
I also am tired of minimaps in every game, be it rpg, fps, strategy, etc.
In some games I think they can make a great deal of sense, in others they don't. In Cyberpunk 2077, I think its fine. Even necessary. But in CoD or most shooters? Not so much.
For many people including myself, the number crunching is half the fun.
Well, and there is something to be said for that. I don't think these things need to be abolished from the industry or anything. However, I feel like it would be nice if an RPG just had story and player decisions without relying on the tropes of inventory management and character levels. Mass Effect did do this somewhat, but then returned to all that nonsense for Andromeda. To be fair, Andromeda did do right by the crafting system even if the menus for it are horrendous.
 
Actually, what I mean by that are random boxes you run over which magically fill your health bar back up. Since Halo, this hasn't been a huge problem as you have regenerating health and shields. Some people bitch about that too, but that's another discussion. To some degree it is more realistic, but if the game were hyper-realistic, we'd all die from gun fire or whatever and you'd never make it very far.
Yes that what I understood, magical automatics healing replaced magical healing box-item.
 
Yes that what I understood, magical automatics healing replaced magical healing box-item.
Yes, but between the two I actually prefer automatic health regeneration to running over boxes.
 
Yes, but between the two I actually prefer automatic health regeneration to running over boxes.
I think most do with the sales numbers thus the shift (and I imagine true of every outdated game mechanics we will say, but some seem to point out thing to do not like more than actually outdated game mechanics here).
 
But generally speaking, I dislike RPG's as you end up spending more time managing inventory than you do playing the actual game. I don't need to look through seven identical looking weapons to pick up one with slightly better stats than another one. It's ridiculous and it's a dated mechanic I can't stand. Fortunately, Mass Effect 2 and 3 avoid this trope spectacularly. But most RPG games don't. Cyberpunk 2077 even has this problem. I wish you had to improve your skill to meet the challenge of the game rather than grind levels to increase a bunch of numbers and then depend on RNG to get the loot you want, etc.

That is probably the worst part about Cypberpunk. It will be a chore for me to get back into it when the DLCs do come. If they have a setting that can auto level up your weapons I'd enable it.
 
Unfortunately some of these are still widely used, so it's more like I wish they gone the way of the dodo.

  • Non voiced conversations
  • Invisible walls
  • corridor shooters
  • objective markers (after playing AC Odyssey And Ghost Recon Breakpoint in "unguided" mode, I never want to go back)
  • checkpoint based saving (laziness, nothing else, implementing proper saving is harder)
  • enemy levels (eg.: physically the same enemy can appear with wildly different strengths in the game)
  • gear level (items strength should be determined by its physical properties, not by an arbitrary number attached to it)
  • leveling up (it's a pointless waste of time, if enemies also get stronger, then why not just do away with the whole shenanigans?)
 
Medical pickups, armor pickups, carrying ridiculous amounts of weapons, no reloading, not offering crouching, vehicle turret sections in shooters, and pretty much all RPG mechanics.
Magically instant healing health pickups I agree, but I do like medkits that you can manually use later, especially if using it requires you to be out of combat.
I'd replace not offering crouching with no cover mechanics. I don't care about manual crouching as much as not being able to use cover.

As for RPG mechanics DuesEx already got it right in 2000. No weapon levels, no enemy levels, no leveling up. You just get XP that can be used to improve skills. That's all what is needed.
 
Magically instant healing health pickups I agree, but I do like medkits that you can manually use later, especially if using it requires you to be out of combat.
I'd replace not offering crouching with no cover mechanics. I don't care about manual crouching as much as not being able to use cover.

As for RPG mechanics DuesEx already got it right in 2000. No weapon levels, no enemy levels, no leveling up. You just get XP that can be used to improve skills. That's all what is needed.
Like I said, I don't usually mind regenerating health and shields. However, it depends on the type of game. I wouldn't want that in Ghost Recon Breakpoint. In that game, the bandage system and syringes are a good way to deal with replenishing health.
 
Medical pickups, armor pickups, carrying ridiculous amounts of weapons, no reloading, not offering crouching, vehicle turret sections in shooters, and pretty much all RPG mechanics.
On the contrary, I think regenerating health and two-weapon loadouts need to die. Everything else in this statement can stay if it fits the game.
 
On the contrary, I think regenerating health and two-weapon loadouts need to die. Everything else in this statement can stay if it fits the game.

Very much agree! At least we can use our imaginations (these ARE games after all) and pretend that the player character actually opened it up, patched up, and injected something helpful. :D Where does regenerating life come from, unless magic is an element of the game. (or I guess some nanite tech MAYBE) I'd much rather have to hunt down a medkit too, than just get shot and have my health slowly rising up. I also don't mind carrying 50x my weight in weapons and ammo, because since it's a game, the variety is more important than realistic weight restrictions.

Once again, these are games. If I wanted a real-life simulator, I'd stay off my computer and consoles. :p I guess it's a matter of taste. I just think hunting around for things that can sustain you when you're wounded adds something that standing still and regenerating doesn't.

I guess if we're playing tactical shooters, there should be a realistic weight limit, maybe a good bandaging system, etc.

I don't really play those though.
 
Health pickups make sense. Cannot imagine playing HL2 or especially HL Alyx without them. Regenerating heath makes sense, it was cool in GoW. And both together make sense: ME:LE and FTL both show how regernation and “pickups” can be used in the same game.

Agree that filler gather/kill quests in RPGs is a dumb mechanic.

I hate the aiming/movement mechanics in some of the Resident Evil games I tried to play. WTF is the idea of making my player controls feel like piloting a pufferfish through a sea of lead supposed to accomplish other than to annoy me?
 
Most forms of backtracking. Basically anything that wastes my time.
 
Inconsistent objects (and doors) blocking your path
Open worlds that are only there to take up space/time between actual game content
Quicktime events
Mashing buttons
Enemies with invincibility frames to keep you from unloading
Vague saving mechanics (Is my game saved? Where/When?)
Food = Health
Huge inventories of items that are all the same

My biggest one is games that force you to press a button over and over again to highlight environmental objects, though. That shit should be a toggle.
 
A few that come to mind:
  • Forced cutscenes or dialogue immediately preceding combat, especially those that teleport the player or party to a tactically disadvantaged position (often ruining formation) and essentially give the enemy a free "round" of attack.
  • Inventory-management minigames
  • Real-Life simulators that waste the player's time without contributing to gameplay
  • QTEs (especially the button-mashing type best solved by a macro)
Edit:
  • NPCs that cheat
  • Characters running around in circles like headless chickens because of terrible collision and/or pathing
  • Dying as a result of said pathing.
I wouldn't describe these as outdated mechanics as much as undesirable ones.
 
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A few that come to mind:
  • Forced cutscenes or dialogue immediately preceding combat, especially those that teleport the player or party to a tactically disadvantaged position (often ruining formation) and essentially give the enemy a free "round" of attack.
  • Inventory-management minigames
  • Real-Life simulators that waste the player's time without contributing to gameplay
  • QTEs (especially the button-mashing type best solved by a macro)
I wouldn't describe these as outdated mechanics as much as undesirable ones.
I honestly don't hate on QTE. I love the button mashing one. I not the masher I was but I can still hang.
 
Yeah you guys are calling a lot of things "outdated" when they were always considered bad design. Also just because you don't like something doesn't mean it's "outdated". And can you really call some of these things outdated when they haven't been replaced by something better?
 
Unfortunately some of these are still widely used, so it's more like I wish they gone the way of the dodo.

  • Non voiced conversations

I completely forgot about that. But yes, some games do still have that. Particularly a problem with Japanese games but I assume they don't have the budget or don't want to spend money on voicing all lines in English.

I'll also add:

- No pausing during cutscenes. I'm look at you Witcher 3. But a number of games I've played in the past decade didn't allow it.

- Tying some type of gameplay mechanic to the frame rate. Largely fading away, but I recently played The Evil Within which came out in 2014. It still had damage that would be increased if the frame rate cap was overridden. For 2014 that is very lame.
 
- No pausing during cutscenes. I'm look at you Witcher 3. But a number of games I've played in the past decade didn't allow it.
That is more like an oversight than deliberate design.
- Tying some type of gameplay mechanic to the frame rate. Largely fading away, but I recently played The Evil Within which came out in 2014. It still had damage that would be increased if the frame rate cap was overridden. For 2014 that is very lame.
A remnant from single threaded games, way back when I used to program there was no easy way to decouple things from the fps, multi threaded programming hasn't been as robust as it has become later. I'd imagine some games still are designed that way for convenience of the programming.
 
On the contrary, I think regenerating health and two-weapon loadouts need to die. Everything else in this statement can stay if it fits the game.
Both regenerating health and realistic weapon loadouts have their place. In an immersive game I'd not expect being able to carry 3 handguns, 4 assault weapons, 2 smgs, a minigun and a rocket launcher at the same time. And regenerating health is perfectly fine in a scifi setting.
 
Honestly seeing the dice roll stuff in cRPGs. During 2 seconds in a fight you get to see 50 dice rolls on the bottom right... that stuff should be transparent and in the background - things for the computer to do instead of for the human player to see. If you're a real OCD min-maxer, make it an option to display. But having it on by default is mind boggling to me.
And I'm sure I'm in the minority, but overwhelming amount of stats in those cRPGs. It's all just too much.
And resistances - if they're in a game, make them more useful than in one boss fight. Make it so you have to equip and unequip certain pieces of gear more often depending on the enemies, or take resistances out completely.

A lot of things in cRPGs feel archaic to me; too needlessly complicated.
 
Honestly seeing the dice roll stuff in cRPGs. During 2 seconds in a fight you get to see 50 dice rolls on the bottom right... that stuff should be transparent and in the background - things for the computer to do instead of for the human player to see. If you're a real OCD min-maxer, make it an option to display. But having it on by default is mind boggling to me.
And I'm sure I'm in the minority, but overwhelming amount of stats in those cRPGs. It's all just too much.
And resistances - if they're in a game, make them more useful than in one boss fight. Make it so you have to equip and unequip certain pieces of gear more often depending on the enemies, or take resistances out completely.

A lot of things in cRPGs feel archaic to me; too needlessly complicated.

I also hate seeing damage numbers instead of blood when I shoot something. I'm looking at Cyberpunk 2077, Destiny 2, etc. Although, Cyberpunk 2077 allows you to turn this stupid shit off.
 
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Straight FPS without any of the extra elements some of you are complaining about. A shooter with nothing else going for it feels archaic and boring AF to me.
 
Control pads! :eek:

I've been using a superior mouse + kb combo for over 2 decades, WTF would I want to downgrade to inferior input?

They give consoles a bad name and need to go the way of the Dodo. :ROFLMAO:
 
Control pads! :eek:

I've been using a superior mouse + kb combo for over 2 decades, WTF would I want to downgrade to inferior input?

They give consoles a bad name and need to go the way of the Dodo. :ROFLMAO:

For several genres, I’m right with you.

However, try playing your favorite MetroVan game or classic games with M+KB :p. To be fair, some people live playing 2D games with a KB. I did when I was younger on my early PCs. Can’t stand that now though. I play this type of game on either my Switch or living room TV with a good gamepad.
 
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