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[truly101]

Characters/monsters can withstand multiple bladed attacks with no dismemberment or death. Fuck that sword, it just scratched me.

 

[Patryn]

I loved how Lunar: The Silver Star subverted the whole shop thing in RPGs.

In the game, your best friend from childhood ends up owning the largest store in the largest city. You find this out just before the final dungeon. You tell him about your journey and he's all supportive. Moreover, he lets you have anything from the store FREE.

Want unlimited items that can fully restore you magic? Go right ahead!

So nice. Literally, the only limit is what your characters can hold (no 99 item shenanigans in this game).

Which is another thing: Why can you hold 99 of item x and 1 of item y, but not 100 of item x?

 

[Takamura-San]

Infinite inventory systems.

And even those with burden it doesn't really reflect the real burden of carrying all that shit.

 

[Chuckpebble]

Hammer space. Basically carrying SO MUCH shit on your person. Although, there are a lot of games that handle inventories in a more realistic manner, which I always enjoy.

But yeah, there's a ton of this stuff in Monster Hunter. The weapon you're using doesn't have any weight or affect your ability to move in any way until you unsheath it.
Then there are those bombs you can place that you could actually fit inside of!
Oh, and don't get me started on that mounted gun that somehow 4 people can occupy at one time.

 

[DryvBy]

i raise you triple jumping in Alice Madness Returns.

But this makes complete sense due to her dreaming and being a stoner.

In Dead Rising 2, the beginning shows a gameshow where people compete on bikes to kill zombies. I dunno how long these have been going on, but who is pumping the gas and delivering it to them?

 

[rpmurphy]

Characters/monsters can withstand multiple bladed attacks with no dismemberment or death. Fuck that sword, it just scratched me.

It would be a good day when Dwarf Fortress combat mechanics arrive on other popular games.

 

[MikeE21286]

Regenerating health
Protagonists being impervious to bullets

 

[thefro]

- Who scatters all these power-ups/secret treasures over the game that only your character can use? Treasure/items are usually always still there when you come back months or years later in storyline terms.

- Character can take tons of damage in game and be conscious and still operate at full power, but one sword swing/gunshot/hit kills them or KOs them in a cutscene

- Shopkeepers still charge full price that they would to a stranger even after you save their town, have a relative/friend of the shopkeeper in your party, work for the King or become the King.

- Even in a small one-room shop, shopkeepers have infinite space to buy/sell you as many items as you want and store thousands of suits of armor.

- Police/Enemy army just forgets about you in open world games after a set period of time, despite being a mass-murderer/blowing up buildings, etc. There are no manhunts where they suddenly ambush you with everything they have.

 

[Carnby]

How about all the cool stuff the characters can do in cut scenes, yet in-game all you can do is shoot and jump?

Thus Quick Time Events were invented. At least this is my way of defending their existence.

 

[Pookmunki]

I loved how Lunar: The Silver Star subverted the whole shop thing in RPGs.

In the game, your best friend from childhood ends up owning the largest store in the largest city. You find this out just before the final dungeon. You tell him about your journey and he's all supportive. Moreover, he lets you have anything from the store FREE.

Want unlimited items that can fully restore you magic? Go right ahead!

So nice. Literally, the only limit is what your characters can hold (no 99 item shenanigans in this game).

Which is another thing: Why can you hold 99 of item x and 1 of item y, but not 100 of item x?

Brilliant! Exactly what I mentioned earlier in the thread, makes total sense but is definately a minority mechanic.

 

[TricksterLoki]

My favorite has always been using a command in you're phone that magically teleports a car, plane, tank, helicopter or a wide variety of weapons to you. (GTA)

 

[Reagan's BR]

Surprised Rooster Teeth's Immersion has not been mentioned: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIRUavithF8

They test out some video game concepts in the real world which relates to this discussion.

 

[KittenMaster]

Speaking of exploding barrels, the fact that they explode when shot instead of just pouring fuel out of the holes.

Even worse when this is translated over into movies. Casino Royale is a huge offender.

 

[KevinCow]

Speaking of exploding barrels, the fact that they explode when shot instead of just pouring fuel out of the holes.

Even worse when this is translated over into movies. Casino Royale is a huge offender.

I'm pretty sure movies were doing it well before games.

 

[Mael]

Speaking of exploding barrels, the fact that they explode when shot instead of just pouring fuel out of the holes.

Even worse when this is translated over into movies. Casino Royale is a huge offender.

Actually it might stem from movies where anything is explosive, lampshaded in the Simpsons many times.
Heck in MW2, it made sense that cars were exploding barrels because it felt so much like a movie anyway.

edit : damnit KevinCow

My contribution to the topic :
- Unleashing the furies of the gods, destroying multiple universes to inflict minor damages on some foes and then after the battle is over no one is aware that you did indeed destroy the world many times...

Like this

A better example would be in OoT like how the Hyrule is under Ganondorf's rule and everything is mostly alright, I mean if not for the people complaining so much you wouldn't even have noticed there was a problem...
Kinda made worse in TP...

 

[butts]

Walking over stuff picks it up.

 

[Mael]

Walking over stuff picks it up.

You don't want it to be done like in Dark Castle...

 

[Seik]

Mixing green+red+blue herbs can cure ANYTHING!

 

[victreeb3l]

Health Regen =\

I miss the days of healthpacks. Also, reloading your gun. You're only supposed to reload if the clip gets jammed or if its empty, but due to infinite clips in gaming, we keep pressing R like OCD freaks at the slightest hint of clip not being full.

ive gotten killed in multiplayer so many times because i kept reloading when i didnt have to.

i cant help it man. i just feel like that 2-3 bullet difference will prevent me from getting a kill and ill end up dead instead. i have to always have a full clip. always. ill never learn

 

[Gamer @ Heart]

The magic clips is definetly one i take for granted. I can not stop myself from reloading after every fire, even if it was only 2 shots

 

[Fimbulvetr]

DP

 

[Fimbulvetr]

At least this is my way of defending their existence.

Then try harder.

- Shopkeepers still charge full price that they would to a stranger even after you save their town, have a relative/friend of the shopkeeper in your party, work for the King or become the King.

I like how in Tales of Symphonia you had a character who could use his skill as a businessman to haggle the shopkeepers for lower prices, and another character who could use his status as a religious icon to sell items for higher prices(and get free items from women).

Essentially, infinite money.

 

[Remy]

Running into your enemy's base, grabbing a color flag, and fleeing with it back to your base 3 times will be considered a military victory.

Any level of police suspicion can be erased by getting your car a new paint job.

Most bombs are easily disarmed and have very easy to read timers.

 

[brucewaynegretzky]

Running into your enemy's base, grabbing a color flag, and fleeing with it back to your base 3 times will be considered a military victory.

I didn't think any game actually portrayed that. Rather that it was just a game of capture the flag....

 

[MetatronM]

Mega Man's knowledge of how to use different weapons lasts only as long as it takes to defeat Dr. Wily, then he forgets it all.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

Mega Man's knowledge of how to use different weapons lasts only as long as it takes to defeat Dr. Wily, then he forgets it all.

On that note, any RPG that features the same characters as the one before.

You could have ended with the best armor, the highest level and been an unstoppable machine

But in the next game you're just a regular dude again.


Some games are getting better at this (letting you transfer stuff between saves), but still, it does cause some questions on how you became a wimp in such a short amount of time.

 

[Piano]

On that note, any RPG that features the same characters as the one before.

You could have ended with the best armor, the highest level and been an unstoppable machine

But in the next game you're just a regular dude again.


Some games are getting better at this (letting you transfer stuff between saves), but still, it does cause some questions on how you became a wimp in such a short amount of time.

Some of the Metroid games have tried to explain this away (like Samus loses her suit again or she can't be 'authorized' to use certain features). It's still pretty incredulous to think about what an odd career Samus has had that she keeps finding herself in scenarios where she needs to rebuild her skillset. At least she always manages to find everything she needs.

She has the worst and best luck.

 

[darkpaladinmfc]

On that note, any RPG that features the same characters as the one before.

You could have ended with the best armor, the highest level and been an unstoppable machine

But in the next game you're just a regular dude again.


Some games are getting better at this (letting you transfer stuff between saves), but still, it does cause some questions on how you became a wimp in such a short amount of time.

Witcher 2 does it well, you start off with all your legendary gear from your Witcher 1 file if you choose to import, and they're barely better than what you would start with any ways, so the game is still nice and appropriately hard .

 

[echoshifting]

Some of the Metroid games have tried to explain this away (like Samus loses her suit again or she can't be 'authorized' to use certain features). It's still pretty incredulous to think about what an odd career Samus has had that she keeps finding herself in scenarios where she needs to rebuild her skillset. At least she always manages to find everything she needs.

She has the worst and best luck.

You'd think that at this point she'd keep spares in her ship.

Just once I want a Metroid game where she starts with most of the gear you'd expect her to...the basics, at the very least.

 

[Pociask]

Already beaten on this, but it bears repeating: traumatic death cut-scenes, when the church that provides resurrection for a nominal fee is a stone's throw away.

And another RPG favorite of mine, when you summon a gigantic meteorite that smashes into your enemy, who is 5-10 feet in front of you. Rock looks big enough to wipe out the dinosaurs, but doesn't even touch you.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

The losing the equipment thing bothered me in Phantom Hourglass too. In Wind Waker, Link gets a variety of neat equipment that would be extremely useful when going to seek out

Spoiler

the next Hyrule

at the end of Wind Waker, including a baton that controls the winds themselves, but in Phantom Hourglass he has none of this...and even gets the Boomerang, Bow and Arrow, Grappling Hook, and Hammer all over again. I wish they could of at-least spiced up his inventory a bit so it wasn't him getting all the same items again he gained in his last quest.

This happens in Majora's Mask and Link's Awakening too, but it's handled a bit better here...in Majora's Mask, Link actually has the Ocarina of Time and Epona with him (even though he never got her as a child), as well as his sword and shield, and all the items he picks up are ones that he never used as a kid in Ocarina of Time, so it feels more logical. And in Link's Awakening, he's in a dream and everything, so it's not that odd either.

 

[ZeroGravity]

Just once I want a Metroid game where she starts with most of the gear you'd expect her to...the basics, at the very least.

Metroid Prime 3 did this, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[echoshifting]

And another RPG favorite of mine, when you summon a gigantic meteorite that smashes into your enemy, who is 5-10 feet in front of you. Rock looks big enough to wipe out the dinosaurs, but doesn't even touch you.

Great comic back on p. 6 about this one, or rather an absurdity quite like it.

Metroid Prime 3 did this, if I'm not mistaken.

It did? :O That's the only Prime game I haven't played.

Damn, I thought I was going to get out of this generation without needing a Wii. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

 

[Mael]

Great comic back on p. 6 about this one, or rather an absurdity quite like it.



It did? :O That's the only Prime game I haven't played.

Damn, I thought I was going to get out of this generation without needing a Wii. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Actually Metroid Prime Hunters did as well, it have few powerups however, mostly weapons though

 

[Despera]

In RPGs, you can be in a battle and get hit in the head by a meteoroid the size of a planet and manage to stay alive. But in a cutscene, a simple stab by a sword to the back can kill you.

Cutscenes are a RPG protagonist's worst enemy.

 

[Easy_D]

Always perfectly reloading every gun no matter in what situation. I'd love to see once the character taking longer to reload because he is under suppressing fire

Gears of War style active reload that gets harder and harder to pull off the more fire you've got coming your way? That would be kind of cool. Screw up and you waste an entire clip!

 

[ss_lemonade]

And another RPG favorite of mine, when you summon a gigantic meteorite that smashes into your enemy, who is 5-10 feet in front of you. Rock looks big enough to wipe out the dinosaurs, but doesn't even touch you.

I remember Grandia 2 having a spell that looked like an atomic bomb explosion. Was really ridiculous and awesome looking at the same time haha

 

[Mael]

So in most games, when you die, you go back a few minutes. You then retry the section with foreknowledge of what's coming up. There's gonna be a guy over there, health over here, some big dude's gonna spawn about halfway through so save your ammo for your powerful gun, stuff like that.

Of course, that doesn't make much sense within the game world. Your character died, and you're simply restarting from an earlier point in that character's life.

So I have to reach the conclusion that every video game character has at least some small amount of psychic powers, yet nobody ever seems to acknowledge this fact.

I actually missed that but hey there's also another explanation...

 

[Dunan]

Here's another: normally sentient/intelligent people who will either stand and fight to the death, or will fight you again and again no matter how many times you defeat them.

I couldn't help thinking of this when seeing the fanatics who try to see how high they can raise Reks' level in the prologue to FF12. The only thing you can do is fight the same guards in the Nalbina Fortress over and over. What can those goofs be thinking? Or are the bosses giving them orders?

ARCHADIAN TROOP LEADER: You, there. Can you hear me?

SOLDIER: Whuh... yeah. That kid! He beat us again!

LEADER: You bore a few cuts, but you are still whole. Can you stand? Think you can fight?

SOLDIER: No, I can't fight! What are you, nuts!? He's whooped us, what, five hundred times in a row? Did you even see those huge white numbers floating above his head? They're going up like crazy! If we haven't beaten him yet, we're not gonna do it now.

LEADER: Too bad; our gambit says 'fight', so that's what we're going to do!

- Shopkeepers still charge full price that they would to a stranger even after you save their town, have a relative/friend of the shopkeeper in your party, work for the King or become the King.

Edgar got his party a discount in the Figaro shops in FF6, being a king and all. The shopkeepers didn't even want to take money from him!

 

[echoshifting]

Ah, I thought of one that really bugs me when I notice it - when your party consists of a diverse multiracial or even multispecies cast, but the game world does not reflect it. In other words, when the black guy or the purple alien in your party appear to be the last black guy on Earth/the last purple alien in the universe. It's actually kind of an interesting character trait when the story bothers to explain it, but they rarely do.

 

[BocoDragon]

Ah, I thought of one that really bugs me when I notice it - when your party consists of a diverse multiracial or even multispecies cast, but the game world does not reflect it. In other words, when the black guy or the purple alien in your party appear to be the last black guy on Earth/the last purple alien in the universe. It's actually kind of an interesting character trait when the story bothers to explain it, but they rarely do.

Good point. I see Barret in FFVII... but where are all the other black people? Where's Africa?

 

[mokeyjoe]

In LA Noire you play as a top-notch detective able to make cunning deductions who clumsily runs into objects, strangely rotates everything he picks up, muses out loud to himself about how useless half of the items he investigates are and drives like he's absolutely insane.

Or at least that's how I played the game.

Heh, made me think of this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvfZ2kkSSX4&feature=related

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Good point. I see Barret in FFVII... but where are all the other black people? Where's Africa?

There's this one chick in Barret's home town, I think one of the gay bodybuilders in the Honey Bee Inn, and one other woman in that beach town across from Junon as well.

....DIVERSITY!

 

[Sneaky Gato]

Yeah, I also love how he puts an entire fishing pole into his... whatever.

Actually, thinking about it, he doesn't even have a back-pack or anything. Just a bunch of pouches and shit.

I thought they explained that away with Midna shunting them away into the Twilight Realm.

 

[Akuun]

- *kills boss* oh shit, the whole place is coming down!! Ruuuuunn!!

- Stop to have a heartfelt conversation with another character, where old wounds are healed and inner demons are finally vanquished. Maybe hug and kiss. All while the whole place is coming down around you/world is about to explode/etc.

 

[BocoDragon]

There's this one chick in Barret's home town, I think one of the gay bodybuilders in the Honey Bee Inn, and one other woman in that beach town across from Junon as well.

....DIVERSITY!

All that fuss over the Cetra... but the brothers are clearly the more important lost race.

 

[gnat_]

Automatic GPS trails that led you to your destination in open world games. I love Red Dead Redemption, but why does my horse have a GPS in the wild west?

Also, we tend to accept invisible walls and take them for granted in games.

 

[runningjoke]

Nobody mentioned that women's bathrooms are ALWAYS locked, even if the character you're playing with is a woman?

Or the fact that there are barely any women to begin with in videogame worlds. Not to mention children or old people.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

In RPGs, you can be in a battle and get hit in the head by a meteoroid the size of a planet and manage to stay alive. But in a cutscene, a simple stab by a sword to the back can kill you.

Cutscenes are a RPG protagonist's worst enemy.

Supernova can never kill you, because it only does percentage based damage.



Oh, and when your party is taken prisoner in an RPG their equipment is always less than 6 feet from the cell they're being held in.

 

[DrFunk]

If I'm moving down a slummy street in an equally slummy city beating copious amounts of ass, why do I have a time limit?