Welcome to another new video game feature! The 5 most hated and overused video game features that need to go already! SERIOUSLY DEVELOPERS! STOP USING THESE ANNOYING MECHANICS! Lets get right into it.

NUMBER 5 - LEVEL GRINDING



ONLY 4,523 BOARS TO GO! WOOT!


Nothing is more hated in a game then hitting a spot along the story progression you simply can't pass because of either an overpowered boss or enemy, or lack of fighting due to poor core design in the RPG.

The best RPGs are balanced and designed so that the player will fight a healthy amount of battles, and have boss and harder enemy fights just the right challenge.

Sounds easy in theory, but unfortunately, the majority of RPGs always seem to have balancing issues, and most of them will hit you with a couple spots where your forced to go fight some lame ass enemies, OVER and OVER, AND OVER AND OVER!!!! After around 2 hours of this, you MIGHT be able to finally progress.

BALANCE YOUR RPGS BETTER DEVELOPERS!


NUMBER 4 - FETCH QUESTS



HAHAHAHA, oh yes, the fetch quest, wait, i think the guy over in the other town gave me a gun.... and the guy in the other village gave me a bullet. Yes, let me get those....


Ahh, the fetch quest, a tactic we have seen in all games since they have started, and are still so prevalent today. They come in all shapes and sizes, be it a simple go get my item and bring it back, or the dreaded trade game, which involves a series of fetching. Example, get item A, bring to person A who gives item B. Take item B to person B who gives item C. etc etc.

Sometimes, the fetch quest tends to work in a platformer game, where it usually does not take long to complete, and offers a variety of challenges along the way, but the fetch quests we see so often in adventure, action, and rpg games are slow, boring, and usually involve pointless treks back and forth from towns and landmarks with no real challenge or variety.... just time wasted. Even some shooters are beginning to become fetch quests, like bioshock or f.e.a.r. It is an epidemic affecting all genres!

We have seen these so long now in games, you think one would have thought, "hey these are boring and tedious!" BUT NO, they still happen today. God damn those fetch quests!


NUMBER 3 - AUTOMATIC HEALTH REGENERATION



Doesn't matter this guy just pwned me (as probably did the last 10 as well) ill just bitch slap him and go run behind that chair to recover all my health. NO WORRIES!


While Halo was not the first game to feature automatic health regeneration, it was the first game to start the mainstreaming of it, among other things as well. Now, the majority of FPS games, and other genres for that matter feature a automatic health regeneration.

For those unfamiliar with the mechanic, a numeric health or hit point system no longer exists, and is replaced by damage being shown as your screen turning red, until you eventually die. Duck or stay out of damage though for a few seconds, and all your health MAGICALLY AND AUTOMATICALLY COMES BACK?

why is this bad you ask? Because its unrealistic and stupid! It takes a ton of fun and strategy out of the game, because all i have to do is hide behind a wall or duck behind a table for a few seconds, and all my life will come back! A numeric health system offers the players a much more fruitful experience, as the player must decided tactically when to take a defensive approach, or when he can afford to go out guns blazing and risk damage. Without a numeric health system, this all becomes lost, and the game becomes such a shallow and boring experience.

Bring back numeric health systems developers!!! Some of the best and most played shooters rely on this type of system. Pokemon, zelda, battlefield, left 4 dead, team fortress 1 and 2, half life, among others. BRING BACK THE HEALTHPACKS BABY!


NUMBER 2 - HARDER DIFFICULTY SETTINGS THAT RELY ON BULLET SPONGE ENEMIES WHO NOW CAN KILL YOU IN ONE HIT.



No qoute needed. I know you all feel my pain.


Harder and multiple difficulty levels are a great thing to have, but NOT when all a "harder difficulty" involves is turning enemies into walking bullet sponges who can also now suddenly kill you in 1 or 2 hits. This is something that we see in so many games today, its sickening. Gears of war 1 and 2, call of duty, and in all honestly, a large percent of the other games that do offer harder difficulty levels.

If there's one thing developers SHOULD NOT change when making a harder difficulty level, its the only thing the most of them are changing now, which is making enemies tougher to kill, and have them killing you much easier.

In fact, i rarely replay games on a harder difficulty setting, because this is what i am then faced with it, and it frankly, sucks ass. Its frustrating, tedious, and annoying, and it more so requires you to memorize an entire level then actually rely on your skill and game play reactions.

So what should harder difficulty levels entitle? Well, for starters, you could have smarter enemies, or larger groups of enemies. A brilliant tactic used in some games, like goldeneye and timesplitters, is adding on mission objectives in harder settings, or in timesplitters case, adding whole new parts of the level to explore on harder difficulty settings. Its brilliant actually. Why more games haven't done this is beyond me.

Resistance 2 has a nifty way of making enjoyable harder difficulty levels by giving enemies upgraded weapons. This DOES mean they can kill you faster, but it balances out as you can use there upgraded weapons which in turn, helps you kill enemies faster. Its a nice balance.

All and all, developers need to start putting more time into harder difficulty levels so they NEVER involve bullet sponge super tank enemies with doomsday bullets and attacks. The objective and level additions technique is a brilliant one i would love to see more of.



and.................... for the finale...........



NUMBER 1 - THE SAVE POINT FUNCTION



Don't let the pretty looking bright shiny lights fool you, those save points are PURE EVIL!


Why someone over the past 15 years hasn't realized by now that only being able to save your game at a sparsely placed save point is the most disgusting thing in the world is beyond me. Especially when lack of saving at these save points often results in tons of lost data, as in when you lose a battle or have to shut the game off, and get sent back to when you last saved, often losing hours of progress.

What makes it worse, besides that this is still so prevalent, is the fact that its obvious its not needed anymore. Its not like the save point IS THE ONLY WAY one could ever save his game. Saving on command has been around since the NES.

I honestly believe every single game by now should allow the player to save whenever they want. There is no reason to still be using an outdated and frustrating system. Another complaint with the savepoint function is the frustration that comes from WANTING to quit a game, but not being able to until i "find" a save point. This restricts the player from playing a game in short chunks (which is probably how most people play) simply because they know it can take upwards of an hour sometimes to be able to save their progress. ITS DISGUSTING!

SO PLEASE, NO MORE SAVE POINTS IN GAMES! Players need to able to save via menu anytime they please, and start up again from exactly where they left off. There is no reason this cant be done in today's age. SO DO IT!!!


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And there you have it, the 5 most hated and overused game mechanics in video games. Any comments are appreciated. Thanks for reading!