"Outdated" mechanics you defend

[ciro64]

We all know that the life system felt out of style after the 5th gen. While arcade-like experiences proves that they're still useful to this day, I'll make a case for games where they're less important. And for this example, I'll pick Banjo-Kazooie!

This game have some challenges here and there, but it's more about progressing through exploration and completing all objectives. While the N64 version does harshly punish you for dying, having a life system is useless here because nothing actually changes when you Game Over, other than that you go through the inconvenience of being kicked to the title screen then the hub's staring area.

So what's the point? Well, it's...

SHAME!

Admit it, you simply didn't wanted to get a game over as a kid. You just didn't. It was like the game getting mad at you.

In case of Banjo-Kazooie, it actually went greater and tragic lengths to prove this point, with its own elaborate bad ending when getting a Game Over.

Which would also play when just quitting to the title screen. I guess the developers expected you to beat the game in one sitting or something

Anyway, that's why I think a "unnecessary" life system is still cool to this day. Is there a game mechanic that became unpopular that you still defend?

 

[happymasksalesman happymasksalesman]

An old mechanic?
Well area return. After cleaning whole area game make you revisit it to get new item or finish a quest.
This mechanic isn't much outdated but less use in this age.
It was annoying to reenter a swamp but how story goes and how we enf up there again.
I like it and also hate it. They should just make it more fair.

 

[ciro64]

An old mechanic?
Well area return. After cleaning whole area game make you revisit it to get new item or finish a quest.
This mechanic isn't much outdated but less use in this age.
It was annoying to reenter a swamp but how story goes and how we enf up there again.
I like it and also hate it. They should just make it more fair.

Backtracking? I think it's at its best when there some sort of interactivity on your way back. Like taking a slightly different path or having to deal with different situations this time.

It's at its worse however when you have to do the exact same non-trivial path but backwards, and it's even worse when you just got there. Or alternatively, when a game tells you to do a padded fetch quest near its end, breaking the pacing both story and gameplay-wise.

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

Points and scoring in non Arcade Games tends to be accused of being an out-of-date holdover, but I enjoy seeing my score go up even if it means nothing at all.

 

[happymasksalesman happymasksalesman]

Backtracking? I think it's at its best when there some sort of interactivity on your way back. Like taking a slightly different path or having to deal with different situations this time.

It's at its worse however when you have to do the exact same non-trivial path but backwards, and it's even worse when you just got there. Or alternatively, when a game tells you to do a padded fetch quest near its end, breaking the pacing both story and gameplay-wise.

It remind ds1 when they make you to go back all the way to undead parish.....
"No I don't insult! I just gonna throw this note of insult to you" how it was for me.

 

[sengokuhorror]

Fixed cameras. I think there's plenty of games that one could point to, from Final Fantasy VIII to Resident Evil Remake that would go to show that fixed cameras are still valid for their aesthetic qualities, but apparently their association with games that have tank controls make them an "outdated game mechanic." It'd be cool to see how they work with non-tank control games made by AA or AAA developers. But since they're already associated with tank controls, it seems not too many modern gamers want to give them a chance.

Also, tank controls. I think they can still be valid, and I sometimes feel more immersed in controlling my character when I'm playing a game with tank controls. But they do take some getting used to for someone that doesn't play tank control games regularly. They're not "pick up and play" and therefore, "outdated." I guess we would need to see how tank controls can be "modernized" before we can expect more of them.

 

[LaserMoose]

Limited save files. It feels like I need to think about the decisions I make in a game more if I can't just make a bunch of saves. A sweet spot for saves in my opinion is three.

 

[happymasksalesman happymasksalesman]

Limited save files

Hitman contract had limit but for each level so.....and they turn it to hard mod... remind me that.

 

[LaserMoose]

Hitman contract had limit but for each level so.....and they turn it to hard mod... remind me that.

That's also a good way to go about it. Additionally, a toggle at New Game to choose to limit or not limit save slots would also give players more freedom to play how they like, without disrupting another player's enjoyment of the game.

 

[Frickinfrik]

Not sure if this counts as a mechanic, but motion controls. (except the Kinect, the Kinect is shit) Motion controls get a very bad rep because of so many games poorly implementing them and the Kinect. But when done right, they are fantastic. FPS’s work so well with motion controls (most of the time). Sometimes, I feel immersed when playing a Wii game that is motion control heavy.

 

[happymasksalesman happymasksalesman]

That's also a good way to go about it. Additionally, a toggle at New Game to choose to limit or not limit save slots would also give players more freedom to play how they like, without disrupting another player's enjoyment of the game.

Yep. But I like games break the rules like souls like.
Well for outdated there is a old forgotten mechanic.
It's name is "last part is a win in any conditions!"
In silent hill 2 old version if you run out bullets boss will be defeated no matter you didn't damgae it enough. Portal had such things too.
They change it to checkpoint for last boss.

 

[Zerohour2k12]

Unlockables like in the old days. Unlike now that content is mostly locked behind a paywall in the form of DLC. Though content-packed free updates are a thing too, I still miss just playing to unlock stuff.

 

[happymasksalesman happymasksalesman]

Unlockables like in the old days. Unlike now that content is mostly locked behind a paywall in the form of DLC. Though content-packed free updates are a thing too, I still miss just playing to unlock stuff.

Well ah unlockables remind me my only one regret in ds2.
I have to farm 50 loyce souls.......
Anyway remind me mega man zero mini games you unlocke by beat the game.

 

[Moth_Lobster]

The truth they don't want you to hear is that these mechanics are not outdated at all. Outdated implies that they somehow got worse with age, or were good for their time but are bad now. The truth is, if it was good then, it's good now, and just because it causes some friction between the player and the game due to being different from how they would expect, does not make them outdated.

 

[Action_Hank]

Anyway, that's why I think a "unnecessary" life system is still cool to this day.

I agree with you. It's very necessary to feel the sting of defeat, the PAIN of failure. A coddled world leads to weak people who can easily be swept aside. The weak fear the strong.

 

[ciro64]

I agree with you. It's very necessary to feel the sting of defeat, the PAIN of failure. A coddled world leads to weak people who can easily be swept aside. The weak fear the strong.

Bro just compare this:

With this:

kids games today are for pussies LOL

 

[Action_Hank]

Jesus... I mean, there is the extreme of just rubbing salt in the wound slowly, but this opposite extreme is disgusting.

 

[rugal]

very limited inventory space
and max 10 or 20 of each item in inventory like some old snes or ps1 games

most game today have big inventory and you can have 99 or more of each item which make most games easy if you are going inside a dungeon just have 99 or more of each item you need in the dungeon

those old games having limited inventory space made you really think what you did need to have in inventory before going into a dungeon

and that you could only have max 10 or 20 healing item with you did make the game hard

 

[Elwiwi]

Most of you only want seeing the world burn

 

[RageBurner]

I'm okay with limited lives and continues, even if it fell out of favor. I think they are a useful metric of progress. When you are consuming less lives/continues to reach the same points, it's an objective, easily measurable indicator of skill improvement.

 

[Deleted member 99901]

When I kept dying in the final palace and being sent ALL THE WAY BACK to Zelda's Castle in LoZ 2, yeah I'll defend that "outdated mechanic". It sucks, it made me angry. And yet... It made me hungry to actually beat the game. And I did. I think if the game was like the modded version is now where I could just save at the final palace, I wouldn't feel that same sense of badassery as when I finished the game.

 

[Haganeren]

Very old one but i love how in Ultima each letter of the keybord is used. You have to use "A" for "Attack" "B" for Boarding a boat, "C" for Casting a spell... Somehow they found a function for the whole alphabet even if some are stretching a bit ( "X" for eXit a vehicule ) !

Here in the picture, you have "S"earch and "L"ook for example.

At first, it seems VERY cumbersome, we are used to contextual button and menu to do all we want. But after a while when you know everything it's VERY comfortable because you don't ever have to slow down to open a menu, you just do your thing as fast as you want, without waiting, by pushing multiple keyboard button and it feel great.

 

[Deleted member 99901]

Very old one but i love how in Ultima each letter of the keybord is used. You have to use "A" for "Attack" "B" for Boarding a boat, "C" for Casting a spell... Somehow they found a function for the whole alphabet even if some are stretching a bit ( "X" for eXit a vehicule ) !

100% agree. It becomes second nature. I even remapped the later games to match this. H for camping. Most rpgs I play today I still insist on Z for Ztats.

 

[Haganeren]

100% agree. It becomes second nature. I even remapped the later games to match this. H for camping. Most rpgs I play today I still insist on Z for Ztats.

Ah ah ah ! It's true ! You remind me they chose "Z" for "Zstat" which doesn't make much sense but somehow it still work and it's funny.

"Let me check my ZStats"

 

[glokglakglak]

holy shit now that i think about it i can't come up with an actual old mechanic that i can actually defend

ATB? ass waste of time

lives? just restart, what's the point of lives if you'll end up reloading upon losing them all

tank controls? bro joysticks have existed for a long time already, this is so counter-intuitive

random encounters? sheeeeit just lemme explore

opening the menu to use items in specific areas? if i don't have the item, just say that i can't do anything about it, and if i have the item, just ask me if i want to use it instead

actually the one mechanic i can defend which totally has its own charm is fixed pov's
what i'd do for an actual remastered ff9 without having to use the moguri mod for the AI upscaled backgrounds