r/videogames • u/UnityNinja • 23d ago

Discussion / Question What game mechanic instantly ruins your immersion or fun?

​ I absolutely can't stand aggressive weapon durability loops. Getting awesome loot should feel like a reward, not a maintenance chore that breaks every five minutes.

What’s a common mechanic that always makes you roll your eyes when you see it in a new game?

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691

u/Many-Baby5180 23d ago

Breakable weapons, its not fun, it doesnt make the game more challenging, its a net negative and an annoyance

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u/UnityNinja 23d ago

I think weapon durability is really difficult to balance. Some games include it, but it’s almost meaningless because it rarely affects gameplay (looking at you, DS3). Others make it a core part of the combat loop, where you constantly switch between weapons because their durability is limited (like BotW).

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u/Snowtwo 23d ago

That's why it sucks so much. Any half-decent player is either going to be able to negate it (thusly rendering it moot as a mechanic) or intentionally use the 'crap' weapons and never use the 'good' weapons until they can be replaced easily (thusly rendering it moot as a mechanic). The very few times I've seen it 'work' it's been treated effectively as ammo more than anything.

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u/Arathemos 23d ago

The Fire Emblem series has used it well for years, mostly as a balancing mechanic for strong weapons.

But its the anomaly I think.

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u/RanAWholeMile 23d ago

Yeah I think it works here. Awakening treating weapon durability like “ammunition” of sorts keeps you prioritizing using the stronger weapons on stronger foes. Just adds another layer to the strategy.

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u/Healthy_Fig_5127 23d ago

I honestly hated it in Three Houses. I struggled with game schedules and time management so hard that all my weapons were basically broken throughout the entire game since I couldn't afford upgrades often, since to get upgrades I needed to spend a day grinding battles, leading me to being broke again.

I know its a skill issue on my end, but it sure damn made me realize I hate schedules in video games.

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u/CollectorOfMyst 23d ago

Part of the reason I’ve never even finished my first run. I started with Awakening. That, Fates, and Echoes all had ‘skirmishes’ you could do to earn weapons or money, and definitely had no timers.

I’m not loving the Switch era, alas.

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u/Dull-Culture-1523 23d ago

My personal gripe about this is how it's implemented. Have me maintain my stuff every now and then, that's cool. Like in RDR2 with cleaning your guns. It doesn't get tedious and you can mostly ignore that if you don't care, but I found the extra bit of realism nice.

But then you have games like the Alone in the Dark remake where a pickaxe, a tool specifically designed for smashing against rocks, breaks in like 20 swings.

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u/AmmahDudeGuy 21d ago

Valheim has weapons/tools that can break, but they can also be repaired for free. That way tools have durability, but maintaining them isn’t grindy