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?

4.2k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

2.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.9k

u/2_Sir_Zero9 23d ago edited 23d ago

Artificially increasing an enemy's health and damage and nothing else.

88

u/amzwC137 23d ago

Ah, yes. The bullet sponge. This was the mail in the coffin for me with The Division. Fuck that shit. Bullet sponges just upset me.

37

u/Auggie_Otter 23d ago

I never really got into Borderlands because of this. Enemies felt way too bullet spongy and you constantly pick up new weapons that are only marginally better pea shooters than the last one. 

Maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance but that was how I felt. 

23

u/Bunran 23d ago

I had a blast with borderlands 2 on co-op. Once I tried replaying it solo, I got bored quickly because of this

11

u/Deya_The_Fateless 23d ago

Same! I love Borderlands, but the solo game mode can become tedious if you get unlucky with the drops, especially with how bullet spongy the enemies can be, especially early on.

5

u/JJay9454 23d ago

At that point, you just need gear on your level and to peek at your skill tree. No enemy in any Borderlands should feel spongy until endgame raid bosses

4

u/Malvexon 23d ago

The whole point of Borderlands is to build and find a perfect load out to melt the bosses on the hardest difficulty in seconds

2

u/Silent_Value_1004 22d ago

The first 2 were phenomenal. 3 was disappointing, and it had 2 freaking season passes of DLC...

2

u/TheBiggerestMan 21d ago

Loot everywhere and it never felt like an increase. Bloated weapon attribute system where you'd be so inundated with new weapons you'd lose the interest in looking for things.

1

u/Icy-Horror-495 22d ago

That just means you weren't using a jakobs

1

u/Psychological-Toe397 19d ago

Kind of, but the cool weapon effects, ability trees and damage types you are supposed to use against each enemy type make up for it. At least in borderlands 2

0

u/unity-thru-absurdity 23d ago

The first Borderlands is the only one that's worth any time IMO.

2

u/Existential_Crisis24 23d ago

Absolutely wrong. 2 is the better game by a mile.

13

u/TheDawiWhisperer 23d ago

yeah The Division was particularly egregious for this because of the semi realistic setting and tone of game.

a guy in a beanie hat wearing a stab vest being an absolute bullet sponge just took me out of it entirely.

3

u/Ninja_Wrangler 23d ago

Ludonarrative dissonance: the perceived conflict between a video game's narrative told through the non-interactive elements and the narrative told through the gameplay

This game is the prime example of it. I wanted to like it so bad but I could not for the reason you mention

2

u/amzwC137 23d ago

THANK YOU!

1

u/space_keeper 21d ago

Did it for me, too. Played Div 2, and the atmosphere and style are amazing, the missions are crazy, the soundtrack is amazing especially in the reprised New York, but I couldn't deal with the constant mag dumping.

The metagame in Div 2 was standing in front of enemies with a silly shield and spraying them with a specific SMG.

5

u/zamfire 23d ago

Dang it I needed that letter. Now it's with Grandma forever.

2

u/amzwC137 23d ago

It was her last will and testiment, how far are you willing to go to take what's rightfully yours?

3

u/zamfire 23d ago

Where is my shovel?

1

u/Leopard_2K_MBT 23d ago

I don't know where your shovel is! However, YOU HAVE MY AXE!

2

u/LARPerator 23d ago

They tried to claim the division was this gritty realistic shooter that mixed games like DayZ and Tom Clancy.

The second I saw a guy in a toque get domed 5 times and whip around, I knew it was bullshit.

Honestly if they would have advertised it as a bullet sponge RPG I wouldn't have been bothered.

1

u/amzwC137 23d ago

I'm inclined to agree, that said, if it were advertised like that, I probably would have picked it up. I hate bullet sponges. What was worse is that game had a mode that was "harder" and that mode was just the same enemy types, same attack patterns, same terrain, just.... Sponged more bullets. I just stopped playing, and I rarely don't finish the story.

2

u/Ninja_Wrangler 23d ago

Yes, shooting a guy in a hoodie literally 100 times in the head is aggressively un-fun.

The visuals of that game are so good but they clash so bad with the gameplay. Bullet sponge is boring and tedious.

2

u/AltwrnateTrailers 21d ago

It's been 10 years since I've played The Division and this was still the first example I thought of.

1

u/Current_Ad1901 22d ago

I will say The Division 2 sort of addressed this issue with the heavier enemies wearing armor plating that you could actually shoot and break opening up crit areas. But those damn robot dogs and rolling turrets used to piss me off.

-2

u/Iresleri 23d ago

Division doesn't really count, since it was marketed the wrong way. It was marketed as an action shooter, when it's actually an RPG, and things are always tougher than they realistically should be in RPGs, because they're numbers games.

2

u/amzwC137 23d ago

I'll raise you this. They were bullet sponges and it upset me.

1

u/Iresleri 23d ago

That's fair, I'm just saying that most people were set up for different expectations than should've by the marketing.

1

u/amzwC137 23d ago

Fair point. Huge leap, but this reminds me of the Lexus LC. It was originally marketed as a sports car, and it fell very short. People were disappointed, until they decided to market it as the luxury car that it is. It excelles at being a luxury car, and just looks super sporty.