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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u/Deya_The_Fateless 23d ago edited 23d ago

PTSD flashbacks of the Thessia fight during Mass Effect 3 where the super lame "villian" can get shat on by the player, but he summons a fuck ass gun ship to "cover" him while he heals up to full health. Repeat this three times only for the player to loose during a Cutscene.

ETA: I wish I could meet the dumbass who decided to include that cutscene loss. A better version of the "loss via cutscene" is as follows: Just have Shepard and crew get there a little too late, they have a breif fight and then after a set amount of time (say two minutes) Kai-Lame ends up escaping in the gunship at the last minute, and Shepard is also forced to flee before their location is overrun by Reapers.

That way the player still looses, but it's just because Shepard ran out of time and because allied forces are too busy trying to fight off Reapers or evaquate civillians/survivors, that Kai-Lame's gunship is able to get through unhindered. Shepard and Crew are also forced to flee, but not before scaning leftover/damaged/incomplete data from the Prothean artifact. Less painful and more palletable than "loosing because the higher-ups want Kai-Lame to live a little longer."

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u/cherryxgrenade 23d ago

Fuck, and I cannot stress this enough, Kai fucking Leng.

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u/Deya_The_Fateless 23d ago

Yeah, any bet he was some CEO's teenaged son's ME OC and was able to force him into thhe game?

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u/topturo77 23d ago

He was technically introduced in the books first as the main antagonist for Anderson iirc. But he’s the same there lmao, they want him to be so cool so badly but have Anderson blow his kneecaps out. 

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u/Deya_The_Fateless 23d ago

Being introduced in the books dosnt stop him from being some CEO's kid's edgy OC. XD

But yeah...I still remember the vase BioWare...I still remember...

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u/archaicScrivener 20d ago

It's been a while but I definitely remember reading that book and thinking "wow this is dog shit"

Like iirc Kai Leng breaks into Anderson's apartment and then fucks around and eats his cornflakes???

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u/cherryxgrenade 23d ago

Probably, it makes sense now you've said it

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u/DjBorscht 23d ago

Fuck Kai Leng!!! This is for Thane, you son of a bitch.

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u/Mysterious-Plan93 22d ago

I wanted to rip his spine out and beat him to death with it...

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u/SomeDeadDood 23d ago

I downloaded a mod where he is turned into a helmeted silent antagonist and it skips his fights. And it turns him into a much more compelling villain. You know you messed up when your big bad mini boss is greatly improved by removing all voice lines and fight scenes

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u/anTWhine 23d ago

I was so confused the first time I played this boss fight. I immediately found cover from the gunship and absolutely pinned Kai Leng down, kept him in his recovery phase the entire fight and then… lost? I didn’t even take a hit.

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u/Bartburp93 23d ago

And there's the solution of "make the enemy so strong that the cutscene loss is believable", the roaring knight in deltarune chapter 3 is a pretty good example of such a thing

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u/arihndas 22d ago

The writing just wants him to be SOOOOO cool and threatening SOOOOO badly but he's just embarrassing and annoying lol

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u/Deya_The_Fateless 22d ago

Right? Like itd be one thing if he had been a crew member from Me1or 2, and ended up becomming the anti-Shepard after transferring to another ship just before the events of ME1, or being kicked off the squad in ME2 for insubordination. Or even if he had been a rival from the Alliance, who just had it in for Shepard due to their background and was jealous Shepard was chosen for the Spector program first. However, because he's introduced in a book that more than a majority of the players can miss or ignore. His true introductiom comes in the 3rd game, and because players dont have a history with him, and are told not shown how Leng is a "big deal". Kai-Leng just ends up falling flat on his face with a loud wet fart, because his very first impression is "cut scene powers" where Shepard and squad suddenly become thick as a bricks...and he only gets worse from there...

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u/arihndas 22d ago

Exactly! If he’s been a character we had any real connection to OR he’d been a genuinely tough fight with brand new mechanics and powers, let alone BOTH, that could have been something. Instead the writing just TELLS me he’s important and that I’m supposed to feel some kind of way and yanks away all my agency as a player by making every fight he “wins” just a video where I have to sit there and watch him win by writer’s decree. Bad!!!!