Overdone Features?

[B.Ultimus]

Let's face it, peeps.  There are certain aspects or 'new' features of RPGs that have been done to DEATH.  Sure, they were nifty at one point... but now? Better take the saddle off the dead horse you've been riding.

Anytime there is an enemy kill quest or 'collection' quest in an RPG Maker game, I kind of roll my eyes.  I think I tried it once, and realized how tiring it was.

How about you?

 

[EternalShadow]

"Kill 8 goblins"

 

[Galenmereth]

Long winded battles that can't be won anyway.

Just... Why?

 

[B.Ultimus]

I think it's safe to say that anything that blatantly inflates play time with no content is a "No, thank you" in my book.

 

[bgillisp]

Mandatory mini-games that must be won to continue. I don't play an RPG to suddenly have to do a first person shooter scene.

 

[Oddball]

I personally think stats and status have been done to death

But in all seriousness, I know sevral people who didn't like the backtracking in kingdom hearts 2. I would say pointless grinding, but i think that was covered with monster quests. Save-points are really annoying most of the time, or area's were you can't save. You can't just drop the game and go when something important comes up. I'd also say tasks were you have to go back and forth, but that was covered too. There's more that have irked me, just can't think of them right now 

@ bgillisp: I remember in Grandia 2, there was this one mini-game were you had to catch falling nuts or something in a mini-game and it was part of this "trial" and I'm thinking, what's the point in all this? Because there was nothing else challanging about it. No enemies, no puzzle's, no traps to avoid nothing

 

[omen613]

Long winded battles that can't be won anyway.

Just... Why?

I liked how FF9 did this. They weren't long winded but you couldn't win battles against Beatrix (sp?) you just had to pretty much survive for X amount of turns and during these turns you could have zidane steal from Beatrix to get nifty weapons (where the steal command made the most sense in a rpg) until she used climhazzard on your group and set everyone's HP at 1 ending the battle.

Edit:

I'm tired of leveling up for stats...I like leveling up and getting new skills and new passive states...but I'm tired of high level stats being the real factor. 

Imagine playing a pokemon game where stats didn't go up on level ups....stats only changed with evolutions and held items. And the max level wasn't 100

Imagine capturing a new poke and the fact it was 10 levels lower than your current setup didn't automatically make you just store it on the PC.

lol sorry been playing pokemon on the 3 ds with my 5 year old lately

 

[Galenmereth]

Well, the steal mechanic in FF games is another thing I absolutely wish nobody would implement ever again. Being locked out of certain items because you didn't steal them from in the middle of a boss fight is just not fun, in my opinion.

 

[omen613]

Well, the steal mechanic in FF games is another thing I absolutely wish nobody would implement ever again. Being locked out of certain items because you didn't steal them from in the middle of a boss fight is just not fun, in my opinion.

Ya I'd rather see the steal command as a map skill....not a battle skill...and maybe a failed steal resulted in a battle.

 

[whitesphere]

The most overdone feature I've seen is the "Luck Based Quest," where you need to do something that is completely random number based to pass.  Rune Factory 2 (or is it 3) has this with an annoying rock/paper/scissors quest.    It's more annoying even than the "Get me 8 bugbear hides" because success or failure is completely random, rather than just taking more or less time.

 

[bgillisp]

I think it must be Rune Factory 3, as I don't remember that quest in 2. But anyways...

How about quests that depend on luck or the RNG to even appear? Rune Factory 4 does this to death with their town events, and if the RNG hates you, some town events (and related quests) may never appear. It's even worse as they tied whether or not a proposal is accepted to these quests, so if you haven't had them come up yet, you can't get a proposal to be accepted.

 

[Wavelength]

I'm having a hard time separating "overdone" with "things I simply don't like", but offhand a couple of things I often see included that take the creator's time but actually contribute negatively to my enjoyment as a player are:

• Houses in a town with doors that are "locked" (and never open).  Don't make me resort to trial and error to figure out what I can go into and what I can't.  Instead, rely on my willing suspension of disbelief and either don't include the door, don't include the house, or let me check out the inside of every building in the game.
• Quests where I have to fetch an item (or really complete any objective) just so that someone will move out of my way.  This isn't necessarily a problem with the actual quest design, but with the narrative frame.  It completely breaks my immersion and power-fantasy when I'm just told "no" by some random town guard even though I feel like I should be able to force (or lie) my way past if I want to.  The heroes should be in a situation where they actually need to do the quest to proceed.
• Instant game overs.  Thankfully this one seems to be a dying breed.
• Echoing bgillisp, minigames that are mandatory and must be re-tried until successfully completed.  There are exceptions that I have enjoyed (Tales of Symphonia's Thoda Geyser as one example), but on the whole you're wasting your time when you create something that will frustrate as many people as it's going to amuse.  Instead, use minigames as optional diversions, or as challenges where success gets you items but failure lets you continue (like Super Mario RPG's Booster Hill).  Or better yet, use them as a way to branch the plot for a little while.  Maybe a failure in a stealth minigame where you're trying to sneak into a palace gets you thrown in prison, where you meet other conspirators and break out, whereas success finds you at a gala where you have to schmooze the other guests until you can find what you're looking for.