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[Mikademus]

Computer games are replete with really bad design decisions that are endlessly re-perpetrated. Share one.


* The less suitable a game engine is for jumping, the more the game will depend on jumping puzzles.

[Ben_Hurr]

*  The chances that the final bosses's pre-battle gloat speech will be unskippable is directly proportional to how long it is and how long you'll have to walk back if you die.

[rorkimaru]

The more a game is commended for it's difficulty the more the designers will strive to make the sequel easier

[LemonScented]

* Many items of minor use can be procured by breaking into someone's house and smashing open every container they have. In almost all places this is considered legal and perfectly polite - if the homeowners ask anything of you, it's probably just to collect 3 things they could probably have just bought themselves (although, in fairness, they get burgled a lot so perhaps they're skint). In places where it's illegal, everyone in the settlement will know of your crime immediately.

[JasonPickering]

lemon scented:

http://kotaku.com/5499994/hide-your-valuables-its-a-rpg-hero

enough said

[Ben_Hurr]

* RPG games will always offer the player choices that do nothing. "But thou must!"

This thread is starting to sound an awful lot like TVTropes, hoho 

[gimymblert]

*Brown color palette will be use to artificially augment difficulty by hiding important gameplay element in the decor, tricking the player to buy the excuse "it's serious and realist" to hide gameplay shortcoming.

[JoGribbs]

* Games with enemies that don't need them. I can think of a couple of games that would be much better with their combat removed or significantly diminished.

[fraxcell]

*The most insanely powerful weapon you carry will be unable to blast through that locked wooden door.

[Landshark RAWR]

*the more knockback, the more enemies on jumping puzzles

[LemonScented]

lemon scented:

http://kotaku.com/5499994/hide-your-valuables-its-a-rpg-hero

enough said

Heh, yeah I saw that a while ago. If I'd been the first person who had ever made that observation it wouldn't a trope. Here's another one.

* When the strangely robotic idiot who is following you around stops running into walls and starts running into a hail of gunfire instead, the Universe will decide that it's somehow your fault and that your quest is over. Conversely, if you shoot your "benevolent" mentor (who will later turn out to be the mastermind of all your enemies), the Universe will ignore you, and he will not flinch.

[Ben_Hurr]

*the more knockback, the more enemies on jumping puzzles

*  The more jumping puzzles, the more enemies with knockback, especially over lethal pitfalls

ITS A VICIOUS CIRCLE.

[Shambrook]

*When the sequel is announced, fans will complain that it's been ruined for ever.

[Landshark RAWR]

* the more dynamic lighting effects, the darker the rooms.

[Mikademus]

* When the strangely robotic idiot who is following you around stops running into walls and starts running into a hail of gunfire instead, the Universe will decide that it's somehow your fault and that your quest is over. Conversely, if you shoot your "benevolent" mentor (who will later turn out to be the mastermind of all your enemies), the Universe will ignore you, and he will not flinch.

"I can't leave without my buddy Superfly!"


* All games will be better with quick-time events!

[shig]

 Everything can be solved by gordonfreemaning around.
 Bascailly, this means that whenever you have some sort of puzzle or something blocking your road, just ignore it and do whatever you feel like doing. Just explore around randomly and, since there's always only one viable pathway to follow and end the stage you'll eventually find yourself right where you needed to be. Alternately, push all levers and shoot all explosive barrels undiscriminately and you'll eventually find that whatever was blocking your path ten minutes ago isn't there anymore for whatever reason.
 The most notable examples are, obviously, in the Half-Life series.

[noah!]

*  The chances that the final bosses's pre-battle gloat speech will be unskippable is directly proportional to how long it is and how long you'll have to walk back if you die.

Related (well, kinda):
* The difficulty of a boss is directly proportional to the length of the dungeon, the number of save points that should be there but aren't, and the unexpectedness of the boss fight.

[LemonScented]

* There must be a driving section in every FPS, a sliding block puzzle in every adventure, and a slippy-slidey ice world in every platformer. These will not be cut during development, no matter how annoying and incongruous they are.

[Ben_Hurr]

* There must be a driving section in every FPS, a sliding block puzzle in every adventure, and a slippy-slidey ice world in every platformer. These will not be cut during development, no matter how annoying and incongruous they are.

...I'm putting a slippy slidey ice world in my game

I'm a terrible person.   
Well, except that it won't be slippery.

[salade]

*Tedious fetch quests right before the last level of any game that involves revisting multiple past levels. These are occurring more and more in new nintendo games.

[rant]
I don't get the rationale behind these. They don't really extend the game in the eyes of critics, since they are considered tacked on. Their only purpose seems to be to aggravate the player and screw up the pacing of the game.

[/rant]