Gameplay mechanics you never used

[Slava]

I've been thinking about making a thread about this for a while. There are some mechanics in games that I forget about or never use. Recently I came across another one in the beginning of TLOU when I replayed it, so I finally decided to post it.

 

Basically speaking, a gameplay mechanic is a thing you can do in the game. It can be as simple as a move (double jump, dash, heavy attack, etc), or it can be an entire system (stealth, dialogue options, fast travel, etc).

 

Here are my examples:

 

1. So, the first one that comes to mind is from the old Resident Evil games. Every time I start them I am reminded that I can do a quick 180 turn by pressing down+square. I never used that feature and just ran and turned around normally, it was never too slow for me. Funny thing is, when I came back to The Last of Us, I realized it had the same mechanic, just with different buttons (down+L2).

 

2. The second one is from Mirror's Edge. In the tutorial the game teaches you to use the slow-mo, so you can grab enemies' weapons easier. When I played though the game for the first time, I forgot about that mechanic in the first chapter ?. I don't remember the game too well, but I think I had trouble in some places because of that. I could be wrong, but this feature is very helpful in the boss fight on the boat.

 

3. Another one is the phantom cigar in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain that allows you to skip time. I always kept it in my inventory, but I never had to use it. Being able to start the missions at either day time or night time was enough for me. 

 

4. This one is not something I avoided doing completely, but most of the time I couldn't be bothered to do. Changing clothes for useful stats in RPGs. I haven't played a lot of RPGs, so I'm mainly talking about Kingdom Hearts and Fallout 3, both of which I beat years ago. When I would get an armlet with better fire resistance or a pair of glasses that make me a little smarter, or whatever, I usually didn't take advantage of them. I've heard funny stories about people walking around in armor and carrying a set of clothes that makes them smarter, then changing before talking to any NPC in Fallout. This is level 100 scheming in my eyes. But maybe I will care more about such stuff in the next RPG I play, who knows.

 

What about you? Share game mechanics you never used.

Edited July 12, 2020 by Alderriz

[MandA60VISE]

Both Dark Souls 1 and 2 I didn't bother using shields and just learned how to dodge everything. Will probably do the same with 3. With Bloodborne I didn't bother learning anything about the guns until Orphan.

[thefourfoldroot]

I generally don’t use weak hits in fighting games, or any combat game with the mechanic, preferring to just anticipate and properly time slower heavy attacks. I know that limits me in terms of games like Street Fighter where I should use them to prevent opponents blocking etc but in most games it’s fine.

 

I never skip cinematic when it’s an option on a first play through because I care about narrative.

 

I tend not to use pickpocket mechanics in games like elder scrolls because I hate having to avoid guards or wait for agro to dissipate.

 

I never use stealth mechanics because I find them boring as sin, so if I were to play Dishono(u)red I’d be aggressive (but I won’t because it lacks a platinum for me for that reason).

 

I tend not to use buffs and debuffs unless it is necessary to beat a particular encounter (so I never pick characters focused on these things in JRPGs for example).

 

Not a mechanic, but although I start with the best of intentions to read all lore in a game (books, audio files etc) in 9/10 games (being a JRPG fan) I am skipping them by the end.

Edited July 12, 2020 by thefourfoldroot

[Thomas-R_82]

Call of duty I started off using kill streaks but since I didn't always get high kill streaks and hampered my gameplay trying to hard I ended up leaving them, when the points system was implemented I dropped them altogether to focus on other things like more ammo etc

 

God of war (originals) and batman arkham series, I started off with good intentions to deflect or parry the enemy but stuck with the tried and tested spamming the shit out of buttons instead ? 

 

Artifex mundi titles there is the hint function and for all the 10+ platinums I have, I haven't used the hint function partly due to it being a no no for trophies so pressing up on the d-pad was forbidden from the get go

Edited July 12, 2020 by eoinfxrgg
Bold addition

[Alex_Gorbatschow]

Mass effect 1-3 , operation flashpoint and Spec ops the Line:

 

In all those games you are able to place your squad members in strategically clever spots. Too bad I didn´t care about that ? only used some biotech attacks from the mass effect squad members. 

 

[Mayellie]

In TLOU2, there's several gameplay mechanics that aren't even explained or mentioned (which I like, it's always a cool surprise when your character does something you didn't know you could do). Some didn't pop into my mind much, I didn't find them that useful, or I didn't use certain weapons because I am unapologetically a massive resource hoarder in TLOU2. Here's a few:

 

- Aerial takedowns (I knew you could do this, but didn't look up how-to in fear of spoilers)

- Press L1 + X to turn 180 (though I did use it in one specific fight)

- Double press L1 to dash (wasn't that useful to me)

- Using human enemies as shields (I try to 100% stealth kill through encounters as much as possible, so didn't do this much)

- Used my stun bomb once throughout the whole game, same with explosive arrows. Counted 2 times I used the trap mines.

- Crafted a silencer, but never used it.

- Crafted incendiary shotgun shells, but never used them.

 

- Didn't use my flamethrower at all. I loved having it, but I was always thinking "hold your horses, we're keeping this for the BIG fights". Once I got to a big fight, I thought "wait... what if there's ANOTHER big fight" and so on. As a result, never used it. ?

 

- Didn't use my rifle or hunting pistol... exactly for the same reason listed above (despite TLOU2 being much more generous with rifle ammo than TLOU1. I always found more rifle and shotgun ammo than revolver, which is what I mostly used).

 

I didn't use most of those mechanics because of my "stealth as much as possible" approach , but I'll be changing my playstyle during my next playthrough to discover different mechanics and add a layer of "freshness" to the game.

Edited July 12, 2020 by Mayellie

[Jupiter]

In The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, there was a couple of mechanics that were practically there the entire game that I just never felt the need to use.

S-Breaking (the ability to use a skill basically at any point) and cancelling enemy Arts/Crafts (stopping an enemy from using a skill)

 

this bit me in the butt eventually because there are trophies for doing both of them 100 times.

[Slava]

On 13.07.2020 at 0:06 AM, Mayellie said:

I didn't use most of those mechanics because of my "stealth as much as possible" approach

 

You can call an air strike in MGSV, but I (almost) never used it for the same reason. I think I used it once in a side mission against tanks, but that's it. What a weird ability to have in a stealth-action game ?

[Mayellie]

17 hours ago, Alderriz said:

 

You can call an air strike in MGSV, but I (almost) never used it for the same reason. I think I used it once in a side mission against tanks, but that's it. What a weird ability to have in a stealth-action game 

I've never played MGSV, so I'm not sure how that would work, but even if you do call in an airstrike, the enemies will obviously know that there is an infiltrator (being you), but they won't exactly know where you are? Again, never played it, so I wouldn't know. ?

[Edunstar84]

I really can't think of anything specific, except for Photo Mode. It's much faster to press the Share button, and I never felt the artistic need to do it.

[dark_moon689]

There's been a couple I either forgot completed about or didn't find useful. But only one comes to mind at the moment.

 

I've played Dragon Age Inquisition several times in different plataforms, early in game you unlock a horse to get around the maps faster and skip some random encounters. I always walked everywhere and fast travel as I unlocked camps in the different maps, never used the horse/mounts for anything.

 

 

[Alpha-Strider]

The 'Rally' mechanic in Bloodborne where you can regain lost health by quickly attacking an enemy after taking damage. I just found it too risky, if I ever took significant damage I just backed away and chugged some blood.

 

Life is Strange: Before the Storm had that 'Backtalk' dialogue minigame that you could use to get past certain scenes. I thought it was kind of annoying so after they make you use it the first time I never picked that option again and got through the game just fine.

 

I always play stealthy in Dishonored and Deus Ex titles so there are a lot of weapons and abilities in those games that I've never touched.

 

On 7/12/2020 at 2:33 PM, Alderriz said:

Funny thing is, when I came back to The Last of Us, I realized it had the same mechanic, just with different buttons (down+L2).

 

I never knew you could do that so I guess I can add add it to the list. ?

[Cxrlos23]

Never bothered learning the different stances in nioh so I just used the same one through the game. 

[Copanele]

Any game : buffs and enchants - using potions and oils in witcher 3, pine resin in souls, fire/bolt paper in bloodborne. I find it's too much hassle to consider temporary buffs,i just calculate the extra hits i need without the buff. 

 

Grenades/throwables : the only place i used a consumable throwable are knives in AC 2 / Brotherhood. Usually i pile up 999 entries of the same knife/kunai/bomb. 

 

Stances in Nioh: Sword build, medium stance, let's go. 

 

Dark souls shields : rolling is OP in these games. 

 

Ninja tools in Sekiro : they are so situational and useless for me, i completely ignored them. Exception being the whistle for a certain boss, but that was just for shits and giggles. 

 

and lastly... 

 

Royal guard in Devil May Cry games : too scrub to learn to be ultimate cool. I will be happy with my swordsmaster style. 

 

[Slava]

1 hour ago, Mayellie said:

I've never played MGSV, so I'm not sure how that would work, but even if you do call in an airstrike, the enemies will obviously know that there is an infiltrator (being you), but they won't exactly know where you are? 

 

Yep, they won't, but everyone (who survived at least) will start looking for you. 

 

BTW, there is always a non-lethal way to do almost every mission. Even if there are tanks, the game allows you to steal them instead of destroying. I preferred doing that until I started experimenting a little ?

 

1 hour ago, Alpha-Strider said:

I never knew you could do that so I guess I can add it to the list. 

 

Lol, yeah, I was surprised a little when I saw the button prompt.

[danceswithsloths]

Played Marvel: Ultimate Alliance all the way through without creating a team and levelling up my team skills. Oops lol.

 

Monster Hunter: World has so many weapon types but I only usually select one or two per MH game, due to crafting materials being a limited resource.

Edited July 15, 2020 by danceswithsloths

[Property_Damage]

Nothing really comes to mind other than when i recently played pac man championship edition 2, pac man has a brake and can actually come to a stop, i didnt use this in any of my runs for the platinum

[DrDankSouls]

In any soulslike I never use a shield or block. Actually I don't really block in fighting games either..... Guess I just like bodying the hits?

[Burgins]

Hard to think of examples because a lot of games force you to use random shit for their trophies.

 

Weird as it is to say, maybe hosting lobbies in various multiplayer games? I prefer to queue into other people's lobbies. In games like Killing Floor 2 and Payday 2, joining something already in progress can be beneficial in some ways. Like in KF2 you can get the Hell on Earth clear if you join just before Boss Wave. Though Hell on Earth is often just fun to play anyways

 

I didn't use tail whipping much in Maneater. Way too slow

 

Can't think of many others

[Blood_Hungry_III]

3 hours ago, Alpha-Strider said:

Life is Strange: Before the Storm had that 'Backtalk' dialogue minigame that you could use to get past certain scenes. I thought it was kind of annoying so after they make you use it the first time I never picked that option again and got through the game just fine.

Same for me. I didn't like that mechanic at all so I completely avoided it.

[Kristen Danielle]

I never use magic in Dante's Inferno. I mean, I would for a trophy, but it just never occurs to me even though I see the prompts where I receive new magic abilities. I'm one of those people who just goes to town with the scythe.

[pinkrobot_pb]

I have this all the time because I tend to jump back and forth between games. Sometimes I will leave a game alone for months or even years and when I come back I have to look up control schemes and YouTube videos to remind me how to even play the damn game.

 

Then there is also a long list of game mechanics I have an aversion to, like using stealth and upgrading weapons or characters. It all feels like lost time for some reason, so I tend try and ignore it for as long as possible.

 

Sometimes I get angry at developers trying to force a mechanic on me that I do not find enjoyable. For example: when given even the slightest bit of an option I will happily spend a whole evening trying to shoot my way through a stealth section. Even (or especially?) if I know that bothering to learn the movement patterns would get me through it in 15 minutes.

[JayDeLosDioses]

A few things that come to mind are:

 

Alchemy / Enchantments in Skyrim:

I know you can create crazy gear with the exploit, but I don't need it. Never created a character who relied on magic either, I'll start of as a warrior and end as a stealth archer, as always

 

Parry in the Souls series:

It's not true anymore, I'm using the parry function today, but I've played the games for 4 or 5 years without using it.

I knew it existed but the risk was too high for me.

 

Flashbacks in the F1 games:

You can rewind time in F1 games if you make a mistake, but I don't like to use it. If it's my mistake I just need to do better next time.

I don't disable them in the options though, sometimes the AI is stupid if you're about to lap them, and I'm not wasting an hour of my time to be brake tested mid corner by a stupid AI car.

 

Groundslam in Borderlands 3 and Borderlands TPS:

There's just no need for them, there's barely any situation the slam is more useful than melee or just using your gun.

 

 

[AJ_Radio]

2 hours ago, SirensSalvation said:

I never use magic in Dante's Inferno. I mean, I would for a trophy, but it just never occurs to me even though I see the prompts where I receive new magic abilities. I'm one of those people who just goes to town with the scythe.

 

Still irks me the Trials DLC still doesn't work for people... probably gone for good given how old the game is now.

 

I never bothered with miracles nor magic in the Souls games. There have been only one or two instances where I used both miracles and magic. Otherwise I generally stuck to using melee and ranged. With enough research there are items that will suit many different styles of Soul players, so I didn't think miracles and magic were all too necessary.

 

I also never bothered with the enchantments in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. I basically ignored almost an entire skill tree when I was playing on Death March difficulty a couple years back. Didn't find the game hard at all, it was just a matter of dodging and timing your hits.

 

Sad the series will no longer continue. I'd rather get a sequel to The Witcher series, rather than Cyberpunk. Just doesn't interest me all too much.

[Phlegeth]

All you people not using Buffs/Debuffs make me sad.  Buff skills are my favorite.  Debuffs very from game to game, but I do tend to ignore them just because in most games they don't work on bosses.  Except for Final Fantasy XIII, which is probably a point for why they shouldn't in most games.  Poison is insane.

 

This is hard to answer.  I like to play around with all the mechanics to find how broken I can get.  The only thing I can think of is placing characters.  Like in Spec Ops or Mass Effect.  Dragon Age: Inquisition has a whole tactical mode that I never usedExcept to turn off the HUD to take pictures.

 

A lot of other people said it too, but I never learned to Block or parry in Dark Souls.  I played a Caster in 1 and 3 and a Archer in 2.