Video Game Tropes that Need to Go Away
In thinking about tomorrow’s “Log” post on gaming, I started brainstorming about all the reasons why I’ve been majorly un-enthused about gaming for the past 2-3 weeks. I’m in a Pandemic and I’m not going out, so gaming should be the major activity right now for me. However, streaming is probably what I’m doing most, as well as reading and writing, be it for school or creatively. Gaming is far behind these activities.The original title of this post was going to be “Video Game Tropes that NEED to DIE!” However, I felt that was way TOO over the top and sensationalist, and we really need to stop saying things “should die” on the internet (too many imbeciles use “death threats” as a way of intimidation and fear against ideologies that they don’t believe, so I don’t want to encourage that way of thinking, no matter how tangentially.)
“Circle Arenas”
So, this one is a “biggie” for me. Circle Arenas are my name for a whole class of enemy encounters in which you, the protagonist character, are forced into an “arena” of some sort (usually a circle) and are forced to square off against a vastly overpowered opponent (or multiple opponents) in some way. Sometimes you are fight the opponent/opponents by themselves, but more often you either have to fight numerous other smaller/weaker enemies (current gamer slang = “adds” or “minions” or “mobs”) alongside the overpowered opponent.
The arena is designed in such a way that there are basically two moves that the player has: dodge and attack. The player must dodge the enemy’s attack, waiting for the right time to strike. Then the player attacks and whittles away at the (usually) massive life of the boss character. Rinse and repeat until either the enemy is defeated (or moves on to another “form”) or the protagonist character is dead.
This game design tactic needs to go away because it shuts off avenues for learning. It is basically tied to reflexes and timing. You need the reflexes to consistently avoid the attack and you need the timing to line up your attacks while avoiding being hit yourself. If you’ve discovered a successful strategy for taking out the enemy in the game world, chances are good that you aren’t going to be able to use it here in the “circle arena.“
This an overused game design mechanic–I can’t tell you the number of games that it is in. Assassin’s Creed Origins has it (of course, it has actual arenas, but this mechanic features into some non-arena encounters as well). Two games I’m currently playing–Horizon Zero Dawn and Strange Brigade–both have these and that’s where I’m currently “stuck” (well, not really stuck, but have little interest in continuing the narrative because of my annoyance and lack of motivation to continue playing because of these “circle arenas“). I even quit a game that I was playing a while back, not because I couldn’t finish it, but because of the lazy over-reliance on “circle arenas.” It was Inversion on the Playstation 3 and I just stopped playing because of the “circle arenas” in this game.
Boss Fights
Okay, so I’m not opposed to Boss Fights in theory, but I don’t like the way most are executed. Most boss fights stop progress, acting as a sort of “test” of your gaming abilities in that game and not allowing you to progress until you defeat it. There are usually bespoke mechanics that you’ve either been taught earlier in the game that you are required to use here, or they teach you the mechanics inside the boss fight itself.
Now, it isn’t that I don’t like boss fights per se, but game designers seem to love combining them with “circle arenas” listed above–especially in open world games. Bespoke mechanics not withstanding, you much usually hide/take cover/dodge as the boss attacks, and then wait for the opportunity to attack, taking small chunks off the enemy’s health. And woe be it unto you if you make your character not combat related–such as taking a stealth approach to the game–as this will often make the boss encounter much more difficult, if not impossible. Don’t believe me? Here is a game journalist discussing his experience with the game Deus Ex: Human Revolution and its boss battles using stealth.
Going Away From Core Game Mechanics
Now this one sounds like it shouldn’t be on this list–you want there to be variety in a game. Without it, the game gets boring. Except that designers are going away from what their game is actually about. Call of Duty Modern Warfare (2019) is an example of what I mean. There’s a section where you guide someone in the embassy away from terrorists using video cameras. Okay, not the arcade shooting gallery that I bought the game for, but I see what you’re trying to do.
However, I’m stuck on the section where (minor spoilers) you play as a little girl hiding from a terrorist. It is a boss fight encounter inside a “circle arena” and you have to stab the terrorist and then hide, repeating this multiple time before the game will let you continue. This is NOT the Call of Duty experience I signed up for! I want a “virtual gun” and I want my skill at “virtually shooting” foes to determine my progression, not my ability to “hide” from foes and stealthily stab a “virtual knife” into the enemy’s leg and run away. There’s a game for that already, Little Nightmares, and it does a far better job than a CoD campaign ever could. In fact, you be the judge:
versus
In trying to be controversial and “edgy,” CoD moved too far away from its core mechanic of “virtual shooting gallery” and created a “circle arena” boss fight that completely robbed the narrative of any punch and took me out of the game–so much so, that I’ve still not gone back to it to finish it.
In Conclusion
While no game developer will probably ever read this blog, I write it in hopes that someone will, if not now, then in the future, and eliminate some (or praise be, ALL) of these tropes from his or her game. I think these are old, tired tropes, that need to go away from gaming (if not forever, definitely for a while).
Sidney
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