The more I engage with game design, the more I notice some disastrous ideas that keep turning games with great potential into "great idea, poor gameplay" for decades.
Today's highlights include:
1. Potions and buffs, which are ways to reset and/or replace game state by consuming other resources, sometimes repeatedly. The #EvilIslands and #NWN suffer significantly from this issue. The primary reason I stopped participating in otherwise amazing story-focused modern #NWN community #EFU is this mechanic. Also having a life and a job. But mostly potions and buffs.
2. Dramatic progression, where end-game characters have quantifiably greater capabilities than early game ones. Scaling up both enemies and characters creates artificial barriers for creative gameplay. I appreciate #JaggedAlliance's progression, which features only a 15% difference in crucial stats between the end-game and the first day of your first mission.
Unfortunately, both issues have deeply infiltrated #TTRPG game design, including the most popular TTRPG, which shall remain unnamed.
Another abstract game design mistake is forcing players to make decisions without clearly explaining the rules.
This problem worsens in games with dramatic progression. Players must create "a build" to avoid irrelevance due to dramatic progression, relying on vague descriptions of decision outcomes. #Fallout suffers immensely from this issue.
This problem can also apply to narrative games. The reason I didn't enjoy #BrokenSword as much as anticipated and am close to dropping #BeneathTheSteelSky is that these games' premises break during play.
Broken Sword starts as noir detective with bombs, evolving into a wishy-washy modern fantasy with spells and rituals. "Steel Sky" starts as dystopian drama but devolves into cringe comedy. Sherlock Holmes games feature mysticism, and don't get me started on the TTRPG offenders: the likes of #DeltaGreen and other #Cthulhu-adjacent games. Imagine having omnipotent entities as villains, while mortals are trying to solve crimes... Spoiler: the killer is a Cthulhu.
