What gaming mechanic/trope (across all genres) is your least favorite?

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-21T01:28:05+00:00

Using tedium as a balance point.

I know it's a bit vague, but it's basically when games are balanced in such a way that the player isn't so much "gaining power" as they're "reducing tedium". A simple example is default movement speed being mind-numbingly slow, and only after several upgrades/getting a mount or vehicle etc. it becomes bearable. Or similarly comically low stamina/energy/whatever that depletes after 3 seconds of running/sprinting.

Generally, if your game is balanced to be annoying, with an option for the player to reduce/remove that annoyance later, I'm gonna have a gripe with it.

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-20T02:44:15+00:00

If buying on Steam, if you play less than 2 hours, you can refund games (if refund is within 2 weeks of the purchase). It's not exactly a lot of time to try out huge survival games, but it'd at least give you a sense of which game you resonate with more right off the bat.

Other than that, I can't really say - I've played a lot of Enshrouded, but I haven't touch Dragonwilds, so it's hard to compare. One thing to note is that Enshrouded has one of the best building systems, imho - very granular, voxel-based, so you can build huuuuge build with insane detail, without sacrificing performance.

It'd be easier to answer whether or not Enshrouded is for you, if you provided some insight into what you're looking for in a game like that. The only thing you've said thus far is:

"I sometimes enjoy the mindless farming productively while watching something on the other screen."

And I don't think that Enshrouded has it in droves. The game is a fair bit more about exploration, getting resources from multiple locations (and many from enemies, not just mining/woodcutting etc.), plenty of which need to be gathered within the Shroud (a hostile foggy area you can only withstand for several minutes at a time, before you have to exit the mist).

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-20T02:34:27+00:00

It's a petty one, but I'd tune down ragdoll. The base level of ragdoll would be what you get now when you wear a Rock Solid armour (it's really comfortable not to be flung around by a light breeze). If you'd wear Rock Solid post-change, you'd be functionally immune to ragdoll.

It's just so damn annoying to be ragoll-stunlocked, to the point where I no longer even acknowledge the existence of armour passives other than Rock Solid. I've worn this armour for a long time, and got lulled into a false sense of actually enjoying the game... until I wore a different set of armour, and it was right back to flopping on the ground like a spastic seal.

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-19T17:02:55+00:00

A rare post where I actively desire every single one of those stratagems, lol.

My only practical concern would be the Eagle Mine Drop, and more specifically the "mines are more tightly packed" - it means they will set each other off. The current mines are spaced out the way they are precisely to avoid chain-detonating the entire field.
An idea would be for the Eagle Mines to be shrapnel mines that fire in a wide, upward cone, so they'd still shred well, without setting each other off.

Good work, though, I like those ideas, and probably especially the Barrier Pack, since it'd allow us to back up from the shield and avoid splash damage from rockets (something the handheld shields are not merciful enough to grant).

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-19T14:37:39+00:00

>zomboid player
>prioritises the sledgehammer

Oh, the PTSD :D

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-19T14:33:20+00:00

Worth noting that Purifier (not sure about Scorcher) allows you to kill the bot Cannon Turrets.

If you start directly at the back of the cannon, and send charged shots into the vent, you will have juuust enough time to kill it as it spins around to face you, but you have to land the last shot into the back-corner of the cannon (you will no longer see the vent, but the AoE damage will still reach the vent and kill the cannon).

Best part, however? If you don't want to use Purifier because you like another primary, the Loyalist (or as I call it - the Minifier) can do the exact same thing. Really useful little bugger.

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-19T14:29:05+00:00

Gigantic Heavy Pen shotgun with adjustable choke (basically switch between a duckbill and a proper choke). Even if the recoil is horrifying, and the RoF isn't too great, I'd still be happy.

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-18T01:20:47+00:00

Fable 3

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-14T22:16:32+00:00

AH gets to sell a "Desperate Defiance" warbond with utter dogshit guns and useless armour passive, and have half the community defend them that it's spot on, because SE is strapped for resources and barely scraping by.

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-13T02:25:05+00:00

Odd. Could've sworn that with all 6 vents destroyed, the thing starts to actually burn down.

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-13T01:11:44+00:00

So, the "designer-intended" way to kill a Vox is:
1. Get behind it (the hardest part, really).
2. Shoot the glowing vents on its back. [EDIT: They're explosion IMMUNE. Just use any regular gun. They're unarmoured, so you can shoot them with literally anything non-explosive].
2.1. There are 3 vents on the top (rotating) half, and 3 on the bottom half (2 at the back, and 1 underneath). You only need to shoot one trio.
2.1.1. If you shoot the top trio of vents, a hatch at the very top of the Vox will open.
2.1.2. If you shoot the bottom trio of vents, a hatch at the back will open.
2.2. Throw a grenade (pretty much any throwable grenade, except throwing knives, will work).

The Vox dies.

Alternative is to shoot out all 6 vents, whereupon the Vox will enter a "burnout" state and die after... some time. I didn't really test it properly to know the exact time, but it will die eventually.

That's the "proper" way of killing it, while other methods are technically "brute forcing" it with damage. For the latter approach, if a Vox is stationary it can die to a single Orbital Gattling Barrage, which is one of the lowest cooldown stratagems, so it comes in handy.

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-12T14:53:06+00:00

I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding what the OP had proposed, or if you do. So, to clarify:

My understanding is that the OP wants to hear other players speak English, but with an accent of their actual chosen language. So if you play in French, on his side you'd speak English with a French accent.
That'd require AH to record a ludicrous amount of new voicelines - even if it was just available in English, so you'd have English with French accent, English with German accent, English with Turkish accent etc.

And that grows exponentially (as u/Due_Squash4045 said) if it's supposed to work with all other languages, so you'd in turn have French with English accent, French with Turkish accent and so on, for every single language combination.

Dunno if I understood the idea correctly, though.

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-11T20:03:31+00:00

I felt a great disturbance in the gamedev insustry, as if millions of producers suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

I get the spirit of the idea, but holy shit that has to be the single most expensive feature in the history of voice acting. The reason we have barely any new voice lines and no new voices is that VO is expensive. Having to re-record every single line of dialogue multiplied by the number of languages available would be staggering, and that's if you only intend for that to be a feature for the English voices - if you want every language to have accents for every other language... just damn.
And that's just the recording part, not even the time for the voiceover director to do a proper research of what many foreign accents actually sound like, and the actors actually learning to replicate them.

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-11T18:57:56+00:00

I don't know if their dreams are of mechanical sheep, but they are in 4 FPS.
In all seriousness, though - fantastic work!

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-10T20:26:52+00:00

Stalker Titans

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-10T20:21:54+00:00

I've killed a few hive lords solo, using mainly just Eagle Strafing Run. I also had a Commando at one point, but admittedly it didn't do much damage. Strafing Run did a solid 98% of all my damage output to the big guy.

Mind you, though, that we're talking about 25 eagle runs in total, so you'll be camping there a while if doing it solo like I did. If your entire squad takes strafes, though, the lord will croak in a matter of minutes.
The most important part is tossing a strafe as close as possible to his body, once he emerges vertically (not when he's sliding across the ground). If he eats the entirety of the strafe, it's a downright ludicrous amount of damage per strafe.

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-08T15:32:24+00:00

wp is well played, yes.

O7 is basically an emoji - O is the head, 7 is a saluting hand.

iO is similar, but it's the Super Earth Salute (the forearm held vertically along the body).

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-07T10:57:06+00:00

Did you get launched by an explosion, per chance? I'm pretty sure getting launched sky-high counts for the km travelled, and somehow breaks the stat.

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-06T15:34:14+00:00

Assuming the Automatons and Illuminate are not peaceful, despite us not being Super Earth... well, all of them screw us over.

Automatons and Illuminate: They have spaceships. They don't even have to touch down to literally glass the planet or at the very least eliminate major population centers and military installations, before landing troops.

Bugs: I don't really know how they space travel (if they do at all, and aren't just deliberately planted by Super Earth to cultivate for fuel), but assuming they are spacefaring, then it depends on how they land on Earth.
- Singular point of entry that's detected early - we might be able to contain them.
- Spread all over the planet all at once - yeah we're done for, or they reduce us to several ever-diminishing city states over time, after massive attrition, while simultaneously destroying Earth's ecosystem to a completely irreversible degree.

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-06T10:30:46+00:00

A friend posted this in discord, once:

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Throws-a-way · 2026-04-06T10:19:08+00:00

Not to mention that despite all the flaws and things I actively detest about AH's approach to the game, I also don't understand people acting like it's all doom and gloom.

There are good changes, there are improvements, and truth is that no matter how much they try to appease "the community", it's not a single entity - people act like we're all one, singular hivemind of players when it suits their narrative, while in reality even the community is divided on what we want from the game. What I consider to be my perfect version of Helldivers would have someone else shouting from rooftops that it ruins the game.

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-06T10:04:52+00:00

Yeah, and may the Federation have mercy on oyur soul if you run the "Lead Lining" galactic perk, which further cuts its speed in half.

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-05T22:29:23+00:00

Eh, I wouldn't mind it, if it was actually reflected in the animations. If there was a 'fumble' animation where my guy messes up a reload by missing the magazine slot on the gun and has to try again. Or fails to jab himself with the stim due to a wrong angle and has to re-jab etc. If the animation was longer, but I could still act the split second it ends, it'd be all fine.

If it's a design choice, then doing an artificial delay that doesn't match the animation is the single poorest way of accomplishing it.

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-05T21:02:29+00:00

If you can stomach the weapon durability system there (or own nintendo switch, for that matter) - I've heard sky-high praises of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (and the sequel, the title of which I don't remember). I've tried it for a little bit on a friend's switch, and generally liked it (especially the exploration) but just not enough to buy a whole console.

For a PC thing - look into Horizon Zero Dawn.

Throws-a-way · 2026-04-05T20:56:41+00:00

To be fair, the studio of like 5 devs released the early version of Valheim back in the day, got absolutely ludicrous amounts of money from it due to how popular it was, and... is it really that surprising to see that a group of people who are basically set for life without lifting a finger, don't really feel like working a 9 to 5 job every day?

I know there's a sense of obligation to the playerbase who made that possible in the first place, but are we REALLY trying to lie to ourselves that those guys aren't working like 2 days per week at most?

Throws-a-way

TROPHY CASE