Mine would be arbitrarily slowing down a character to maintain horror in a game. I get if there are reasons like age, injury, or location that could provide context, but don’t turn my legs into molasses because you need to time the jump scare just right.
Tiered items in any RPG. Most RPGs are about cycling through random items you find over and over again. Either make everything have really similar stats but with different special effects or uses, or do it like MGSV where you unlock upgrades as you go that basically add features to existing stuff. Warframe is probably the best example. It has good items and bad items, but there are only like 3 weapon tiers and every weapon just works completely different and for different scenarios. Obviously a lot more work to implement than just randomizing the stats on the same item, and not quite as addictive, which is often the purpose when it’s a free-to-play game.
I really like the way Warframe handles the “incremental upgrades are boring” thing by shunting it into a shared mod pool. Collecting new gear is grindy but the prize feels unique, and you’ve also passively picked up more mods to strengthen and tweak everything else you’ve collected. I’m constantly re-discovering old items because I now have the ability to tailor them to my tastes.
Fuck re-leveling items though. Absolute dogshit system.
