10 Video Game Tropes We're Sick Of
4. Deteriorating Weaponry And Armour
Congratulations - you did it. You finally found/bought/crafted that sweet sword/gun and the shield/body armour to go with it. It took some time, but now you can happily kick enemy a-... wait, no, it's broken.
This mechanic simply invites the player to hold off on using a certain item. No one wants to waste a super-weapon on enemies with 1HP, so you're left holding off unleashing it in the hopes an opportunity arises that warrants its usage. But that moment may never come.
This trope could definitely be made more interesting by adding a dash of realism. As it currently stands, most weapons in games that employ this trope either work with perfect effectiveness when at 1-100% durability, or become completely unusable at 0%, making usage an exercise in timed fun. If this mechanic is going to be forced on us, why not have effectiveness reduced incrementally? Imagine a sword being whittled down into a dagger, or a machine gun spitting sparks as well as bullets.