Mechanics you hate?

[Depression Moon]

main character KO = game over in games where you control an entire party.

Yep, that trout is annoying, though I got used to it in Kingdom Hearts.

[Skyblade]

Save points that restore health, I just feel like it undermines the use of items.

You use items?

You don't? I mean, that's why they're there. It's kinda lame how most games just forget about them. Luckily, more and more games are remembering that in the past, they used to be pretty crucial to your survival, so they bring back their importance.

Never did. If you use items, they'll never be there when you need them.

I always hold onto them until super-critical moments when I absolutely need them. As a result, I NEVER use them, and I have a humongous stockpile by the end of the game. If I remember them, I'll cheese the final boss with infinite Elixirs and whatnot.

But, really, in most RPGs, the Item command may as well not even exist.

That's another mechanic for me: Consumables. Dodgy, unreliable things that are never there when you need them.

[Depression Moon]

Then what do you use in games when you don't have access to healing items yet?

[Skyblade]

Then what do you use in games when you don't have access to healing items yet?

Before I get healing magic, I rest at inns.

I use Potions during the Bombing Mission in FFVII (mostly to grind up Limit Breaks). Then I never use items again.

[Wolf Kanno]

Save points that restore health, I just feel like it undermines the use of items.

You use items?

You don't? I mean, that's why they're there. It's kinda lame how most games just forget about them. Luckily, more and more games are remembering that in the past, they used to be pretty crucial to your survival, so they bring back their importance.

I still love how SMTIV got around the whole "hoarding item" issue by limiting how many of a certain item you could use. Never bothered using Soma's until that game.

[Fynn]

Yup. That game really did items well.

(I still think III was bad with Phoenix Downs, though. It's one thing to be able to carry around a limited supply, and another thing entirely being unable to buy them and only capable of finding a limited amount in the game world)

[Wolf Kanno]

You honestly get enough to carry you through the game though, so it's no big deal. The worse part was the times you realize that just dying and going back to your last save would be more beneficial than using the Phoenix Down.

[Fynn]

The game is immensely stressful as it is. Being able to just have something to fall back on when a character dies would have alleviated that a bit.

[Wolf Kanno]

Well you could always go to town and pay a fee. I don't know, I never felt too stressed by it.

[Fynn]

Long-ass dungeons with no save points. Sometimes a dumb monster one-shotting your healer once you're near the top and you don't want to waste Phoenix Downs because they can come in handy later on, is kind of stressful, because coming back to where you were takes a lot of effort.

[Wolf Kanno]

There's only really four nasty dungeons in the game and they are all at the end, so I wouldn't say it's too stressful. I've lost more time in DQ or classic SMT games than FFIII.

[Peter1986]

I really hate when hard boss battles take place right after a long tedious story scene that goes on for like 5-10 minutes.
At least give me chance to go back and save the game before the battle begins, seriously.

[Laddy]

Characters with essentially only a sin gle attack option. Especially when they're tanks. It means you'll usually have a character in your party that is extremely dull mechanically.

[Formalhaut]

I am a bit of an item hoarder, like Skyblade. Don't get me wrong, I do use common items with some degree of regularity, but rare items are reserved for the endgame, minimum.

[Wolf Kanno]

Characters with essentially only a sin gle attack option. Especially when they're tanks. It means you'll usually have a character in your party that is extremely dull mechanically.

What I've learned about these type of characters is that it's best to build a team around them. One of my favorite "screwing around" builds in FFIIIDS involves a team built around the Viking class, who is only good for taking hits to the face. Yet it made me appreciate classes like the Bard and get around some issues with the Dark Knight, so it was quite the pleasant experience to toy with them.