I've started replaying Quest 64, and I had one instance where the enemies froze me, and as a result I was not able to perform any useful actions. The freeze refused to wear off, and I reached a point where I was forced to spend the last 3 MP I had to cast Escape (as I would be killed in one more hit). Of course, that Escape spell failed, and as a result I ended up with a death (which takes you back to where you last saved, but you fortunately don't lose anything when this happens). (There's a spell that can remove status ailments, but it's the last water spell you learn, and the part of the game where this is most likely to be an issue happens early.)

This reminds me of some other instances of "death by status ailments", with Dragon Quest 2 and Final Fantasy 1 being the prime examples, and I've heard of cases in modern FF games where they made the Malboro's Bad Breath multi-target (why?) resulting in many game-overs to such enemies.

Do you think this is good game design?

Has this ever happened to you in any games you have played? (Doesn't have to be RPG, but does need to have something like status effects.)

Oh yeah in a bunch of games both online and singleplayer, and while it is annoying I don't view it as bad game design.
Its just part of learning the game

you learn what causes the effect and learn to deal with it. part of the game loop I say.

Van Helsing and Victor Vran has one mob (so far) that pulls you towards them and then stuns you..

I hate that. Especially if/when I'm playing a ranged character.

The particular instance I encountered in Quest 64 is pretty bad, in that your advice doesn't really help much.
* Most of the encounters in the area involve an enemy that likes to freeze you.
* The spell they use to freeze you (which also does damage) is not dodgeable; it will collide with you no matter where you are on the battlefield. (One mechanic of Quest 64 is that you can move in real-time to dodge spells that enemies cast at you; this particular spell can't be dodged this way.)
* There is no item that can remove status ailments. There is a spell that can, but unfortunately it's the final water element spell, and the situation is most prevalent early in the game (before a player could realistically learn that spell without glitches, even if the player puts all spirits into water).

As a result, there really isn't much the player can do about this, except for trying to run away from them (and try casting Escape if the player has invested enough into water to cast that specific spell), or use spells to kill the enemies (which is only an option if they are positioned just right for the player to hit them, or the player both has a spell that always collides (like the spell this particular enemy uses) and enough MP to finish the battle that way). Otherwise, it's a potential game over or item use situation (and in this game you usually want to save healing items for bosses).

It basically means that you simply can't fight enemies in that specific area and have to run from almost every encounter there.

Poison in Phantasy Star 3 was annoying, but while also way to common earlier in the game, at least:
* It doesn't disable the character; it just prevents healing from working. In particular, the whole party being poisoned isn't a death sentence, as you can still act.
* You can use the Antidote item to cure it reliably, or the Anti technique to have a chance of curing it. Both are available early in the game (though Anti is a bit expensive at that point).

The Corrupted Blood incident was pretty great. I wish I could've experienced that first hand (in the game at least, not so much fun in real life)

Tome 4 and other roguelikes tend to be rather hateful with status effects. At least Mystery Dungeon type games only bash you over the head with one major status at a time.

There's one significant difference here:
* Corrupted Blood kills the player directly, by doing damage. (Also, it was only meant to be found in a high level area.)
* The status ailment that I mentioned doesn't kill you directly, but rather prevents you from doing anything about it until the enemies manage to kill you or it eventually wears off (except that the enemy can easily re-inflect you with it, especially if there are no other types of enemy in the battle).

Yea that usually Feels Bad Man.
I think it's ok in turn based games since you have a chance to react, but much less so for real time status effect damage.
Fire damage in Risk of Rain 2 is pretty insane, and more of the time there is no removing it. Only tanking it or slowly watching yourself die. Maybe progressing to the next stage might get of it.

StarCraft has those AOEs that increase damage taken, or deal damage to the amount of energy held or something.
On the other hand, I've used many a buffs to obliterate my enemies in games.
Grim Dawn has bosses that TURN OFF your buffs, which is super annoying. Not even just the temporary buffs, but toggled skills as well.

Off topic, but Celeste has levels where the wind slows you down, kind of like a 'slow' debuff, and it makes for interesting gameplay.

Status effects and crowd control are often the most dangerous thing enemies can throw at you.

From the king of crowd control - stun or paralysis through silence, mind control, root or damage over time effects to a measly slow, they are bound to ruin your day one way or another. They usually change how your character behaves and that is a big detriment. Like inability to move/perform any action, debuffs etc.

Of course, the player should have tools available to him to counter that. Either in the simplest form by having a crowd control or status resistance, which reduces duration/effectiveness of any negative effect, or by actively allowing the player to dispel the said effect. When there is just an enemy that always freezes you no matter what with absolutely no option of counterplay, then no, I don't consider that good design.

Ah I see, akin to being in stun lock. That happened to me in Nethack when I stepped on polymorph trapped and turned into a rodent (causing all of my gear to fall off of me), at which point my teleportitis kicked in and teleported me in front of an angry wind elemental, which promptly enveloped me. I died because I was a little rodent swirling about helplessly inside a wind elemental's body, being slowly pummeled to death by all manner of other swirling objects inside the elemental :P Was a funny death at least.

That is, *if you get a turn*. When your entire party is asleep or paralyzed, there is nothing you can do about it but wait until somebody recovers from it, and hope that character doesn't get put back to sleep before getting a turn.

Similar issues apply to other status ailments that can prevent you from doing anything useful.

In fact, I would argue that, in some instances, having your entire party put to sleep can be worse than having your entire party instantly killed; at least if your party is instantly killed, you can respawn immediately rather than being forced to either wait or reload your last save (think games where death doesn't force a reload).

Of course, this still isn't as bad as a softlock, which is rare but I have had it happen (in Final Fantasy 6, for example) where it was impossible for the battle to end; I couldn't win, I couldn't lose, and I couldn't run away either.
Or there's Shiren the Wanderer, where you can step on a trap that turns you into a riceball, at which point you're defenseless and could easily die, losing all that equipment you spent hours building up.

(By the way, I have seen stunlock used in a Mario Maker 2 troll level to great effect.)

Yes, I have found this to be a particularly common way to die in Sanctuary RPG.



[Mild SPOILER]






It's also almost a fait accompli in Neverwinter Nights after completing the city-based tasks and progressing to the paladin outpost, where a lot of undead will incapacitate anyone in your party who are not resistant to disease and fear effects.

If done right, it can add a sense of tension if the RNG stars align against you. The fear of freak accidents is what makes Darkest Dungeon fun to play for example.

Yesterday for example, when playing Persona 4: Golden on hard, some boss made the main character dizzy which resulted in another turn for the boss. The boss used his second turn to hit the main character once again, thus killing him. It was tons of fun retrying that boss knowing in the back of my mind that it had the power to one-shot me if I didn't do everything in my power to mitigate the risk of that happening.

If implemented poorly, however, status effects that paralyze and kill you are about as fun as mold on newly bought bread.