Many games have them, especially RPGs...the dreaded and often annoying status effects. I got thinking the other day...what are some of the more annoying, amusing, and/or unique ones you've encountered in any games?
So I'll name a few of you here. And once again, I can't resist talking about Earthbound, and anyone who's been on this board for a while and didn't see that coming from me is living under a rock. Of the many things I love in Earthbound, the status effects are one of them. It has many standards, such as being knocked out, paralyzed and poisoned. Some common status effects are in Earthbound but under different names...when in most games you're blind, in Earthbound, you cry uncontrollably, but it has the same effect in that your attacks have a lower hit rate. Instead of being petrified, you're diamondized, and rather than silenced, you can't concentrate. But besides these standards under different names, Earthbound has a lot of unique ones...and some of them are amusing.
Three are similar to getting poisoned. There are two desert areas and if you wander around in them for too long, your characters start getting sunstroke, and they'll randomly take damage. It's not much damage, but there it is. Early in the game, you encounter enemies who 'fire a beam that causes night-time stuffiness.' These beams...well, they give your characters a cold. When you have one, you take 4-5 damage turn from sneezing. Though this is very annoying, it's also highly amusing. Some enemies also make you noxious, but this is much worse, as you'll take 20 damage a turn. But it's little things like this that give Earthbound a touch of absurd realism that I love.
One of the most annoying status effects in any RPG is confusion, at least I think so. Earthbound has this but takes it a step further. Confusion is one part of the status effect 'Mashroomized'. Various mushroom enemies in the game cause mushrooms to grow on your head, and one effect of them is to confuse the victim in battle. But it has an additional effect on Ness, who leads the party...when he's mashroomized, your walking controls will get randomly screwed up. The sprites look quite funny with mushrooms on their heads.
But one status effect completely unique to Earthbound (as far as I know) is one that only effects Ness. Sometimes you'll be in battle, just fighting away, and you'll suddenly get this message:
'Ness misses home'
And that's his turn. If you go too long without calling your mom, Ness will get homesick and he'll randomly lose turns in battle thinking about home. This one has NO warning with it whatsoever and can strike at the most inconvenient of times. But once again...considering he's a kid, I love how this status effect exists, as annoying as it can be, just for that little touch of realism.
However, the most absurd status effect I've seen is still being transformed into an eggplant in Kid Icarus. That is just funny...and REALLY annoying. Earthbound wins my unique award, but Kid Icarus wins the ridiculous award.
Anyone else have status effects from any games that are notable in some way?