Daedalus1138: This is something found primarily in fantasy RPGs, but it bugs me in every one of them: useless or underpowered ranged classes/weapons. Now, ranged classes aren't my favorite, but I like to play as them because they are different from what I'm most comfortable with. I like the idea of attacking from afar and, in party-based RPGs, standing back from the rest of the group and picking off enemies. Unfortunately, I've yet to find an RPG that does this well, and I'll use three specific RPGs as an example.

Morrowind. I have many problems with this game, so maybe this isn't the fairest example, but I'll use it anyway. I've tried many different approaches to this game, and one of those was as a thief/archer. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a horrible combination because the stealth system doesn't work very well (in that it's very picky about how it'll let you raise the sneaking stat) and archery is subject to the same dice rolling system that the rest of the combat is. This means that not only do you risk wasting arrows every time you shoot (even if the arrow clearly makes contact with your targets body, it doesn't always count as a hit), but you aren't going to do much damage when you do. I actually found it much better to attack with daggers, even though my archery skill was pretty high and that is what I had been (trying) to focus on.

Oblivion. Same series, I know, but I had hoped that since this game doesn't use the dice-rolling combat system from Morrowind, it would remove some of the frustration. And it did, for a while. However, if any form of combat in this game makes the weird leveling system obvious, it is archery, because as you level, enemies level. Apparently, though, the archery skill doesn't keep pace, and it got to where I was sinking a couple dozen arrows into some of the enemies I came across, and these weren't even particularly powerful ones. Even the critical bonus you get when you attack an unaware enemy is half of what you get with a melee hit. Sure, I understand that it is much easier to hit an enemy from afar than it is to hit them up close, but when ranged weapons do less damage from the start, it is all the more frustrating.

Dragon Age: Origins. Let me start by saying that I chose an archery focused Elf Warrior. Perhaps not the best combination, but since it was possible it should be equally viable. I found it to be incredibly difficult, however, to the point where it was almost impossible to play the game on the Normal difficulty. Every battle required extensive micromanagement of every one of my party members, and even then it was common for me to barely survive a battle. While there were certainly other factors involved, most of my problems stemmed from the fact that my Elf Warrior couldn't contribute very well to a battle. What, specifically, though, was the problem? Well, I don't remember my exact stats, but my Dexterity (which, based on the stat description, affected ranged attacks) was higher than my Strength (which affects melee attacks). I had raised my Strength a bit early on because I wanted to be able hold my own if an enemy got too close, but my Dexterity was still always higher. However, it wasn't until I was over half-way through the game that my damage with a bow and arrow was noticeably higher than the damage I did with a sword, and even then I don't think it was on par with the melee damage my other party members inflicted. This made combat incredibly frustrating because my character's only significant contribution to combat for a good portion of the game was special attacks, and I could only do so many of those before I ran out of stamina. Later in the game I was able to pick up the slack a little bit, but it was still annoying that I felt so underpowered for so much of the game.

Now, I haven't played a whole lot of fantasy RPGs, and there are probably quite a few that do archery right. But in my experience, it is seriously underpowered.