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What features should *every* video game have?
Lord Yod
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My first online console FPS was Resistance: Fall of Man. It has a couple of really neat features; to name a few, it has experience-based matchmaking, dedicated servers for both ranked and unranked matches, multiple options for mic communications including push-to-talk and separate channels of live-mic, and a party setup. (I'm told Halo has a party setup as well but I've never played it.) It also has an in-game buddy list (separate from the PSN list), an in-game clan list with support for blast messages, an in-game messaging function, and loads of options for custom matches.
So I played R:FoM for a good eight months (hur hur lolsony) and then I get into the Warhawk beta. Imagine my surprise when there is no party setup, no way to send messages in-game, no easy way to get multiple buddies on the same team in the same game, and on and on.
This made me wonder - did the guys at Incognito simply miss the memo that R:FoM has a stellar online setup? Or did they just not see these things as a priority?
Several games have come out since and none have come close to the awesomesauce that is R:FoM's online - yes, RB6 has in-game messaging, but no parties or dedicated servers (or clan support). COD4 has parties, but no dedicated servers or in-game messaging. Etc, etc.
So this is the thread where we will propose and discuss features that we think are integral to a good game, regardless of genre.
I'll start:
-Any third-person game needs to have good camera controls. There are very few valid exceptions to this.
-Any game with online multiplayer needs to have dedicated servers. Period.
-Same for in-game messaging support.
-I need to be able to stop playing and turn the console off without losing more than 5-10 minutes of play. This can be done with either a save-anywhere feature (Oblivion) or frequent checkpoints (CoD4).
-I want in-game buddylists. On PSN you can have up to 50 friends on your list, well I've got 75 guys in my clan, and then there are the other people I like to play with as well. I hate saying 'sorry no room' to my friends.
-Every single game needs to have an instant replay feature like Skate. Except it needs to output the videos/photos as standard-format files to the HDD. The amount of replay this adds to a game simply cannot be described.
-You should be able to do a barrel roll. I think we can all agree on that.
So... go!
So I played R:FoM for a good eight months (hur hur lolsony) and then I get into the Warhawk beta. Imagine my surprise when there is no party setup, no way to send messages in-game, no easy way to get multiple buddies on the same team in the same game, and on and on.
This made me wonder - did the guys at Incognito simply miss the memo that R:FoM has a stellar online setup? Or did they just not see these things as a priority?
Several games have come out since and none have come close to the awesomesauce that is R:FoM's online - yes, RB6 has in-game messaging, but no parties or dedicated servers (or clan support). COD4 has parties, but no dedicated servers or in-game messaging. Etc, etc.
So this is the thread where we will propose and discuss features that we think are integral to a good game, regardless of genre.
I'll start:
-Any third-person game needs to have good camera controls. There are very few valid exceptions to this.
-Any game with online multiplayer needs to have dedicated servers. Period.
-Same for in-game messaging support.
-I need to be able to stop playing and turn the console off without losing more than 5-10 minutes of play. This can be done with either a save-anywhere feature (Oblivion) or frequent checkpoints (CoD4).
-I want in-game buddylists. On PSN you can have up to 50 friends on your list, well I've got 75 guys in my clan, and then there are the other people I like to play with as well. I hate saying 'sorry no room' to my friends.
-Every single game needs to have an instant replay feature like Skate. Except it needs to output the videos/photos as standard-format files to the HDD. The amount of replay this adds to a game simply cannot be described.
-You should be able to do a barrel roll. I think we can all agree on that.
So... go!
Lord Yod on
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Damn you.
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
But at least we're not fatasses.
Preferably not cutscenes except in Half-Life terms.
Ideally the same insane levels of imagination and polish as Super Mario Galaxy or Half-Life 2, but this may be too much to expect from most.
I totally need a massive epic tale describing Tetris.
Edit - Honestly, I don't know that there are any features that every game should have. Any given game should be the sum of whatever parts make that game fun. There is no one feature that will automatically make any game better, it's all about choosing the features that will make a particular game the best it can be.
Oculus: TheBigDookie | XBL: Dook | NNID: BigDookie
Take every one of your Resident Evil writers(especially for Zero and the entire Survivor series), kill them all(this is only doing the world a favor), and hire decent ones who can make a logical story and good one-liners.
Shenmue? The inventor of the QTE. Naruto adds a twist on it in that you pick which button is going to come up and the order so it's a little easier in that sense. And of course Mass Effect...though their quality is debatable. See the PA comic.
All multiplayer games should let you save videos and screenshots. Yes, Halo 3 spoiled me, but it's something I want every MP game to have from here forth.
That's about it right now. I would also love anything that gives you incentive to replay the game, either with new levels, characters, bosses or whatnot. Keep in mind that I'm emphasizing the "new" part; A harder mode doesn't qualify.
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I have to agree with Dookie.
Playing Contra 4... and I shut off my DS in anger. I should have to suffer the consequences and restart from the beginning. "Would you like to restart from where you left off?"
How does Halo 2's matchmaking system work and why does everybody love it so much?
Keep track of the large list of characters, their relations to each other, what that fancy-named city was supposed to represent, what war am I participating in again, etc. Again, score one for Xenosaga Episode III, even if 75% of the database was useless information that tried to wrap up the smaller plot points.
It sure came in handy for FFT though.
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Fine, amend that.
If the game is trying to have any semblance of a story, decent writing.
But at least we're not fatasses.
Just this. Other things are subjective to the game in question, but at no point should I have to choose between soiling myself and seeing the end of Snake Eater.
..I mean...playing a game. Yeah.
Fucking yes. The keyboard spiral was brlliant.
Remind me, is that the one where it's sort of like Mass Effect's dialogue selection, but with a keyboard?
Because if so, yes, yes, a thousand times yes.
But at least we're not fatasses.
I fear I have to disagree. God of War used them extremely badly.
God Hand and RE4 did not, but they're very much the exceptions, and RE4 came dangerously close.
QTEs encourage lazy game design, general lack of imagination, and other such undesirable traits. I would be delighted if we never saw them again in any circumstances whatsoever.
If I obtained some rare armor woven a thousand times over from the scales of legendary dragon gods, and my character is still wearing the shitty set of rags he started out with in the beginning, then what's the damn point?
I'm looking at you, Eternal Sonata.
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Solution: good checkpoints if you must have them, easy mode has save anywhere.
Keeps it from being the Call of Duty 1 Vetran "1 shot... save. step forward... save" or the CoD 2 Veteran "fuck fuck dammit, lets do that same 15 minutes again because someone spawned in the house we cleared."
Discuss things that are applicable to their genre - RPG games need X, FPS games need Y, etc.
Can someone explain how the Halo 2/3 matchmaking works? Someone suggested using Halo 3's online setup, but since it has no dedicated servers I'm suspicious.
I didn't mind the fact that the armor didn't change when you got a new type of it - it keeps the characters look. What did kind of irk me was that when lets say Polka got a new umbrella - a black one for example - she was still using the same fucking one she had at the start of the game. At least have different looks for the new weapons you get =/
First game that came to mind when I thought of this was Final Fantasy 9 and 10. You could upgrade your armor, but the characters always looked the same. When you got a new weapon, even if you were upgrading from Longsword to Longsword +1 the new one looked different.
For those of you unfamiliar, you can save whenever you feel like, but if you do you have to turn off the game. And when you restart you're back at the same spot, but that save is gone. Then there are the real save points which are kept forever.
Something I'd like to see RPGs adopt is the talking system of Mario Galaxy. Where when you run close to someone their word balloon pops up without having to push any buttons. It's really really simple, but I absolutely love it.