Features in a minority of games that should be in the majority

[DiscoRhombus]

Since I hate watching cutscenes at the very beginning of a game... (though as long as I wasn't forced to watch it, it would be fine)

I would have to say New Game +. After I finish a game, let me RESTART with all of my equipment/stats. Yes it will probably break the game, but SO WHAT I already played thru it once as the developer intended, now give me reason(s) to replay the damn thing!!!

It actually made me rather happy that Call of Duty Black Ops 2, and Crysis 2 did this. It is a ton of fun to go back and use late game weapons and toys and powers in the earlier parts of the game.

OT: I will toss a +1 onto pausable cutscenes in addition to new game+.

As I get older I HATE not being able to pause a game anywhere I need to.

Oh and one more thing: Save anywhere. Checkpoint games are obnoxious and pointless as hell. We have the technology now to allow saves anywhere, and so what if some people can use it to save scum, dont punish the rest of us because you are too stuck up to let people do it game companies!

I don't know about the save anywhere thing. Yes, some people view it as an archaic system but I really doubt that all the games that still do use checkpoint based saving do it because they can't be bothered to implement save anywhere style saving. Please note I said I doubt that ALL of them do it for that reason, I'm sure some do.

It's a design choice and removing that does open a game up to things like save scumming. If the developer intends to challenge me and wants me to finish this area in one go then that's how I'll do it. Anything else just makes it lack challenge.

I had to stop myself save scumming in Skyrim. I still save constantly in the wilderness when there are no autosaves being activated but if I'm fighting a tough enemy I won't get a hit in, save and keep going. I do it all in one or I don't bother. Otherwise it takes all the challenge and gratification away from the game.

 

[Bad Jim]

Any kind of system to prevent spawn killing in multiplayer games. You could, for instance, give freshly spawned players invincibility and/or the firepower of a Death Star for a few seconds. Or you could make people spawn all over map, so there is nowhere to camp.

Why is there still such a thing as spawn killing? There are university courses on game design, game budgets sometimes exceed $100 million and still there are people camping spawn points in those games.

 

[Scootinfroodie]

Yes, I know that.

In the specific case of Baldur's Gate, I'd appreciate the combat being a bit slower if I'm honest. But that's a problem I have with AD&D game rules to begin with, because translated into video game format it means you're just watching a minute of six characters endlessly missing their enemy and swinging at nothing. Given the nature of the real-time-with-pause combat, though, I'd still like the ability to see when one of my characters hits an enemy without having to sift through the combat log or hold a button that brings up pop-up information. It's all about the options.

Didn't it have game speed adjustment too in its own wonky way?
In any case, I'd agree that more feedback on hits would be great, though I personally never ran into any issues using the hit-sounds available
I agree somewhat on the limitations of translating DnD rules into a game environment. There are still very few games that manage to capture the feel of the PnP game without feeling tremendously clunky or being mechanically uninvolved. I don't think that's particularly limited to ADnD though, especially when considering the ramifications of Vancian casting in a much faster format than DnD is built for (and of course, basically anything that isn't 4th clings to Vancian casting). As much as its been used as a troll statement in edition wars, in some ways 4th edition really is the most like a video game

Any kind of system to prevent spawn killing in multiplayer games. You could, for instance, give freshly spawned players invincibility and/or the firepower of a Death Star for a few seconds. Or you could make people spawn all over map, so there is nowhere to camp.

Why is there still such a thing as spawn killing? There are university courses on game design, game budgets sometimes exceed $100 million and still there are people camping spawn points in those games.

Really? Any kind of system? I've seen some pretty awful spawn protection systems that allow people to really exploit the crap out of them and ruin the overall experience. Invincibility is actually one of those, depending on the time limit for it, the movement speed in the game, and the killing power available. Death star firepower only works if the game has a higher TTK anyway.

Honestly map and gamemode design feel like much better limitations on that. Quake 3 still has a fair amount of spawn killing if you just hop back into a duel right after dying every time, but the design of the maps and the non-linearity of movement in CPMA means that, so long as you don't spawn right off the bat and get a rocket to the face, you should get a few gulps of air before a bright green supersoldier travelling at mach 2 destroys you with a railgun or something
Quake also uses multiple spawn points spread around the map though, so "spawn killing" tends to be a rather movement-focused affair.

Also, people are always going to complain about spawn points. If you make it out in the open, someone will get spawnkilled at some point and then complain. If you create a base, either the enemy will sit outside and wait for your team to exit and then kill them, or the base will provide too much protection and it'll just become an impenetrable fortress containing infinite enemies. While map objectives can alleviate this to an extent, there's always going to be a point where spawns are an issue for someone.