Features that everything should have.

[Ren3004]

Okay, I'm pretty sure that all of us have already thought something along the lines of "Hey, why didn't the people who made this do it differently? It would be much easier." This thread is dedicated to the features that we think every product should have, because they're convenient, and not very hard to implement.

So, to get the ball rolling:

1. Loading screens
If you ever played Oblivion, you may have noticed that it tends to freeze during the loading screens. But the loading progress bar sometimes moves so slowly that it's hard to know if it's frozen, or just going slow. So, if loading screens had something moving around that stopped when the game froze, it would make that much easier on us.

2. The Xbox Guide button
I don't know whether this happens in the Playstation or not, but some Xbox games keep playing cutscenes even when the centre button is pressed. Just because I want to see what the achievement I just got was, doesn't mean I want to miss what's happening in the game.

3. Battery compartments
Okay, so this one is a little petty, but sometimes while switching batteries, I've got a lot of stuff lying around and have to spend a lot of time searching for the compartment cover. It's entirely plausible that it can get lost while doing this. Well, the battery compartment cover in my TV remote is connected to the remote itself, so it can't be misplaced. Smart, huh?

So, Escapists, what features do you wish that everything had?

 

[DeadlyYellow]

2. The Xbox Guide button
I don't know whether this happens in the Playstation or not, but some Xbox games keep playing cutscenes even when the centre button is pressed. Just because I want to see what the achievement I just got was, doesn't mean I want to miss what's happening in the game.

On PS3 games I don't believe so. For those of us with an older system that plays the back library, it will not stop PS1 or PS2 games.

 

[Ren3004]

2. The Xbox Guide button
I don't know whether this happens in the Playstation or not, but some Xbox games keep playing cutscenes even when the centre button is pressed. Just because I want to see what the achievement I just got was, doesn't mean I want to miss what's happening in the game.

On PS3 games I don't believe so. For those of us with an older system that plays the back library, it will not stop PS1 or PS2 games.

Ah, Sony did it right, then. I do believe some games also don't stop the cutscenes when the controller turns off, which is really annoying. Speaking of which...

4. Game cutscenes
Please start making all cutscenes pausable and skippable. If I'm playing a game for the 2nd or 3rd time, I don't need to watch every single cutscene, and if I want to take a break, or someone starts talking to me, I don't want to miss them. So, the start button could bring up a menu that lets you choose between resuming and skipping the cutscene.

 

[Queen Michael]

5. All food should be available in bar form.

 

[Kpt._Rob]

3. Battery compartments
Okay, so this one is a little petty, but sometimes while switching batteries, I've got a lot of stuff lying around and have to spend a lot of time searching for the compartment cover. It's entirely plausible that it can get lost while doing this. Well, the battery compartment cover in my TV remote is connected to the remote itself, so it can't be misplaced. Smart, huh?

Or, instead of battery compartments, how about a chord. I absolutely hate wireless controllers. First, I was wasting a rediculous amount of batteries on my 360. Then I finally broke down and bought rechargable batteries, which is nice, but even they eventually died. Finally I bought a chord, which I love having, but because it's detachable on both ends it's always coming unpugged and it's just kind of a pain in the ass sometimes. Still, I just find it really annoying that I have to buy a chord seperately from my controller. 360 controllers are already overpriced, I don't think we should have to add the price of a chord onto that.

Also, I think games should have a level select. One of the things I hate about a lot of modern games, is that if I want to play any specific level, then I have to replay the whole game up to that point. This is particularly annoying for an achievement whore like myself, because if there's just one little 5 point achievement I need to have all the achievements, then I have to go back and replay the whole damn game for it. I remember back in the day, one of the things that gave Goldeneye so much replay value was that I could just pick whatever cheats I wanted and then go play any level I wanted and have some fun. But now, I can't go back and just replay the one level I wanted for fun. I miss being able to do that.

Speaking of Goldeneye, I already mentioned the cheats, but that's another thing that was a lot of fun about it. I think games should have built in cheats that you can unlock as you play the game. In combination with a level select they give the game added replay value, because you can go back and just screw around in the game and have fun.

Also, this doesn't apply to all games, but just to racing games... racing games should have some god damned local multiplayer. One of the things I loved about racing games back in the day was that even if you were hanging out with a friend who had never seen a controller in his/her life, they could still pick up the concept of a racing game pretty easily. So the two of you could sit down and just race each other... and have some of that fun that I was talking about earlier. No one does that anymore, every time I buy a Need for Speed game or Project Gotham or anything else... there' no local multiplayer, which for me was a big selling point for racing games that's now gone. Shooters should have local multiplayer too. I remember playing one of the James Bond games back in the day, I can't remember which it was, but there was this level with a house at the top and a house at the bottom of this big snowy rise, and there were trams, and you could just set up traps in your house and then spend the whole game trying to sneak up on your friends, or snipe them, or use the remote controlled helicopter to kill them... I have no idea how much time I spent playing just that one level because it was such a rediculous amount of fun.

 

[Daestar]

I think at some point in a linear game, you have a part that is mostly having fun messing around. Sandbox games are entirely this so they're excluded. My main thought for this was the last levels of Half-Life 2 you were given a really powerful weapon, and it was usable in an area designed for it. With a part that's mostly for fun, one weapon can charge up and then lose it when it would be too powerful, or you can be in a large vehicle with more guns than a deranged redneck. Just to help make that one part where you can think back and go....that was nuts, let's go back and level select that level.

 

[megs1120]

6. All games should allow you to save anywhere.

If you want to rough it, go ahead, but let us worrywarts save all the time if we want to. I'm looking at you, Alpha Protocol.

 

[Ren3004]

3. Battery compartments
Okay, so this one is a little petty, but sometimes while switching batteries, I've got a lot of stuff lying around and have to spend a lot of time searching for the compartment cover. It's entirely plausible that it can get lost while doing this. Well, the battery compartment cover in my TV remote is connected to the remote itself, so it can't be misplaced. Smart, huh?

-snip-

I was think of every kind of device with removable batteries, actually. Controllers, remotes, cellphones...

Oh, and I agree with you about local multiplayer. I also hate when the only thing you can do in local multiplayer is fighting 1 on 1.

And both PGR 3 and 4 had local multiplayer.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Everything should have a reset button. And I mean everything. Everything that can get screwed up should have a small button to change it back to a previous state. It would make the world a better place.

 

[Lukeydoodly]

COOPERATIVE!!

Jesus Christ developers, do you not realise the addition of co-op can make an all right game great? Take Left 4 Dead. Play that solo. How exciting.

Can't think of anything non-game related at the moment...

 

[Baby Eater]

Q.(Forgot which number)Door locks should have a wireless control.
Basically the same as a car's remote lock/unlock but for your house door. It'd be especially helpful if you lose your key.

 

[Sgt Doom]

Extensive modding capabilities. Can extend the life of a game beyond that of even the most durable undead.

 

[Dango]

7. Thought commands are way more useful than door commands

Admittedly, this is impossible, but could you imagine?

 

[pepspotbib]

"Also, I think games should have a level select. One of the things I hate about a lot of modern games, is that if I want to play any specific level, then I have to replay the whole game up to that point. This is particularly annoying for an achievement whore like myself, because if there's just one little 5 point achievement I need to have all the achievements, then I have to go back and replay the whole damn game for it. I remember back in the day, one of the things that gave Goldeneye so much replay value was that I could just pick whatever cheats I wanted and then go play any level I wanted and have some fun. But now, I can't go back and just replay the one level I wanted for fun. I miss being able to do that. "

DEFINATELY! and the option to skip the cut scenes!

 

[Dexiro]

Every open world game should have respawning NPC's, or at least a replacement.

I have a big problem with Oblivion and Fallout 3 in that i'm scared to kill NPC's incase they're required for a quest or some other feature. It's way too easy to break those games :/
Let me go on my killing sprees and respawn vital NPC's, then if you want to limit my gain from it to stop me from killing them over and over i'm sure it's not hard to do so.

 

[The Geek Lord]

6. All games should allow you to save anywhere.

If you want to rough it, go ahead, but let us worrywarts save all the time if we want to. I'm looking at you, Alpha Protocol.

Yes. All single player games need to have a save anywhere button. Just look at something like, say, Tales of Symphonia. I understand it's a JRPG, Namco, but I need to take a break and get off my ass every now and then.

Speaking of the Tales series, the games did do something every game should. At any time, you can select the difficulty. One thing I loved about Tales of the Abyss is that whenever I got bored, I could switch the battle difficulty to Hard. Then I had to switch it back to normal because my A.I. partners were retarded. "HMM," they think, "I am completely defenseless when casting spells. I should walk right up to this dragon, hit it, and then start casting a spell without running away!"
*Death*
*Life bottle*
"Hey you! Player! You're using too many items!"

Ah, yes. The game should not talk to you in gameplay unless it's important.

And if a game is going to stick me with A.I. most of the game, it should NOT BE RETARDED.

Every game also needs an OPTIONAL tutorial. I'm sick of picking up a game I kick total ass at, selecting hard difficulty, and having it give me a tutorial anyway. Hell, Monster Hunter 3 is guilty of this. I start a new game, in a series I'm no stranger to, and it tells me PRESS X TO ATTACK.

Speaking of which, games should not remove major factors in sequels. I was cool with the lack of a sandbox in No More Heroes 2, since running around the same city would have been a pain in the ass. However, I'm going to bring it up again, Monster Hunter 3. It removed so many god damn weapons. As a matter of fact, I actually counted the amount of content in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite and Monster Hunter 3. Let's have a look see.

Spoiler: Here's where you went wrong, Capcom

MH3:
17 minor enemies
18 bosses
9 weapons
5 areas
5 special areas

MHFU:
23 minor enemies
58 bosses (counting alternate colors, 39 not counting them)
11 weapons
13 areas
9 special areas

MH3 = 54
MHFU = 114/95

You see my point, right? I don't care that it's on the Wii, MHFU was on the fucking PSP, and it had almost twice the amount of content. If I had to blame something, I'd blame the fact that they just had to make the graphics as pretty as possible. I'm okay with 64 bits if it means the game is less repetitive, Capcom.

 

[Supernatural Girl]

Life should have a ctrl+z and a ctrl+f function...

 

[Ren3004]

Life should have a ctrl+z and a ctrl+f function...

Or, even better, a walkthrough.

 

[Not-here-anymore]

There should be a function in online FPS games where, if your controller runs out of battery/is turned off, you don't respawn, and are removed from the lobby at the end of the game

Obviously, you can't pause online games. But some of them penalise you for leaving early, even if you have no choice (doorbell, dog needs something, phone is ringing etc...), so your options are: take the penalty, or die repeatedly as you stand there frozen in place like a rabbit confronted by an especially pretty set of headlights.
This would allow you to disconnect or turn off your controller to go and perform whatever task has arisen, die a maximum of once, and come back when you're free without having suffered a string of losses in the intervening time period, without annoying everyone by simply leaving the game.

Shooters should have local multiplayer too. I remember playing one of the James Bond games back in the day, I can't remember which it was, but there was this level with a house at the top and a house at the bottom of this big snowy rise, and there were trams, and you could just set up traps in your house and then spend the whole game trying to sneak up on your friends, or snipe them, or use the remote controlled helicopter to kill them... I have no idea how much time I spent playing just that one level because it was such a rediculous amount of fun.

Ah, Nightfire. That was fun. Especially that level, with the little RC helicopters and tanks.